A couple of years ago, on what I thought was a random Sunday, I stopped for a latte in my Brooklyn neighborhood. The place was more bustling than usual and I asked another patron what was going on.
“The marathon,” she said, as if I was completely out of it. “You ought to check it out.”
I strolled over to a front-row perch on the curb of Fourth Avenue and took in hundreds of people slowly trotting by. There was an old guy with floppy tube socks, fit women in running gear, big guys, skinny guys, at least one person with a limp.
There were people of almost every ethnicity and socioeconomic class at the race, which kicks off again this Sunday Nov. 3 at 8:30 a.m. A few got cheered on by clutches of friends or family on the sidewalk. They all had the familiar marathon bibs around their necks, and a range of sneakers that would bring a smile to the face of a FootLocker manager.
Then it happened: I felt a weird tug of emotion. Something about the carefully pacing procession actually brought tears to my eyes.
I’m not saying I was bawling like a baby watching “Gone with the Wind” or anything. But I wasn’t emotionless either, and a discreet bit of swabbing was required.
Something about all those people running together touched a nerve in me — and I’m the kind of person who fails to engage while watching a Knicks game at the Garden with thousands of people cheering on the team. I’m usually checking my e-mail or looking at the game clock and wondering when I can skip out for a Carnegie Deli sandwich.
I started thinking that it would be cool to train for the race, to get in top shape and next year, maybe, run with this amazing crowd. Never mind that they were all strangers and could have been mass murderers for all I knew. Still, I wiped away another flow of tears and wondered what the hell was going on.
Fortunately, I was not alone in experiencing the release.
“Watching the New York Marathon can create a certain connection that leads to you responding emotionally, as you do when you watch certain movies,” Dr. William Wiener, a clinical and sports psychologist in Manhattan, told The Post.
Agreeing that it’s a bit of a phenomenon, he added, “Everyone is in everyone else’s corner — runners and spectators — which is really unique. We see a common struggle and that creates a type of bonding that people react to.”
Admittedly, my reaction was short-lived. I did not actually train for the coming year’s run — or this year’s either.
That said, if you see me out there on the sidelines this Sunday, be a friend and pass a tissue.