Woman Seeks Man She Kissed at Marathon......Hears Back From His Wife

A Tennessee woman looking for the stranger she kissed while running the Boston Marathon this year has finally heard back...but it's not the fairy tale ending she may have been hoping for. She heard back from the man's wife.

Barabara Tatge (55) says her daughter dared her to kiss a random, good-looking man as she ran through the town of Wellesley, where the the women of Wellesley College traditionally offer kisses to runners.

After the race, her daughter, Paige, took to social media to try to find the man who left an impression on her mum. 'That little kiss gave me wings on my shoes for the rest of the race,' she said to Dailymail. Following the kiss, Tatge said she regretted not taking the moment to get the man's phone number after he yelled out for her to call him as she resumed the race.

The Wellesley Townsman, a news outlet, passed on a letter addressed to her after the campaign generated nationwide attention from the man's wife who also sent photos of the man's clothes as proof.

The unidentified man’s wife said the attention was fun but that the couple wanted to remain anonymous.

“When this story aired on the news we were pretty surprised,” the mystery man’s wife wrote.

“For me, 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, 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 says she wrote back to the wife, thanking her for her graciousness and good humour.

“The letter was so kind and good-hearted,” she said. “She’s a great sport, and he’s fortunate to be married to someone like her.”

Tatge also apologised for any embarrassment the search may have caused.

“I just wanted her to know that the media firestorm stemmed from my loving daughter’s good-hearted dare,” she said. “I didn’t want to cause any discomfort to him or his family.”

She said she hopes to run the Boston Marathon again but with one important caveat: “Moving forward, I’m going to revert to only kissing single men.”