The Boston Marathon takes place April 16, and many runners will have their cellphones with them. Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale doesn’t snap selfies from the mound, writes Andy Rosen at The Boston Globe, “But at some point along the 26.2 miles of the Boston Marathon Monday, Myla Green is planning to call her mom for encouragement.”
Rosen quotes Green, a 34-year-old manager at a nonprofit, as saying, “A marathon is very much a psychological game as much as it is a physical challenge, and you start having voices in your head saying, ‘You can’t do this. You should stop.’ Being with people—whether I’m running with a group, or calling people on the phone if I’m running solo—helps.”
Rosen reports that a Boston Athletic Association survey of 7,389 runners in last year’s Marathon found that 43% percent brought their phones with them during the race. “Though it does not have an official preference, the BAA does gently suggest that runners would do well to soak up the experience sans headphones,” he adds, explaining that elite runners competing for awards are not allowed to use headphones.
Rosen quotes T.K. Skenderian, spokesman for the BAA, as saying, “We always encourage participants to take in the crowd noise and listen to the competitors around them. The fans along the Boston course are unlike anywhere else in the world. It’s almost like the reward. You’ve been training for months.”
Janice Hodgins Spiotta, a runner from Batavia, NY, takes that viewpoint. Rosen quotes her as saying, “I run to tune out. I don’t want to have the distraction of technology.”
