Your people’s voices, at the miles you choose.Your people’s voices, at the miles you choose.

Step 1. This week: set up your race in Layer.

• Plan your race: name it “NYC Marathon” and enter your wave’s start time. Layer matches it to the New York City course. (The course has no start time built in. Every time below runs from the start time you enter.)
• Open Schedule. Layer lays out your race morning, from Wake up to the start, plus Lay out race kit and Charge watch the night before.
• Move the times to fit New York. The default schedule suits most races, but your bus or ferry to Staten Island leaves hours before your wave. Set Out the door to your transport time and Arrive at the start to when you’ll get there. Add your own rows, like “Ferry” or “Bagel at the start village”.
• Open Race Alerts and choose which rows reach you. Notify sends a Time Sensitive notification. Put one on Wake up, and set your phone’s own alarm too.
• On the Briefing, check Race Day Weather hour by hour and the outfit for your start time. Look again on Saturday, when the forecast is close.

Step 2. Send your invite links by Sunday, October 25.

• Open Race Cues, then Invite someone to record. Make one link per person.
• Pin each link to a mile. Mile 8 for Mom, mile 21 for your training partner. Placement is on the half mile.
• Send the links by Sunday, October 25. That gives your people a week.
• Tell them three things: record in their browser (no app, no account), keep it under 15 seconds, and type the name you call them. If they type “Mom”, you’ll hear “A note from Mom.” before her voice.
• Ask them to record by Saturday morning, October 31. Links stay open until 3 hours before your start, but Saturday gives you time to see who has recorded and remind anyone who hasn’t.

Step 3. Saturday night: photograph your kit and text it to your crew.

• Lay out everything you’ll race in. Lay out race kit sits on your schedule at 6 PM. Give it an alert if you want the nudge.
• Take one photo of the kit, not of you. Colors and patterns are how people pick you out of a crowd.
• Text it to everyone who’ll be on the course. Add your bib number. Share Kit on the Briefing sends Layer’s outfit card too, but your photo is what they’ll spot you by.
• On race morning, text anything you change: “Grey throwaway hoodie until mile 3.”

Step 4. Race day: share your location, and keep the official app as the backup.

• In Find My, share your location with the people on the course. Share Until End of Day covers the whole race.
• Ask your supporters to follow you in the official TCS New York City Marathon app too. Its timing mats work even when your phone has no signal.
• Layer doesn’t share your location. Find My and the official app do that job. Layer plays your voice notes.

Race morning, in order:

1. Follow your Schedule. Tick each row off as you go.
2. Check the outfit and the start-hour weather on the Briefing before you dress. Layer dresses you for the conditions at your start. The wait in the start village is often colder, so bring a layer you can throw away.
3. Start with a full charge. Race Mode, music, and location sharing all use battery.
4. Connect your headphones before you turn on Race Mode.
5. Turn on Race Mode once the window opens, 3 hours before your start. Layer checks your notes, location access, battery, and headphones first, and tells you what to fix.
6. Don’t swipe Layer away in the app switcher.