Boston Marathon runner finds man she kissed - thanks to his wife

BOSTON, May 5 (UPI) -- The search for Barbara Tatge's mystery man, whom she kissed spontaneously at this year's Boston Marathon on a dare, has ended.

A viral quest to locate the man who agreed to kiss Tatge in a photo has ended in a less-than-romantic fashion when his wife came forward in an open letter, (in good humor).

"We all thought this story was hilarious because it is just like my husband to do that," the letter read, published in The Wellesley Townsman. "It was one of many memorable stories from a great weekend in Boston."

Tatge's daughter dared her to locate a handsome spectator at the event to smooch as means to reverse a local tradition calling for female Wellesley College students to kiss runners from the sidelines, Tatge told the Townsman. "And a good-natured man accepted my request for a photo. Moving forward I will revert to only kissing single men," she joked.

The unidentified man's wife found the media attention fun, but the couple chose to remain anonymous.

"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!" the good-humored spouse wrote.

"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 reportedly wrote back to the wife Monday, thanking her for understanding.

"I just wanted her to know that the media firestorm stemmed from my loving daughter's good-hearted dare," she said.

Tatge is a cancer survivor who took up running after turning 50 years old. She expects to run the Boston Marathon again in 2017.