Woman Kisses Random Guy During Marathon. Guy's Wife Is Best Sport of All

After the race, the daughter took to social media to try to find the handsome stranger. Her reverse-Cinderella-esque efforts soon generated national attention.

© Barbara Paige/Facebook

Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that Tatge heard back—from the guy’s wife.

But the letter, forwarded to Tatge by a Boston-area local newspaper, was hardly the scolding one might reasonably expect.

“When this story aired on the news we were pretty surprised,” the man’s wife wrote. “I’m not mad. Believe me, our friends have gotten a lot of mileage out of this story and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them give my husband grief.”

“While this may not be the ending that you had hoped for,” the wife continued, “that spontaneous, silly moment in Wellesley captured the fun, energy and spirit of the Boston Marathon. I greatly admire your spunk and courage and wish you many happy races in the future. Congratulations on your Boston finish!”

Tatge may have been the one running the marathon, but the wife was truly a great sport.

Extra keeping-it-classy cred: her wish to remain anonymous. Leave it to a modest Bostonian to turn down her 15 minutes of morning television and Internet fame.

Tatge also deserves props for—pun intended—taking it all in stride, and giving the wife a shout-out. “The letter was so kind and good-hearted,” she said. “He’s fortunate to be married to someone like her.”

Agreed!