She was in the Pentagon daycare on 9/11. Now she is running 2,977 miles, one for every life lost.

For many Americans, 9/11 can seem like a distant memory, with millions not even born yet. But for U.S. Air Force Capt. Hanna Born, the 2,977 lives lost that day will always be something to remember and honor.

Born, an instructor pilot assigned to the 23rd Flying Training Squadron at Fort Rucker, Alabama, has a personal connection to that day, propelling her to join military service and begin Run to Remember, her journey to share on social media a mile for every life lost, she told Military Times.

Just before Born turned three years old, she and her four-month-old sister were inside the Pentagon’s Child Development Center when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building on Sept. 11, 2001.

Born remembers that day through five-second intervals of vivid memories. She remembers “overwhelming confusion” and misunderstanding what was happening around her until her parents shed light on her memories as she grew older.

“As soon as we stepped foot outside, starting to see and hear and smell everything that was so different, just confusion through and through,” she said. “And then I remember my dad coming to pick us up, and like finally just having some sense of comfort.”

Born later returned to the Pentagon with her father and sister a couple of days after the attack to help reframe what happened by watching all the people who came to help. Born said it was on that day her father learned how the daycare workers were able to evacuate the children into a space that “felt like a sanctuary.”

Born and her sister were among the around 140 children in the center who made it out safely, which she attributes to the “unsung heroes” of that day, the daycare workers and those who showed up to offer their assistance.

A group of people walked children out and loaded babies into cribs that they carried about a half mile toward the Potomac River, setting them up in a circle and forming a perimeter around them all to wait until their parents arrived. To this day, no one knows the identities of the individuals who stepped up.

No child inside the Pentagon daycare was killed that day.

“We just know that when the moment called for it, they had the presence of mind to realize that there were people there that needed help,” Born said. “Instead of just getting themselves to safety, they came back for us.”

“I think that’s just credit to the character and the ingenuity of the people that worked at the Pentagon that day, both in uniform and out of uniform, to be able to come up with a plan when the moment called for it,” she continued. “I mean, none of them woke up that morning expecting to need to do anything like that, but it was just innate inside of them that that’s how they responded in that situation.”

Last year, Born realized that the 25th anniversary of the attacks was coming up, causing her to rewind the past 25 years and the promise to never forget.

One anniversary morning in high school, she saw the school’s flag flying at full mast instead of half in respect for the nearly 3,000 Americans who died.

“I missed the first couple classes that day, just trying to track down a janitor and talk with the principal and have that amended so that they would lower the flag in respect, and they did,” she said. “I think that year was kind of the first spot where I thought, are we still continuing this promise that we made to never forget?”

Since then, she felt like more anniversaries went unacknowledged, urging her to find something to incorporate daily into her life, and thus Run to Remember was born. She decided to read the names and build a community where the stories of 9/11 can be shared.

Running aside, Born noted that the biggest demand comes from the emotional toll — learning about the individual stories of the people she runs for.

After starting last year, Born is 1,000 miles in. Initially, she wanted to complete all 2,977 before the 25th anniversary, but it is more rewarding to focus on the purpose, not the pace, she said.

“We might hear stories about specific people that have been more publicized over the past 25 years, but this is a mile for every person, a mile for every name,” she said. “It’s a name you may not have heard a story about yet.”

The Run to Remember account has garnered nearly 42,000 followers, and the community can get involved through running their own miles for someone.

“Send me a message. I’ll send you a name to run for,” she said. “This doesn’t have to be my project. This is everybody’s effort, so that we can continue to honor them.“