My 1st ruck was in 2017 and I needed my own way to honor the memory of the 343 FDNY members killed on September 11th. I created a memorial of all their names ranks and their station assignments on a retired SCBA(fire dept. air-tank) and filled it with 20# of sand to hit the 40# weight requirement. There is no one part of the day that is my favorite. The WHOLE day and the energy surrounding it, each rucker with their own passionate memories! In 2020 when the ruck went virtual last minute my buddy and I elected to do the full ruck on race day: April 19th. In our haste to add a couple detours past memorials we ended the day logging 28.1 miles. We trained all summer in hopes the actual ruck would occur in the fall and as we all know the rescheduled event was also virtual. This ruck fell on September 11th and meant to the world to me. We had alarms set for each incident on that fateful day from the American Airlines flight 11 striking the north tower to collapse of Seven World Trade Center. During the ruck we had local 1st responders join us, towns sent out entire engine companies to escort us along the way. There was a perpetual lump in our throats as we covered the same 28 mile route we did on April 19th 2020. This year I will be rucking solo but not alone there will be 999 buddies joining as that is what this event does it makes total strangers into compadres in an instant!