There are two types of people in the world: those who run the New York City Marathon — and those who do not.
Glennon Doyle is decidedly not a marathon runner, but across social media on Sunday, she cheered on her wife, two-time Olympic gold medalist Abby Wambach, who tackled the 26.2-mile run.
She began her tweet-spree early Sunday morning disoriented from the end of daylight saving time, which messed up the time on the clock in her hotel room.
“I'm in a hotel and I don't know which clock to believe. The phone changes for us, right?” she tweeted. “Remember when we used to 'call time?' Good morning. At the tone the time will be..”
A few minutes later, she followed up in the same thread, writing, “Thank you! My wife is running an entire marathon this morning and I am sitting unmoving in my bed cause the figure out what time it is part of the day was too hard.”
Doyle took a moment to commiserate with author Luvvie Ajayi about the clocks turning back. Ajayi replied to the original tweet, sharing one of her tweets she wrote on the subject before adding, “It’s a scam, G!”
“I am not a farmer why do I have to participate,” Doyle tweeted back.
After her initial tweet inquiring about the time as to not miss the start of the marathon, the 45-year-old author crowdsourced ideas on supportive messages to share with Wambach, 41, as she partook in the marathon.
“Hello loves can you share good ways to support a marathon runner?” she asked in a tweet. “I already made my 'BABE YOU CAN STOP WHENEVER YOU WANT TO' sign @nycmarathon.”
One fan took slight offense to the original tweet, replying with some more positive suggestions, “Um, being ACTUALLY SUPPORTIVE like ‘You've got this!!’ and ‘It's the finish LINE not the finish TIME that matters.’ Not encouraging quitting.”
“You're right. I was joking, that is not an Abby Appropriate sign,” Doyle replied. “It's the one I'd sure as hell wanna see though.”
The same fan replied back to the author, encouraging her to support the “back of the packers” and wait until the final support vehicle approached.
“The back of the pack people are my favorite people and the ones I find most inspiring. I don't just stay for them i GO for them!!” Doyle said.
A few hours after the race began, Doyle had a strong emotional response to the marathon, writing, “Hi I'm watching people run a marathon and I will never be the same.”
Shortly thereafter, Doyle shared a quick video clip of some of the marathon participants in action as she cheered them on before giving herself a new title to add to her long list of accolades.
“Am now professional marathon watcher @nycmarathon,” she tweeted.
For a fitting conclusion to her tweet spree, Doyle shared one final photo on Twitter of Wambach posing alongside Olympic medalist Shalane Flanagan, both donning their marathon medals after finishing the race.
".@ShalaneFlanagan placed @abbywambach medal over her head after the finish line," she wrote. "Why is life so beautiful @nycmarathon."
Doyle followed up the tweet with another message thanking spectators of the marathon for cheering on her wife as she ran the marathon this year.
"My wife just told me that so many people were cheering for her along the way and I would just like to say thank you New York I love you," she wrote.
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Wambach, a retired U.S. women's soccer player, told The New York Times that she has been training for the New York City Marathon for years. After starting her running journey in 2018, she began to seriously start training to fulfill her “weird dream” of running the marathon in 2019 ahead of the 2020 race, which was ultimately canceled due to the pandemic.
This year, she ran with former U.S. women’s soccer players Leslie Osborne, Lauren Holiday and Kate Markgraf, according to The Times. Though she said she is excited to run with them, she’s prepared to also leave them behind if needed.
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“I’m planning on going quicker than I’m thinking I will,” she said days ahead of the race. “I’m very competitive.”
Doyle and Wambach tied the knot in 2017 after initially meeting while the two promoted their books in 2016. The “Untamed” author and former soccer player co-parent Doyle’s three children with her ex-husband.