‘Tis the season.
Superstitious runners in this year’s New York City Marathon are calling on supernatural support to reverse what forecasters are predicting to be one of the warmest race days of the past decade.
Dozens of athletes are hiring “Etsy witches” to work through Halloween and lower the expected 63-degree highs — matching similar temperatures that Chicago marathon racers anguished through earlier this month.
Jessica O’Neill Lyublinksy spent $20 on a “perfect weather” spell from a “witch” on the website for her first-ever marathon after witnessing friends buy similar ones for other major life events — including one who bought a spell for her wedding day.
“Half of running a marathon, you need a little bit of delusion to get yourself through it, so I’m pretty confident in the spell! Why not?” said O’Neill Lyublinksy, who also asked her witch to throw in some self-confidence and health for the big day.
“I figured I’ve been training for this since June and what could hurt?”
And the $20 is a small price to pay for the peace of mind — considering she’s spent countless money on sneakers, fuel packs, clothes and roughly $300 race entry fee.
“Manifestation! And some weird things and coincidences have been happening since I hired her,” said O’Neill Lyublinksy, who visited a random shop to buy a race day throwaway sweater only to find one bearing the name of her favorite college bar from her time at Penn State.
Sunday is forecast to be warm and sunny with very little wind — and comes at the tail end of a dry stretch that will continue until light sprinkles of rain on Election Day, AccuWeather Senior Meterologist Bill Degger told The Post.
Temperatures will be around 50 degrees when the first wave of runners kick off the day at 8 a.m., but will steadily rise to a high of 63 degrees at 3 p.m.
That means this year could grab bronze in the race for hottest marathon of the past decade, behind an incredible 74 degrees in 2022 and 65 degrees in 2023.
The expected 63 degrees is not optimal for most runners, with some experts saying low 40s are conducive to the best performances.
After seeing the forecast, Lorra Barile encouraged three fellow runners to employ Mirage Mages and her “good weather spell.”
“I’ve had a three out of four success rate, which is pretty good!” said Barile, founder of the Reckless Run Crew in Greenpoint.
She first hired the witch in June when rain threatened to ruin the club’s annual race, saying she was inspired to turn to the mystical vendor out of “desperation.”
The spell worked — and ended up clearing the skies for the Knicks Parade.
“It’s only six dollars. So, why not? Okay, I’ll trade off my morning latte for that!” said Barile, who has run several marathons but is not competing in this year’s race.
While balmy, the 50th annual marathon will be the furthest from the warmest on record.
Runners competed in sweltering 80-degree heat in 1979.
The coldest was in 1995, when temperatures neared 40 degrees and wind chill was in the 20s, according to AccuWeather.
