'God bless America': Tunnel to Towers 5K draws 40,000 people to honor 9/11 first responders in NYC

Family and friends from across the country share why they're running the annual 9/11 5K in New York City and give their appreciation for American heroes.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation carried out its 22nd annual 5K Run & Walk in NYC — and participants were proud to be a part of it.

The 5K, which travels through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel to Ground Zero, honors first responders and service members who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Forty thousand people from all over the country gathered in New York City on Sunday to do just that, the foundation said.

TUNNEL TO TOWERS NYC 5K: PARTICIPANTS HONOR AMERICA'S HEROES AS ‘ONE NATION’ FOR 21 YEARS IN A ROW

Tunnel to Towers Foundation Chairman Frank Siller echoed in an interview with Fox News Digital how every family and participant has "their own ‘Tunnel to Towers’ inside our run."

"And that's what I love about it most," he said. "You can feel the energy. It's beautiful."

40,000 people participated in the 2023 Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk NYC, according to the organization. (Angelica Stabile/Fox News Digital)

Participants shared with Fox News Digital their reasons for running, as well as their messages of patriotism.

TUNNEL TO TOWERS NYC 5K: SAND SCULPTOR PAYS TRIBUTE TO 9/11 FIRST RESPONDERS WITH STUNNING SANDCASTLE

Mike from Seaford, New York — who is currently serving with the Marine Corps 2/25 Empire Battalion — said he ran to honor the people he knew personally who died on 9/11.

"Feels awesome to start in Brooklyn, feels awesome to finish here and [to be] around so many awesome patriots," he said. 

"God bless America."

A U.S. Marine flashes his battalion T-shirt at the Tunnel to Towers 5K run in NYC on Sept. 24, 2023.