Audra Esper ran all 26.2 miles of the New York City Marathon on Sunday while wearing a shirt featuring TODAY’s Hoda Kotb.
“Hoda superfan,” the first line of Esper’s shirt reads, with a star-eyed emoji, above a photo of Hoda with a big grin. “Thank you Hoda!!!!”
And less than 24 hours after crossing the finish line in Central Park, Esper was waiting to meet Hoda on the TODAY plaza.
Holding up her shirt, Esper posed with Hoda as they took a selfie. After the sweet interaction, Esper shared with TODAY.com how Hoda inspired her to run a marathon.
“I was introduced to Hoda very early on when she first started hosting at NBC with Kathie Lee,” Esper says.
Hoda co-hosted TODAY’s fourth hour with Kathie Lee Gifford for over 10 years, until Kathie Lee left the show in 2019.
“My brother-in-law worked for Bravo at 30 Rock and was in the elevator with her one day and called me and was like, ‘You should look up Hoda — she reminds me so much of you!’ So I did!” Esper adds.
At the time, Esper said she was undergoing fertility treatments and in vitro fertilization, so she wasn’t allowed to run. Instead, she would take long walks, she said.
“I looked up all her speeches and interviews online, and I loved her message. I would play them while I was walking, and it helped so much,” Esper says about Hoda. “Then I read her book … and it was incredible to read what she went through with breast cancer. Her ‘you can’t scare me’ mantra has stayed with me since then, and it really got me through that tough time.”
Since then, Esper has followed Hoda on social media platforms, and especially celebrated when the TODAY co-anchor adopted her two daughters. Hoda adopted her first daughter, Haley Joy, in 2017 and her second little girl, Hope Catherine, in 2019.
In 2018, Esper entered a contest to appear on TODAY, and she was picked, along with her friend, who volunteers for the Special Olympics with her.
“I now have a 12-foot paddleboard in my house with Hoda and Kathie Lee’s mugs on it from that show! But I still didn’t get to meet her and tell her how much she meant to me,” Esper says.
It was in September when Hoda announced her departure from TODAY, or “repotting,” Esper notes, that Esper figured this might be her last chance to meet her before Hoda leaves the show in early 2025.
Esper shared a message for Hoda after she met her on the plaza.
“Hoda, I just want to say it has been a complete privilege getting to watch you rise over these last 10 years, and I wish you nothing but the best in this next chapter,” she says.
Hoda also reacted to Esper’s story with an Instagram comment on a post from TODAY.
“I LOVE YOU!!!!🔥🔥,” Hoda wrote.
