Safety Tips

Earlier this week, during a lunchtime click-thru of www.runnersworld.com, I ran across an interesting article regarding safety tips. I can be a very nervous person, typically. I wear a seatbelt. I come to a complete stop at stop signs, and always use my turning signal. I walk like I know what I'm doing and where I'm going, I make eye contact, and I'm a pro at analyzing and memorizing faces (although a lot of good that does me if I'm dead.)

But when I tie up the running shoes, I become someone different. For whatever reason, I've adopted this idea that as a runner, I'm automatically immune to the average predator. I envision myself as being such a beastly threat that any normal kidnapper will avoid me like the plague. I wanted to review the safety tips with everyone--as a reminder to those of you who are overly confident, such as myself, and to provide my own feedback as to my status of these tips (Mom--you may want to stop reading):

1) Face The Traffic. Okay, I'm 1 for 1. I actually do this...if I'm not on the sidewalk. If there's a sidewalk, I ignore this rule. If there isn't, I do run on the left-hand side of the road, facing the traffic.
2) Dress Correctly. In my running wardrobe, I have numerous tights and shirts and coats. I have one pair of pants that has reflective strips, and one jacket. The pants I wear. I wore the reflective pants for the Philly Half. And all my pictures make me look like a piece of radioactive nuclear waste.
3) Never Walk Alone. I think this list was for walkers, but this one is impossible for me to follow. Sometimes Ted or Dave will run with me. Often times it's just me. And my music. Which brings me to safety tip #4.
4) Leave the Walkman At Home. Before we bought the house, Ted and I lived in apartments, first in Center City, then out on City Avenue, right off the expressway. And I always left the walkman at home (at the time I did have a walkman, yes). I was alert, and would cross the streets more often than I should just so I could look behind me without seeming paranoid. We moved to the burbs, and I quickly realized the threat has decreased dramatically, and then one year for Christmas I got an MP3 Player, and well, my attention span just doesn't handle anything over 3 miles very well. I live by this player, and judge each playlist by the race trained for by it. Sean-Paul and "Temperature"? Broad Street. Hank Williams' "That's How They Do It In Dixie"? Philly Half.
5) Lose the Jewelry. I do take most jewelry off before a run, except for my wedding rings. And that time I wore those cute little hoop earrings for Broad Street--they just looked pretty with my Princess Leah buns.
6) Walk Defensively. I hope my running is aggressive and intimidating enough to be able to check this tip off as done...
7) Vary Your Routes. I also do this, but not for safety as much as for change of distance and scenery.
8) Self-Defense. The article advises readers to carry mace (which I've considered), a cell phone, money, and various other objects to help one in case of emergency. I like having my hands free. I don't like to carry stuff when I run, and all these objects could be very cumbersome. I have purchased the shoe pack for Road ID which has come in handy for keys and a few dollars, and my "I Support National Parks" fanny pack worked well for gels, cell phone, and a water bottle during my longer runs...however, it was too big and I have retired it, hoping for the water waist pack from Santa...
9) Keep Right. This is theoretically so other runners and faster walkers can pass you. However, I am the only one running where I run, so the sidewalk is mine, and I own it.
10) Carry ID. This is where my Road ID comes in. Before the MP3 player came along (and sometimes after), my imagination would go crazy on runs. I would find myself wondering what would happen if I got hit by a car. If a dog turned me into a chew toy. If I tripped and rolled down a bank. Would I be conscious enough to provide my name and Ted's number? Would I be whisked off to the hospital and be reunited with my husband? Would I remember to call into work and let them know I wouldn't be in? Would I be left for dead on the side of the road because no one knew who I was? I did get Road ID so now I have my name and address and phone number, so now I'm pretty much guaranteed that nothing will happen (hey, it never snows when you get the snowblower, right?)

Out of this list, I'm giving myself a generous 50%. I guess I have room for improvement. But I'm not a dumb runner...I avoid small shoulders, I avoid running in the dark on roads without sidewalks, if I don't know where I'm going or if I'm in a new location I will generally leave the soundtrack at home. But considering I have every crack and loose cobblestone memorized on my running routes, I think I'm relaxed enough to probably need a reality check and maybe turn the volume down a bit, or remember to wear the reflective jacket a few more times.