• Live and virtually •
[2 MIN READ]
There’s nothing like a crowd to make a competitive race seem easier and more enjoyable. I first cut my teeth on small marathons, where a runner can go a mile and see only other runners (I still rather prefer races like that.); so I was blown away the first time I ran Broad Street Run where the entire course is flanked by spectators. I’ve never run New York or Boston Marathons, but I’ve heard they’re pretty phenomenal in the same way.
The Philadelphia Marathon isn’t perfectly crowd supported, but it’s still impressive in its own way. Since Philadelphia is such a running town, it’s possible to know people from numerous different running clubs who you might well see during the marathon as competitors. Volunteers staff many aspects of event support — e.g., packet pick up, hydration stations, medal distribution — so you might also see familiar people surrounding the marathon as non-competitors. That’s one way I saw friends from Black Men Run Philadelphia last year who were staffing a hydration station (iCandybyWangC.com). The bon ami that issued from those who recognized me was a huge emotional support at that late stage of the marathon.
Technology has now made it possible to provide race support without even being at the physical course. Here’s Philadelphia’s race app webpage. I already have a boatload of training buddies already loaded up on my phone from both SRC and Jenkintown Running Company’s Growlers Group Run. Regular SRC-ers have also met most or all of these buddies. Check out their names and you can follow their race progress, too (ShawmontRunningClub.com. Since those are trailtags, feel free to holler for given names.). In fact, you can do the same for the running buddies doing the half marathon while you’re at it (same link).
The app makes it possible to virtually cheer any individual competitor from the comfort of your own home. I used Boston Marathon’s app to track one of the buddies at last year’s race: It made for a mighty exciting virtual experience (iCandybyWangC.com).
With that app at the ready on my phone (which I will be carrying while I race), the biggest challenge might not be the race itself, but resisting the urge to check where every competing friend is while we run and to see who’s cheering me virtually. You?!
–CtCloser (Calvinthe) “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT ¶Text by Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-published: Facebook Shawmont Running Club (ZY Weekly Newsletter 11/15/25), Shawmont Running Club website, Ruminations by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Rumination with added caption and enumeration.
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