“Go, random stranger!”

“If Donald Trump can run, so can you!”

“Worst parade ever.”

If you’ve run a race recently, you might recognize these phrases from the signs held by spectators along the course. Crowd support is an incredible phenomenon, and as a longtime runner, I’m forever grateful to anyone who comes out and stands on the side of the road, rain or shine, for hours, just to watch me run by for 10 seconds.

But as much as I appreciate giving a swift high five to a, “Touch here for power” sign (it really does make me feel like I’ve just had a gulp of Space Jam’s secret stuff!), I get equally as frustrated with some spectators and their not-so-helpful cheers. For example, the guy who yelled, “You’re almost there!” to me at mile 11 of the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon this year made me want to fling myself off the side of the road.

I was fuming: Was this guy seriously watching this race without any idea how long a marathon is?! Did he not understand how far I still had to run?! My mood shifted from concentrating on the course before me (did you know marathons hurt?) to being furious with a stranger. It was depleting, and in a way, demeaning—though I know that wasn’t his intention.

The fact of the matter is: Sometimes fans think they’re being helpful, but their “motivating” cheers or race signs are actually mentally draining and deflating for runners. To help fans be the best support crew they can be, I polled my friends in The Most Informal Running Club Ever, NYC to see what they most enjoy hearing or seeing during a race.

Here are the best (and worst) things to say or do on the sidelines.

Ways to Be Helpful

“I laugh at signs that say, ‘Don’t trust a fart.’” — Christopher Ho, marathoner

“During the Boston Marathon, I laughed out loud, pointed, and gave a thumbs up to the guy holding a sign that said, ‘If Jeb! can make it through 2015, then you can make it through this race.’” — Michele Richinick, two-time marathoner

“I love signs that say, ‘You’re faster than [fill in mass transit of choice]—like, ‘You’re faster than the G train’ (New York), or ‘the metro’ (Washington, DC), or ‘the T’ (Boston).” — Jasmin Roman, marathoner

Continue reading “The Best and Worst Things to Say to a Runner During a Race” →