By Jon Schuppe
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HARLEM — Yolanda Rosado figured the least she could do for a cousin who had helped change her life was stand for hours with a cardboard sign over her head.
“Lucida, Go Girl, We Love You,” her sign read.
Somewhere in the mass of runners struggling down the New York City Marathon’s “Harlem mile” was Lucida Plummer, who had trained for the event while helping Rosado lose 92 pounds.
“She is my inspiration,” said Rosado, who grew up in the Bronx with her cousin. “She’s a strong, proud woman who taught me to be one, too. So when she said she was running, I thought, ‘If she can do it, then I can do it.’
“Then I asked her, ‘Where do you want me to be?’”
Rosado ended up at the corner of 135th Street and Fifth Avenue, just short of the 22-mile mark, scanning the crowd with a friend.
The elite runners had long passed. Word spread that an American man and an Ethiopian woman had won. But the marathon was as much about community pride as it was about athletic achievement.
As the world's eyes focused on Central Park and the big names to cross the finish line first on Sunday, Fifth Avenue in Harlem resembled a block party.
Gospel singers, jazz bands and soulful DJs joined residents outside their apartment buildings, shaking rattles and shouting encouragement to strangers. Volunteers handed out Gatorade, water and granola bars. The runners exchanged smiles with little kids and stopped to take photos.
Some looked like it was still Halloween. There was a Robin Hood in green tights, a Minnie Mouse, a guy in a curly clown wig, another with a fake chicken on his head.
“Hey, New York City Marathon, welcome to Harlem,” a soul DJ barked from 131st Street.
On a nearby gospel stage, an emcee shouted, “You’re almost there. You have made it this far, and you’re going to make it today. Yes, you can!”
Patricia Murray of Beaufort, S.C., had come to town to visit her ailing mother and ended up on Fifth Avenue, offering high-fives to any runner who came close.
“You’re almost there, Momma,” she yelled to a female runner. “Looking great!”
“I just love this,” she said. “I’m having a great time. Why? I don’t know. I’m just excited.”
Khrystina Bradley, 17, a cross-country runner at The Beacon School on the Upper West Side, volunteered to hand cups of Gatorade to passing runners. She was also looking for a former teammate and her English teacher, who would be among the herd of passing runners.
“It’s nice just to do something to support them,” she said.
Back up near 135th Street, Rosado still stood with her friend, Jeri Papa of Harlem. Plummer’s husband had called to tell them she was at mile 17. They lowered the sign for a moment, then raised it back up.
They could rest later.
