Be Seen or Be Dead

Inherantly, when you are running the distances that are required for marathon training, you will be running in the dark.  Not to mention, running laps around a 1/4 mile track is not my idea of fun.  I get sick on rides that go around in tight circles!  So, I am looking at the challenge of running in both daylight & darkness, on roads and sidewalks.  These are not my areas.  Well, at least the road is not my area.  That belongs to the cars; therefore, I leave it to them as much as I possibly can.  I have come up with a few simple rules... no, I didn't come up with them all on my own, but if you are going to be street running, you might want to consider these:

- Always run against the flow traffic... you want to see what is coming at you so you can jump out of the way if needed

- Just cause you are on the sidewalk, doesn't mean you're safe... keep your head on a swivel

- Face planting into the mud diving out of the way of a car is better than death... it's bigger than you, so the law of gross tonage applies

- If you wear an iPod, and must wear it while on the road, the traffic side ear bud must come out... you can't avoid what you cannot hear (Just read an article about hybrid cars being the runners silent killer)

- Be seen... if you can do anything to be seen, do it!  This includes waving, wearing bright colors, reflective clothing

- Always tell someone where you are running... leave a note or something describing the route & time expected to return, that way, in case the horrible happens, people know where to find you

- Wear your allergies, name & contact number... the emergency service folks don't know what you do if you are unconscious.  Help them, help you!

That was painless, hopefully.  I want to expound on a couple of these though.

Clothing choice is pivitol when running, not only for body temperature regulation, but for safety.  Here is how I look when I run during the day.  I choose colors that drivers can't help but see.  This is an Under Armour Steeltown Gold long sleeve (sleeves are pulled up right now) shirt.  You can almost HEAR me coming when I wear this thing! 

I will still wave at vehicles, bicycleists, etc when they are coming toward me while I am running.  I want to make sure they see me & avoid me.  It's not the runner who should have to be avoiding a vehicle, it SHOULD be the vehicle avoiding the runner in my opinion.  I do my best about not running on the road, unless I encounter one of the elderly folks walking around our village on the sidewalk.  I will immediately get out of their way... it's not only respectful, it's also for their safety.  I don't want them to try to move out of my way and slip & fall.  I would feel horrible if I caused an elderly person to break a hip or something!

This is how I want to look when I run before daylight.  Yeah, I know, it's not a runner, but I want to look just like this when I run!  My typical kit when I run at night is not much different than what I wear during the day right now.  My hat has reflective material on it.  My shirt & shorts have reflective material on them.  My shoes have reflective material on them.  The biggest change right now, is I wear a 3M reflective safety belt.  This is basically just a reflective strip of plastic that wraps around my waist & velcros.  I really need to order a runners headlight.  I also have seen a flashing red safety light that clips to your back or fastens to your hat band in the back so vehicles approaching from behind see you.  One of the tools I use right now is my iPod. 

I have the iPod touch that I run with.  I downloaded an application for it called iFlashlight.  It was free and just displays a white screen on the iPod.  If I am being approached by a car, I will unlock my iPod and shine the "flashlight" at them.  It seems to get their attention, but it doesn't do much for me by helping me see the uneven German roads!  LOL!

The last one I want to touch on is the identification.  There are several ideas for making sure EMS workers have vital information about you.  I am allergic to penecillin, which is one of the most common antibiotics.  To avoid them giving me this antibiotic, I had a set of dogtags made.  I laced one into my shoe and the other I carry in my iPod armband.  It shows the EMS my name, emergency contact phone number, and allergies.  I found a company in the last copy of Runners World magazine called Road ID.  Click HERE for their website.  This is a nice form factor for an ID band.  They also have one that has a code on it that the EMS workers can access via the Road ID website and get even more info about you.  I think my dogtags work fine though and were only $5.