More than 50,000 runners will take to the streets of New York Sunday, bounding across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge for a 26.2 mile jaunt through the five boroughs. This midnight half-marathon is not that, but this run and the others I do each Tuesday night with this group offer inspiration that doesn’t exist in sanctioned races with their closed courses and participation medals but reveals another running heartbeat of New York. Sometimes there’s a little prize money — $100 in a sweaty, crumpled envelope — but no one is really here for that. The prize is street cred. Being fast isn’t enough to take first place.

We have to know the streets, and more important, how they work. Aim for the center point of the approaching car and look beyond it to find a line. Be ready to jump. Watch rear vision mirrors for intent. Never make eye contact with New Yorkers when you’re threading through a packed cross walk — they panic and stop like prey. Never disturb the city’s cadence. Use its flow. Find your line.