Perhaps no one is more excited about this year’s New York City Marathon than Dahlia Lopez Ramsay.

The Manhattan native isn’t racing Sunday, but for the third year in a row, he’ll be there cheering on “adopted” strangers — runners he met at the pre-race Expo (where runners pick up their race gear) who don’t have friends or family who to help them along the 26.2 mile course.

She usually brings a sign to the Expo announcing her desire to encourage people, who take her up on her offer.

After confirming they don’t have anyone to cheer them on on Race Day, she takes their picture and gets their file number so she can track their progress on the Marathon app and celebrate them as they pass.

So far, she has adopted about 20 runners over the past three years. Her enthusiasm is independent of the marathon’s official sponsors and organizers; she does this alone.

“I’ve been waiting for this day all year. Like the Olympic torch passing through the cities, like Santa Claus passing with gifts, like the countdown to the New Year,” said Lopez Ramsay.

The didactic artist and tour guide started volunteering, as she calls the tradition, as a child growing up on the Upper West Side: Her late father, Don Ramsay, would take her to Central Park, where they would hang out. water for runners on the final stretch of the 26.2 mile course.

“I’m doing this in his memory,” she said. “To a large extent, my father lives through me, and every bit of value I put into cheering on others is because that’s how he lived his life.”

As a result of continuing to cherish Marathon Day as an opportunity to honor her father and do random acts of kindness, it has become her favorite day of the year and what she refers to as one of her “personal High Holy Days” .

These are celebrations that, as Lopez Ramsay defines them, are “outdoor, highly participatory gatherings where we honor human creativity, mortality, ingenuity and perseverance,” she said. Halloween and Day of the Dead are also on this list. “These are the days when we bring out the best in each other and ourselves.”

The way she cheers on the contestants has evolved over the years: Today, she and her friends who join her on the sidelines throw out tissues, learn the names of the adoptees so they can shout more personal cheers and carry uplifting signs.

Why would a runner need a tissue?

“Of course runners need tissues,” Lopez Ramsay explained. “They’ve been out in the cold in Staten Island for hours and now their bodies are moving. Liquids will immediately run down your face and that must be so uncomfortable.”

All are welcome to join the Fabrics team. This year, they’ll start the day cheering on runners near Lopez Ramsay’s home in Sunset Park before heading north to the Bronx.

“I’ve never cheered in the Bronx before, but I’ve heard it’s a low cheer zone, not as loud as it should be,” she said.

It’s going to be such a long day of cheering on strangers, Lopez Ramsay plans to take Monday off work to recover, but she has no doubt the emotional payoff will be worth it.

“You just go and do something that’s required and you get constant, constant hours of reinforcement and affirmation that you’re appreciated by every runner that comes in and they’re just thrilled to be there,” she said. “It Never Stops Feeling Good”

Perhaps the only ones more excited about Marathon Day than Lopez Ramsay are the ones she chooses to adopt.

The generosity of strangers “just blew my mind,” said John Rotellini, a Las Vegas magician who flew in for the 2022 Marathon and met Lopez Ramsay at that year’s Expo.

“It was so cool and made the race so awesome to have people ‘Where’s Waldo-ing’ through the race to make sure you could see them, hear them cheering you on. This was such a special gift, and Dahlia and her collective team made it happen,” he said in a telephone interview from Nevada.

As for whether he would ever consider actually running the Marathon, that will be a tough call.

“I have no desire to drive it, because then I couldn’t cheer,” she said.