Marathoners who sign up for ASICS's "Support Your Marathoner" will activate an RFID tag they can attach to their shoes. That tag, given to all marathoners, will then trigger messages of love and support specific to each of the runners on an LED screen as they run past it. There will be three screens in total placed at miles nine, 12 and 22.
Support Your Marathoner actually started at last year's marathon, but ASICS has added networks such as Facebook to collect support messages, videos and images.
Even if runners can't stop and watch the screens during the marathon, each runner will have access to their personalized gallery of messages, videos and pictures to keep after the race.
Any runner can register for the program and any person can leave a message for any runner thanks to the website's search function. The program currently has received more than 2,750 support messages since it began in mid-October.
Messages of support are certainly not a new concept, but the use of RFID chips brings it into the digital era. It's nice to think of haggard marathoners getting a needed boost of love at mile 22, thanks to a tiny piece of tech.