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What I Want – Social Media Race Updates

This is the first in what might become a little series about things related to the fitness world (of course) that I want. By “want” I don’t really mean things that I wish I could afford or that I wish someone would give me, like a
Zipp Sub-9 Disc Wheel or a full-time massage therapist. I mean things that I don’t think exist right now, but that someone should develop. And sell at a reasonable price. Or better yet, give me to test out. Some of what I “want” might already exist – please let me know if they do. Some of what I want probably aren’t realistic just yet, but I’m sure they will be soon and you could be the one to make all the money.

This first item is something I’ve been thinking about for a while, but really hit me this summer while training for Ironman Canada. Like a lot of people these days, I use social media like Facebook and Twitter as a primary means of communication with a lot of people. I have friends I haven’t actually spoken with in months, but I can tell you what they did last night, how they felt during their most recent race or what their kid looked like on his first day of school. I agree that facebook and Twitter can get a little overwhelming, depending on how prolific your “friends” are, but I find it easy to skip those updates or tweets and just focus on the ones that interest me.

What I Want today is a way to automatically update my facebook status and/or post a tweet with in-race results.

Piece #1: Nearly all races these days use some kind of timing chip to get accurate results. In some races, particularly the big, well-funded and sponsored ones like Ironmans and major marathons, family and friends can follow along online and get periodic updates on their racer’s progress – when the timing chip passes a receiver mat along the course, that information is updated and available online. But, in general, in order to get those updates, you have to be at your computer and actively make the effort to check each individual’s status. And, unless your racer is exactly hitting pre-announced time goals, you have to continue to check back. (I know that some races have experimented with sending automatic SMS messages with race updates to people who pre-register, but I haven’t seen those at races in a couple years. I’m guessing they were cost-prohibitive and frankly the ones I used didn’t work very well anyway.)

Piece #2: Many of the triathletes and runners I know post their race results on facebook and/or Twitter – we’re proud of our accomplishments and there are people who follow along and do care. By posting my Ironman result on facebook, I’ve reached a lot of people who might be interested to hear it, but probably wouldn’t go through the effort to follow online during the race or go to the race results website after the race. But, unless you have friends updating your status for you while you’re racing, those results are only posted after the fact.

Combine Piece #1 and Piece #2: Why can’t the timing chip be connected to some kind of software that automatically sends an update to your facebook, Twitter (or other) account? Here’s what I’m thinking – before a marathon for example, I sign-up for a service and give it permission to update my social media status. During the race, when I cross the 10K timing mat, my facebook status is automatically updated to say “Josh just passed the 10K mark at the 2009 ING NYC Marathon in XX:XX”. Anyone who is friends with me on facebook would be able, without any effort other than logging into their own facebook account, to keep tabs on my progress. Facebook and twitter updates are both easily available on mobile devices so my friends and family wouldn’t have to be at computer to figure out where I am.

Now I realize there are two issues that would have to be worked out. The first is cost. And I have no idea how much software like this would cost. Thousands? Millions? But, at least the hardware is generally already in place. Racers wear timing chips. Races have timing mats. Connecting to the internet should be easy in most places. So someone develops the software, makes sure it’s compatible with the various already-existing timing chip systems and then licenses it to race directors. As for the cost to race directors, I would guess that facebook or Twitter might be willing to chip in a little bit of money in order to get even more traffic to their sites during races. Nearly 38,000 people ran the NYC Marathon last year; something like 18,000 of those were under 40. Is it crazy to estimate that 15,000-20,000 of the runners have facebook and/or Twitter accounts? I don’t think so. Facebook tells Nike that some-thousands of runners and their family and friends will be spending a few extra minutes on facebook on November 1, 2009 and for $X they can all see a little Nike ad. I see this as an easy sell to social media advertisers (on facebook, at least, since there’s no ads on Twitter. Yet.). Other ways to make back the investment would be for the race to get a sponsor for the posts/tweets. It would be a little annoying, but a brief “brought to you by Adidas” wouldn’t kill anyone. A final way would be to charge racers. A nominal fee ($1? $2) would be an easy sell and a way to recoup some costs. The race could make it available during registration and at the expo. When you’re spending all that money to race and buy the t-shirts, jackets, hats and other crap, what’s another $2 to get your results automatically posted?

The second issue is related to privacy concerns. In signing up for the service, I would have to allow the race organizers to access my facebook account. But I wouldn’t want them to have access for any purpose other than posting those in-race updates. I also wouldn’t want my password or account information sitting in their files waiting to be accidentally leaked or stolen. I’m sure there’s a way to permit that very limited access and protect the information.

That’s it for the first What I Want. A damn good idea if I don’t say so myself. Keep me in mind if you actually develop this one.

Run – September 20
Distance: 5.3 miles
Time: 42 minutes
Average heart rate: 140
Course: West Hollywood/Beverly Hills
Conditions: Sunny and warm (low 70s)

Strength/core – September 21

LA Tri Club Griffith Park Brick – September 22
Total Time: 2:28
Bike:
Distance: 19 miles
Time: 1:22
Average heart rate: 124
Transition Time: 4:09
Run:
Distance: 7.1 miles
Time: 1:01
Average heart rate: 128
Conditions: Hot, sunny and humid to start, got dark for the run

Swim – September 23
Distance: 3,171 yards (2,900 meters)
Time: 1:07

Run – September 23
Distance: 3.6 miles
Time: 26 minutes
Average heart rate: 135
Course: Local neighborhood
Conditions: Evening run, warm (mid-70’s) and humid

Speedwork – September 24
Total distance: 7 miles
Time: 1:00
Main set: 20x400m (40″ rest), average pace 1:25/400m

Run – September 26
Distance: 5.4 miles
Time: 42 minutes
Average heart rate: 149
Course: West Hollywood/Beverly Hills
Conditions: Sunny and hot (high 70s)