The Big Easy; 2.0

We live in a strange and wonderful world. At the finish line of the 2011 Mardi Gras Marathon and Half Marathon I wondered – out loud and on the microphone – why New Orleans was referred to as “The Big Easy”. Within minutes, a young man approached me, iPhone in hand, to show me the results of his Google search. The Big Easy was New Orleans’ response to the 1970’s New York promotion as “The Big Apple”. Who knew?

I also need to acknowledge that every photo in this blog was posted to someone’s Facebook page, and I was “tagged”. That’s just the way the world is. No more waiting around for photos to be developed. No more waiting around to get home and upload the photos from your camera and email them to your friends. Today, it’s point, shoot, and post.

All this is by way of saying that the magic of the events like Mardi Gras can now be shared with the entire world in a matter of minutes. There were literally people updating their Facebook status before they got their finisher’s medal. Amazing. I spoke to one of the top professional photographers and THEY are working on the technology that will allow them to read the participants number and immediately upload the photo to their Facebook page.

All this leads me to believe that the running boom, or next running generation, or whatever it is that we’re calling it these days could easily be poised for another explosion. First off, it’s not a running boom. It’s a running-walking-walk/running-run/walking-get-me-across-the-finish-line-in-front-of-the-sag-wagon boom. And, the next boom won’t be driven by folks that are standing around in book stores trying to find the latest running guru. It will be driven by the social media folks. The iPhone-iPad-Droid carrying Facebooking-Tweeting folks. And I’m all for it.

And it will be driven by fun people who are having fun. They want to share their joy with their Facebook friends because they are HAPPY. They are not inclinded to sit in a dark corner with their log book and ring their hands about missing their goal time by 3 seconds. They want EVERYONE to know that they finished, and that they finished smiling.

What happens next? I have no idea. But don’t worry. As soon as I find out I’ll post it on my Facebook page.

Waddle on,

John “the Penguin” Bingham, Competitor Magazine columnist Author, The Courage to Start, No Need for Speed, Marathoning for Mortals and Running for Mortals.

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