This year, the New York City Marathon took place on Sunday, November 1st. Over 59,000 runners crossed the finish line, and a whopping 200,000 spectators lined the streets of the city’s five boroughs.
Pop star and actress Ariana Grande was one of the excited onlookers who took to the streets of NYC to cheer on the runners. Alongside her boyfriend Ricky Alvarez, Grande was spotted in the crowd by content creator Ella Schweiger, creator of Ella’s Envelope.
Schweiger was at the NYC Marathon to pass out kind notes to runners, written by spectators in her massive Ella’s Envelope. When Schweiger asked Grande to write one, Grande was all in.
Ariana Grande at NYC Marathon
In a video shared on Instagram, Schweiger captured the moment she approached Grande. Grande was trying to stay incognito, wearing a face mask and sipping an iced coffee alongside Alvarez.
“Excuse me, can I ask you a question?” Schweiger says as she approaches Grande. “I am delivering kind messages in this big envelope to runners that are running today. Would you guys write a message?”
Grand replies, “Sure! That’s cute!” as she takes a pen and a piece of paper from Schweiger.
“Are you sure?” Schweiger responds, as Grande says, “Yeah, why not?”
Schweiger thanks her excitedly. Once done writing her message, Grandev hands it over, saying, “There you go! That’s such a great thing!”
Schweiger tells Grande, “Thank you so much! I’ll post it in the envelope!”
Ecstatic, Schweiger turns to the camera and brandishes Grande’s note. “Ariana Grande has just written a message for my envelope. I’m shaking!” she squeals.
She then read what Grande wrote: “You did it!” alongside three hand-drawn hearts. Grande signed it “Ari + Ricky.”
Grande’s note delivered to NYC Marathon finisher
In the next clip, Schweiger puts Grand’s note into her big Ella’s Envelope. She approaches a finisher named Ellie, who is wrapped in an orange post-race blanket, and asks if she’d like a kind note from a stranger.
“This is so sweet!” Ellie says as she reaches into the envelope for the note. “It says: ‘You did it! From Ari and Ricky.’”
That’s when Schweiger reveals who actually wrote it. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…I can’t believe you picked that one! That’s from Ariana Grande! She wrote that this morning!” says Schweiger.
“Are you serious?!” Ellie asks repeatedly, then reveals she was listening to Grande’s hit song “The Way” during Mile 24.
“It got me through!” Ellie adds. “So I love me some Ariana Grande. Wait, are you serious?!”
Schweiger then asks her what got Ellie through the toughest moments of the race, “besides Ariana Grande.” Ellie shares, “Except for knowing that I would get [a note] of Ariana Grande’s, honestly, it was them [she says as she points to her crew]. Knowing that so many of my friends and family showed up. And the energy…I’ve never experienced anything like that. People saying my name, I don’t know, and people like you, honestly!”
