I’m here for the long run

So, your friends love marathons? Show up for them as their hype buddy. They'll thank you for the extra water and the motivation

- Kritika Kapoor

So, your friend is running a marathon. Naturally, you want to be supportive. But cheering from the sidelines on race day is only half the job. Training starts anywhere between 16 to 20 weeks earlier — that's nearly five months of predawn alarms, long runs on unforgiving city roads, cancelled plans, sore legs and the kind of mental gymnastics usually reserved for bad breakups. They're going to need a hype buddy.

No, you don’t have to start running yourself. You don’t even have to understand what a pace, split or negative split is (insert Confused Math Lady GIF here). This is how to show up for your marathoner friend — before, during and after race day — without pulling a hamstring.

Meet them halfway. Sneha Shah, run coach at SohFit Mumbai, says her friends often help her along her 20km runs by showing up with water and gels packed with carbs and electrolytes to keep her fuelled. “Some even start their own shorter runs to meet me at some point with refreshments. If I'm passing a neighbourhood where a friend lives, they meet me in their cars with water.”