WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — A team of runners got a warm welcome Friday afternoon as they sprinted into Warner Robins.
They're running in the 4th annual Georgia Run for the Fallen, a 164-mile trek from Milledgeville to Ft. Benning near Columbus. The goal is to honor Georgians who died serving in the military since 2000.
The Northrop Grumman office in Warner Robins marked the end of the first leg of their trip to Ft. Benning. Rumbling motorcycles announced their arrival, as dozens of onlookers welcomed them to the International City.
"We begin and Milledgeville, and we run 164 miles over three days," explained Candice King, who organized the event.
It's personal to King and her family.
"I lost my son, Specialist Ryan King, May 1 of 2009," King said. "A few years ago, the America's Run was coming across the country. And my son's mile was in Iowa."
She was determined to bring it closer to home. In 2019, she made it happen.
"We did the run, the first year, in 2019. We're going strong," King said.
This year, they're running with a flag that flew over the Ground Zero command center in the months after 9/11. Friday afternoon, they reunited the flag with a piece of iron from the World Trade Center, and a marble cross from the south tower.
King says the run is a tribute to all Gold Star Families, but most of all, to pay tribute to her son.
"It is in remembrance of my son. And it's something that helps me heal. It helps me be able to- to put my grief somewhere," King said.
The final event Friday was at Fire Station No. 1 in Warner Robins. Firefighters raised the Ground Zero flag for nine minutes and 11 seconds. They'll hold it overnight before it moves on with the runners Saturday morning at 7 a.m.
Over the next two days, they'll travel 98 more miles as they continue the trip. They'll take the 9/11 artifacts with them, too, and leave them at the Global War on Terrorism War Memorial.