Today, 33,000 runners will take on the 50th annual New York City Marathon, a 262-mile course that will take runners from Staten Island through the five boroughs of New York City, finishing in Central Park in Manhattan

Whether you want to track friends and family or find Christy Turlington (who will be returning to the New York City Marathon on behalf of her charity, Every Mother Counts), you can get on the couch and track runners in the New York City Marathon! You'll have all the information you need to track them down

Last year's New York City Marathon was postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak, making Sunday's race a long-awaited event for many runners This iconic marathon is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, along with the London, Berlin, Chicago, Boston, and Tokyo Marathons

The New York City Marathon will begin today, November 7, at 8:00 am ET with the wheelchair division The handcycle division will start at 8:20 am, the elite women at 8:40 am, the elite men at 9:05 am, and the mass participation wave at 9:10 am This year there will be five mass participation runner waves, with Wave 1 starting at 9:10 AM and Wave 5 at 12:00 PM Waves are based on runners' estimated finish times, so it is a good idea to check which wave a runner is in to know when to start tracking them

The easiest way to track mass participation runners in the New York City Marathon 2021 is to download the free official app on Android and iOS To track runners, simply head to the "Tracking" section of the app, which will allow you to search by name, or bib number; there is no limit to the number of spectators tracking one runner, so get the whole family involved

To add a runner, click on the plus (+) sign above the bib number If a runner is successfully added, a check mark will appear On Sundays, you will be able to see live updates on the runner's progress on the course Tracking will record the runner's time at every 5 km, at the halfway point, and at the finish line

From the app, runners can view their pace and splits, estimated finish time, and estimated finish time based on the time they started running You can also share live tracking with family and friends and pre-order race photos (great for holiday gifts)

The app also offers a number of other extras to keep you entertained on race day, including elite runner profiles, interactive maps, and weather forecasts If you accidentally add the wrong runner to your tracking, you can swipe left to remove them

If you can't make it out to the course, you can also watch the race on TV and find your runners Local coverage will be on WABC-TV (Channel 7) from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm ET

This year, there will also be a virtual New York City Marathon, where runners from anywhere in the world can complete the 262-mile distance; some runners have purchased virtual spots that guarantee them a spot in the 2022 New York City Marathon, while others run for the love of running and Some runners run because they love to run, while others run to raise money for charity

All virtual marathon runners must complete the marathon distance between October 23 and November 7 To find a virtual marathon runner, simply search for their name and add them to the tracking The event will be labeled "Virtual Marathon" and a red glove logo will appear below the virtual runner's bib number in place of the runner's blue icon Like the mass participants, once the virtual runners begin running, they will be able to see their splits and a graph of their runs

Good news for those whose favorite thing about race day is spotting the celebrities running the race Mumford and Sons band members Marcus Mumford and Ben Lovett will run for charity; TODAY Show and Morning Joe co-host Willie Geist will run for the Michael J Fox Foundation Stars of Bachelor Nation, including Matt James, Tyler Cameron, and Tayshia Adams of The Bachelor, will run for the city Legendary fashion model Christy Turlington will return to the New York Marathon for the second time in a decade, and US Women's National Soccer Team teammates and Olympic gold medalists Abby Wambach, Lauren Holiday, Kate Markgraf, and Leslie Osbourne will also run and support the JLH Foundation

The downside to the official NYC Marathon app is that it can be a bit glitchy, as thousands of people will be using it on race day There are other ways to track runners with running watches, fitness trackers, and certain running apps

First, if a runner is wearing a Garmin running watch and carrying a smartphone, they can turn on live tracking in the Garmin Connect app on their smartphone This allows runners to share their live location with friends and family via email, Facebook, and Twitter The downside is that it relies on the smartphone's GPS signal, which can be unstable on race day and is not ideal for runners who leave their phones in their kit bagsThe Garmin Forerunner 245 LTE also allows for live tracking, relaying the runner's location without a phone without the need for a phone

If the runner has an Apple Watch SE or Apple Watch Series 3 or later, they can share their live position prior to departure To do so, they must add you in the Find People app on their Apple Watch and tap "Share my location Once they choose you as a friend, you will be able to see their location for an hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely (depending on which option they choose, we recommend the middle option) This also requires you to carry your smartphone with you, unless you have the cellular version of the Apple Watch

Another app that works with most modern Garmin running watches and newer than the Apple Watch Series 3 is Strava BeaconWith Strava Beacon, runners can send live tracking links to three different contacts This is usually a safety feature of the app, but comes in handy on race day