NYC Marathon: Harlem

Behind the Painting

Live from Harlem USA," the DJ said. I'd woken up to the best weekend in New York, marathon Sunday and an extra hour of sleep.

I remembered a photo I'd taken years ago. A sea of runners in front of an old stone church. Tall stained glass windows. I knew it was near the Langston Hughes house. I set out to find it.

It wasn't too hard. I came across the church near the end of the 22nd mile. I stood inside the blue caution tape, a tree shielding me from the light rain. I tried to capture the rush of legs and arms and feet, the blur of shoes and hats and watches.

A couple kids were running their own marathon, one block sprints upstream against the flow of runners. A group of women in orange costumes with hoods and pointy ears held up a sign that said "Tap for Fox Power."

A man hurried by and glanced over my shoulder. "Qué profesional!"

A man with long gray hair joined his wife from the building behind me.

"We get to look at this every day. There's a lot of rumors about that building. No one really knows what it is. They say it used to be some sort of secret society. Or there's a hidden library inside."

The PA behind me pumped out funk and soul and happiness. Right as the chorus sang "Ain’t no stopping us now!" the amp blew out, and the music stopped.

A few minutes later the music was working again, and the DJs had assembled a spread on the plastic table. "This food is free! This food is for everyone!"

I should have taken them up on it, but instead crossed the street to get a hamburger, dodging the runners in neon and black, effortless and effortful, racing toward Central Park. Just a few miles to go to before the finish line.