The runners come in all ages, nationalities, body types, costumes and exhaustion levels. One man with wild black hair, wearing nothing but red shorts and running shoes, dribbles a basketball. Other guys are dressed like Waldo, or wear a suit or a banana costume. A young woman in yellow tosses her gray mittens to the side of the street. A middle aged man in black with a belly and a big yellow bandage around his right knee wears a painful expression and barely lifts his feet off the ground. Several runners duck under the barrier, do stretches while in the restroom line, then sprint back to the course.

It’s the New York City Marathon, and at the corner of Lafayette Avenue and Clermont Avenue in Brooklyn, between Mile 8 and 9, a crowd of windswept New Yorkers in hoodies and windbreakers cheer for the runners. Some holds signs or flags, others…