I participated in an event on Saturday that lingers with me still. Apparently, events like it have been around since 2005, but this was the first I had heard of it.
There is an organization behind the event. It’s called The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Its origin predates 9/11 by nearly a decade, but their visibility and focus probably gained clarity and momentum then.
Since 2005, groups across the nation have put on memorial stair climbs to honor the 343 firefighters who lost their lives at the World Trade Center that day. Our local group only started the practice last year. I learned about it about ten days before, and decided to do it.
More below!
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From the fireheroes page on such events:
The 9/11 Memorial Stair Climbs are not timed race events, but a way for firefighters and the community to honor and remember the FDNY firefighters who selflessly gave their lives so that others might live.
And, in more detail (from the same page):
Each participant pays tribute to a FDNY firefighter by climbing or walking the equivalent of the 110 stories of the World Trade Center. Your individual tribute not only remembers the sacrifice of an FDNY brother, but symbolically completes their heroic journey to save others. Through firefighter and community participation we can ensure that each of the 343 firefighters is honored and that the world knows that we will never forget. The proceeds of these events help the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation create and maintain programs that support fire service survivors.
110 stories … hmm. That’s a real climb, make no mistake. My base fitness is not usually bad, but I had not been doing anything to prepare for an activity like that, so I started incorporating stairs into my day after I learned of the event and decided to participate. A local building permitted me to climb 11 flights at a time, and the building hosting the event on Saturday was tall enough to allow us to do 22 flights at a time.
11 flights was pretty hard when I first began. I did two sets of 11 flights the first day. My legs were screaming at me in pain and outrage for three or four days after. Then, I did three sets, with legs still hurting quite badly, but the three sets marked a dramatic turning point, as my legs felt better AFTER doing them than they did before, and I began to feel confidence that I’d be able to do it.
By the day of the event I felt pretty good, though I still had not done more than 33 flights in any given day. Local firefighters conducted a memorial ceremony prior to the beginning of the climb. The firefighters in FULL turnout gear led us onto the stairs. I walked in in the first ten civilians behind them. I guesstimate we had perhaps 200 climbers on the day, counting the firefighters who were participating. The firefighter I honored was named Robert J. Crawford. Here is his page on fireheroes.
And here is the badge I wore to honor him.
We have no local building that is anything close to 110 stories, so our climb was conducted in a building that allowed us to climb 22 flights at a time, five sets total for 110 flights. We would get to the top, and take an elevator back to the lobby, out the front doors and around again to the side entrance back into the stairwell we used. The first three floors were a bit taller than others, 25-27 stairs per flight, with a landing splitting up the distance, but after that there were exactly 11 stairs to the landing, then 10 to the floor itself, for 21 steps per flight.
I was concerned about heat in the stairwell, with so many people conducting the activity. Doors opened into the hallways at many floors, some equipped with powerful fans blowing deliciously cool air into the stairwell. It wasn’t bad at all, though the exertion did result in saturated clothing.
The first set was tight, with climbers packed together. After that, it got more sparse each go-round, until there were very few people nearby the last couple of sets. The first set was very slow, so I didn’t really feel any exertion doing that one. After that, it got to be harder work each set, but they were faster, also. The climb was clearly advertised as not a race, so people were patient, and not trying to pass. I didn’t try to pass, either.
The firemen in the heavy (and certainly very hot!) gear had to pace their efforts much differently. If there were any that climbed without interruption, I never saw them. It was quite common to see them sitting or kneeling at the tops of flights, often in front of the aforementioned fans. Some of those guys were clearly very fit. Some estimates suggested their gear weighed as much as 60 lbs! I thought that was a bit high, but 40 lbs was certainly possible, and there is no question that heat buildup under their heavy suits had to be quite terrible. Respect! The climbs that we civilians did cannot be compared to the climbs they did.
Still, I felt good about my effort. I climbed without interruption. I carried my own ice-filled, insulated water bottle, but teams stood with fresh cold water on many floors, and at the bottom and top of the stairwell, for those who needed it. The descent via elevator only took a couple of minutes, and that was the only time I was still and resting. As soon as the elevator got back down, I walked straight around to the stairwell and back up again. I was certainly one of the first to finish. (#rememberbennotarace)
They had cold, wet towels waiting for us when we got to the bottom after the last three sets, very nice! I did not need one, though, I was already damp enough!
I was tired, but not wasted. If I had need to do another 44 stories, I could have. There were real advantages to not having 40-60 pounds of gear on! (Oh, and no effects the following day, no soreness, no tightness, no lingering fatigue.)
Rest in peace, Robert J. Crawford, and friends. I’ll be back again, next year, albeit with a little more preparation ahead of time!
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