text?? email? how often does it ring?? tia??
Carrying a cell phone during an IM is a big no-no…
no i mean imcda calls your loved ones every?/ and tells them where you are in the race
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I signed up for this service for the San Diego Rock and Roll marathon earlier this month. I signed up Saturday night before the race. Once you sign up, there is a button on the web page to click and they will test your phone. My test ring came through at 10am the next morning, after my friends had finished the race, and I never got any updates on how they were doing during the race. When the test came through, my phone rang and then there was a message on the screen that I had a text message waiting for me.
For the Accenture Chicago Triathlon, it worked very well. My family got a text message everytime i came through. When i finished the swim, they were sent a text. When i finished the bike, they were sent a text and when i finished the run, they were sent a text. Cummulative time and splits were included. Very cool.
I signed up for this when my wife and her friend did the Chicago marathon last year. My experience was so-so. I’d get a simple text page at various splits with their name, the point they had just passed and their time. I can’t remember all the splits at which I got a page. I think it was 10K, 10mi, 13.1, 15mi, 20 mi and the finish.
The first couple of pages went off and indicated to me that they were running on schedule. Great news! However there was a long delay before I got the third page, which got me worried. My worry was compounded by the fact that I missed seeing them at the halfway point (which, in retrospect, should not have been a surprise due to the fact that I was looking for two small women MOPers in a sea of 30,000 runners). So I was freaking out a bit, wondering if they had a problem. So I went on to the 20-mile point in Chinatown, hoping to see them again, and suddenly the phone buzzed and I got their 13.1 mile, 15-mile, and 20-mile updates all at the same time. Apparently the system just got delayed or something, because they were right on schedule - and I did see them run by at mile 20.
So that’s probably a longer story than you cared for, but I guess my advice is go ahead and sign up for it, but don’t get too concerned if you don’t get the update right on time when you expect!
Same thing happened with Alcatraz. The test came through fine, but no updates ever made it through…kj