Today marks the first ever fall Boston Marathon, as 20,000 runners head to the starting line of the iconic marathon in Hopkinton The race marks the 125th anniversary of the race, after two Patriot's Days when Boston did not host a marathon

If you want to take a break from work and follow all the action, we've found all the ways to track the runners on the course Elite athletes like Jordan Hussey, Des Linden, and Molly Huddle will be returning to their hometown of Boston Here's how to watch the Boston Marathon online

The 2021 race will start early with a rolling start to allow for more distance on the course The wheelchair men will start at 8:02 am ET and the wheelchair women at 8:05 am ET The hand bikes and duos will start at 8:30 am, followed by the pro men at 8:37 am, pro women at 8:45 am, para-athletes at 8:50 am, and a rolling mass start at 9 am

There are several ways to track runners at the Boston Marathon: the first is to use the official Boston Marathon app, which is available for free download on iOS and Android Using the tracker app, runners are searched by name, number, city, and team Once you select a runner, you can view their progress, splits, and times live on the course There is no limit to the number of runners you can track, so be sure to add all of your favorite runners

You can receive push notifications from the app, which will update you on the runners' progress, as well as view the top leaderboards for the men's and women's elite races, and the top US runners for both men and women

If you accidentally select the wrong runner, you can remove them from the tracker's "scheduled" list by clicking the cross in the upper left corner You will then be prompted to confirm that you want to remove the participant from the list

If you do not want to download the app or are at work and cannot keep checking your phone, you can also track runners through the BAA website You can search for runners and view results and leaderboards in real time

In addition to the mass participation races, this year there will also be a virtual Boston Marathon

To track a runner's progress in the Virtual Boston Marathon, simply enter their name or bib number in the search bar From the app, you can view your map and time for the 262-mile race

The downside to the official Boston Marathon app is that it can be a bit glitchy because of the thousands of people using it on race day Other ways to track runners include running watches, fitness trackers, and certain running apps

First, if the runner is wearing a Garmin running watch and carrying a smartphone, the runner can turn on live tracking through the Garmin Connect app on the smartphone This allows runners to share their live location with friends and family via email, Facebook, and Twitter The downside is that it relies on the smartphone's GPS signal, which can be unstable on race day and is not ideal for runners who leave their phones in their kit bagsThe Garmin Forerunner 245 LTE is also capable of live tracking and relaying the runner's position without a phone without a phone call

If the runner has an Apple Watch SE or Apple Watch Series 3 or later, they can share their live position prior to departure To do so, they must add you in the Find People app on their Apple Watch and tap "Share my location" Once they choose you as a friend, you can view their location for an hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely (depending on which option they choose, we recommend the middle option) This also requires carrying a smartphone, unless you have the cellular version of the Apple Watch

Another app available for most modern Garmin running watches and Apple Watches newer than the Apple Watch Series 3 is Strava Beacon with Strava Beacon, runners can send live tracking links to three different contacts live tracking links to three different contacts This is typically a safety feature of the app, but comes in handy on race day