Philadelphia Marathon organizers are expecting the largest all-weekend turnout in the organization’s history.

Between the half marathon Saturday, 8K races and the 31st running of the marathon on Sunday, 37,000 athletes are expected to board from the starting line on Ben Franklin Parkway. The race will finish at Eakins Oval in front of the Art Museum.

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Wind speed

The weather on Sunday for the marathon, which starts at 7am, is expected to be windy. Forecasters predict steady northwest winds between 14 and 16 mph, with potential wind gusts reaching up to 25 mph.

Race director Kathleen Titus said wind conditions are being closely monitored and athlete safety will be a priority.

“(Weather) is something we monitor every year,” Titus said. “We meet with the National Weather Service every morning and we evaluate what these gusts are. We have criteria in place based on the wind speed of what’s going to fall.”

Potential hazards in 25 mph wind gust environments include timing clocks, large signs or anything that “could fly away,” Titus said. Race organizers plan to eliminate all hazards of the high winds, such as lowering the timing clocks to the ground.

“Safety is number one,” Titus said. “The runners have to stay safe. We make a decision Saturday morning at 3:00 a.m. We sit down with the National Weather Service at 4:00 a.m. We have today’s plan in place, and we run tactical scenarios over and over again. We have this as a well-oiled machine.”

Marathon watcher

With 17,000 athletes registered for the marathon, race organizers are expecting a significant number of spectators. Tweaks in the design of the course in recent races have allowed spectators who support runners to cheer them on at the beginning, middle and end of the race.

“It gives people a chance to see their loved ones not only at the beginning of the race, but then they can see them again about halfway through,” Titus said. “Then they will see them again when they come back.”

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Titus said the final 10-mile leg of the race, which stretches from Fairmount Park to Manayunk and back again on Kelly Drive, has become a great place to watch the race.

“It has now created a large spectator zone from Fountain Green all the way to the finish line,” Titus said. “Before, we started seeing the crowds more at the end of Boathouse Row.”

100 before 100

This marathon will be Gloria Vasquez’s 94th.

Vasquez, 74, has a goal of completing 100 marathons in all 50 states before she turns 100. She has completed races on five continents.

“I’m constantly training because I try to do two marathons a year,” Vasquez said. “I work. I have a daycare that keeps me very busy. But I run (five miles) in the morning, and then on the weekends I run four to five hours on the beach.”

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Vasquez, who lives in Florida, has run the Philadelphia Marathon before. She said the convenience of having family nearby made her happy to come back to the city. She has two grandchildren living in Philadelphia, one of whom is an engineering student at Drexel.

“I do what’s easy for me,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez said she is not particularly concerned about the potential weather for the race.

“I don’t think about it, I just bundle up,” Vasquez said. “Whatever it is, it is. I won’t run fast, I’ll walk, I’ll do whatever. As long as I stop, I don’t care.”