For Danielle Strle, Marathon Sunday in New York City is “the best day of the year.”
“It’s a real triumph of the human spirit,” said Strle, 45, who came dressed as a banana to cheer people on as they dashed by.
Strle, chief product officer for the satirical news site The Onion, was among thousands of revelers packed into the brownstone-lined streets of Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill, near mile nine of the 26.2-mile route, for one of the city’s most exuberant marathon watch parties.
Stephanie Keith/Gothamist
This year’s marathon kicked off the morning after Halloween and many revelers appeared to show up in their Halloween costumes from the night before. Strle was one of many dressed up like the potassium-rich snack favored by endurance athletes.
Some 60,000 runners participated in the race, which winds through all five boroughs before finishing in Central Park.
Stephanie Keith/Gothamist
Stephanie Keith
Stephanie Keith/Gothamist
Strle said the “Mile Nine” party along Lafayette Avenue in Clinton Hill has been going on for 23 years. And she’s been part of it since the beginning.
“We kind of started it by accident,” she said.
In the early days, locals would pass out bodega sandwiches. Now, “we’ve upgraded to a grill. We have waffles. We have egg sandwiches. We have coffee. We’ve got orange juice,” she said. “We’ve just gotten bigger and bigger every year.”
“Nobody was having parties on the end of the block when we started doing this,” she added. “It’s the best block for the marathon party spectator scene.”
Stephanie Keith/Gothamist
Stephanie Keith/Gothamist
Stephanie Keith/Gothamist
On Sunday, nearly all the runners lagged far behind Andreas Almgren of Sweden and Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya, the men’s and women’s winners, who both finished the marathon in just over two hours.
But winning was hardly the point for most participants, and certainly not for the spectators cheering them on.
Stephanie Keith/Gothamist