Terrible Thursday- Remembering a Friend

I am posting this a little early because I have a meeting in the morning....I have been thinking of Thursday now for several days...hard to believe its been 7 years since the WTC attacks...I will remember that day detail by detail vividly for the rest of my life...I was driving to the dentist's office on Rte 208 and heard a report on the radio that a small plane had crashed into the WTC, when I arrirved at the dentist they were in an office meeting I asked them to put the TV on and well you know the rest....

I wrote the following two years ago when I was coaching the Nike Team, you will see some familiar names including Coach Melissa's ( she was running her first TNT event)...rather than trying to express my thoughts and emotions I think this sums up how I still feel today...its almost a bit weird that two years ago we had run in Mahwah as we did this past Saturday...I don't have the attendance sheet from this past week but that doesn't matter you can all add your names to the list of HEROES...amazing that my contacts don't work they are a new pair ...but everything is very blurry as I try to type...thanks for doing what you do


Hi team,
It's exactly 8:45 AM and in one minute I am sure I will at least be teary eyed if not shedding a tear.
I am having a truly bittersweet day (its now 8:47 am) I could not be prouder and more honored to know a group like you. Many of you started as beginners and now are runners...watching you achieve new heights every week and listening to you as we run has been a pleasure...You all can be described in two words...HERO and RUNNER.
Eighteen of you ran up and down some tough hills yesterday in Mahwah for between 15 and 18 miles...you are incredibly strong be people and are doing this so others may nopt have to suffer in the future...Thank You!!! Thank you for making a diffrence in my life and even more so in the lives of many who will never see you faces.
And then as I drove into the office this morning and listened to Ray Charles sing " America the Beautiful" with tears running down my face, as they are right now...remembering the 2949 people who died, several who I knew casually and one who was a good friend...for those of you who have bar hopped in Hoboken may have met him too...formally Robert Wayne Hobson III (Wayne) who opened "Hobson's Choice" It's now 9:03 and the second plane just hit the South Tower.
Sunday's Heros:
MCM:
Jenn McKenny
Patrick O'Callaghan
Andrea Matz
Gerry Ferraro
Amanda Sabatos
Jenn Rygiel Boyd
Jack Myers
PF Changs Alumni:
JoAnn Beneat
Pam Conlon
Tamara Lynch - TNT Illinois Chapter
Nike:
Jose Amaya
Clare Talarico
Barbara Gilmartin
Melissa Muilenburg
Marsha Anderson
Marie San Pietro
Shannon Ferguson
Varda Carbley
Sorry if this was a bit of a downer but it helped me just to express what I am feeling right now.
You are the definition of Heros..."Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things"
If nothing else, hug your kids today just a little tighter, be a little more tolerant of dopey things that others do...continue to do so much good for other people....you are very special people and thinking of you makes the bad things in life seem insignificant and tolerable.
Thanks for listening,
Bill