Goodyear paints a tire tread the full 26.2 miles

It was hard not to miss, whether you were a runner or watching the event from the comfort of a warm living room, a blue line that ran the entire 26.2 miles of the Philadelphia Marathon back on Nov. 18.

The line was put down by Goodyear to promote its Forterera TripleTred tire. The pattern of the line was that of the tire.

As an all-weather tire, it seemed a perfect fit for the course and the day, which was chilly with a nip of wind and rain.

“That’s where you’ll run into lots of different weather,” says Ed Markey, a spokesperson for Goodyear, referring to the demands of marathons. “And we were looking for a big media market. We had to find a marathon partner that was willing. And Philly was.”

Markey says the line was laid with blue painting using a revolving stencil that looked like a giant tire. The rig was connected to a trailer and pulled behind a pickup truck.

To support the campaign Goodyear handed out 15,000 signs with its “Get there” tagline to marathon spectators. Each sign had a list of 56 Goodyear dealers in the three-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

-Kristie Shields