On Sunday Night’s (22MAY16) #runchat on twitter, the discussion of the night was running safely. The chat was sponsored by RunLites, so much of the discussion was based on illumination while running. However, Question 5 caused me to stop and think. The question was: “What’s the No. 1 piece of safety advice you have for someone new to running?” As I wrote out my answer, I realized that I could not just give one piece of safety advice but there are several things that I think about when discussing running safely.
While there are many other things people could write to add to my list but especially for running in your morning workout, these are five things to think about before going for a run.
Wear light and/or reflective clothes—The biggest thing I think about is to run with light colored or, even better, reflective clothing. It always bothers me that much of the cold weather running gear is black. But, the best you can wear is reflective colored or light colored gear. When running, you want to be seen!
Wear a reflective belt—In the Army there are plenty of jokes about the reflective belt. But, these belts do save lives. A good belt can light brightly by any headlights that are approaching. This also is important.
Do not use ear phones—Some people take this personally, however, there is no way to know what is going on behind you or to your side, if you have earphones. I have used earphones, and if I do I try to use them in a safe place where I am the only one out, such as a park. But there is no place on the road for ear phones. That is way too risky.
Use the sidewalk—I am always amazed by those runners who run in the street, especially when there is a nice safe sidewalk two feet away. I have heard that concrete hurts the muscles and they may, but not as much as a car flipping you into the next block.
Wear a name tag or carry an ID—This is one area that I fail in, but I need to pay more attention to. It is important to have some sort of identification somewhere so that if something happens the first responders can at least notify your loved ones.
This is a brief list, but hopefully it provides some reminders for your next run.
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Photo from stocksnap.io