Boston Marathon bombing survivor Roseann Sdoia is scaling new heights.
Sdoia, 48, a spectator who lost a leg in the April 15, 2013, attack and now uses a prosthesis, walked up 86 floors — 1,576 steps — of New York’s Empire State Building in an annual charity race that helps disabled athletes.
“It was hard. I mean, it was definitely strenuous, but it was mind over matter,” she told reporters at the top.
Right behind Sdoia, in full gear, was Boston firefighter Michael Materia, 37, who rushed her to the hospital that fateful day. Friendship blossomed into romance and the couple recently got engaged. The wedding date is in the fall.
Sdoia trained for months on the 294 steps of Boston’s Bunker Hill Monument, an obelisk that commemorates the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill in the Revolutionary War.
The iconic Empire State Building, once the world’s tallest skyscraper, has staged the Empire State Building Run-Up for 40 years. Runners from around the world ascend from the lobby to its Observation Deck, nearly a quarter-mile above Fifth Avenue. It supports the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which helps athletes of all ages.