A Boston Marathon runner walked into a Back Bay restaurant. The crowd erupted in cheers.
“Usually runners don’t get that. But in Boston, the marathon is our thing.”
Nicholas Gallo has run several marathons across the country, but none are as special to him as the Boston Marathon. One major reason for that, he said, is because of the spectators.
While the spectators along the route propelled Gallo to make his best running time yet — 2:41:10 — it was a moment after the race at a Back Bay restaurant that started making its way on social media.
Gallo met with his co-workers at Sonsie, and when he walked through the door, he was met with thunderous applause and cheers from people he knew, as well as complete strangers.
“Professional athletes in baseball and basketball get curtain calls, and the crowd will go wild,” Gallo said. “Usually runners don’t get that. But in Boston, the marathon is our thing.”
He said he also received free beers from people at the restaurant, and when he tried to leave without fanfare, he got it anyway with people holding out their hands for high-fives.
Gallo has run marathons in San Francisco, Maui, and Disney once, and run Boston three times. He noted that there were stretches on those routes where there aren’t spectators, and the post-marathon energy isn’t as high as in Boston.
Even commenters on social media were shocked to see the camaraderie inside Sonsie.
“I ran the Paris marathon last weekend, and on the train wore my medal, and not a single person said congrats,” one TikTok user said.
The mere sight of the tinfoil blankets or runner’s jackets can get you praise in Boston, according to another TikTok user.
“I remember being s—faced one year, and a runner gave me their tinfoil blanket, so everyone thought I was a runner and cheered for me, shaking my hands,” they commented.
The moments with spectators along the route were special for Gallo, too. This year he personally dedicated his run to his grandfather, Don Biron, who has Parkinson’s disease that had recently “taken a turn for the worst.”
Gallo’s mother, who couldn’t make the marathon this year because of Gallo’s grandfather, encouraged him to run Boston anyway in honor of Biron. Along the route, at the top of one of the course’s notorious hills, Gallo saw a sign from a spectator.
“There were people with signs that said ‘Outrun Parkinson’s disease,’” Gallo said. “It was pretty special, and he was definitely with me throughout the race.”
Then there was the moment in Natick when he saw his family cheering him on — including wife Lauren and 1-year-old son Jack, who told him to “run, run, run.”
“Runners like myself, we really appreciate [the spectators] because it gets tough out there,” Gallo said. “When you have fans like that who take so much pride in their city, it really helps to push us runners through.”
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