Shalane Flanagan was triumphantly the first runner across the New York City Marathon finish line, some eight hours earlier.

Meb Keflezighi finished just after noon, in his swan song as a professional marathoner.

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Yet there they were, in the dark, back at the famed finish line in Central Park, cheering on the marathon's final finishers and creating memorable moments for all of them.

It’s a tradition started by Peter Ciaccia, the race director of the NYC Marathon, who likes to spend an hour, after the excitement has died down, waiting for the race’s slower runners who come trickling in after the eight-hour mark.

This year, Ciaccia invited the top finishers to join him, and they nixed their evening plans to bring some of the race’s last participants their medals. In addition to Keflezighi and Flanagan, Abdi Abdirahman, Steph and Ben Bruce, Allie Kieffer (who finished a surprise fifth this year), and Aliphine Tuliamuk participated.

Sarah Lorge Butler Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World since 2005.

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