Running Safety Strategies

As the days get shorter I find myself starting many of my runs long before the sun is up.  It's a little terrifying, and not because I'm afraid of the dark.  Well, maybe a little bit because of that, but more because running in low visibility can be dangerous.  And the danger grows as winter approaches and drivers become more preoccupied with navigating snow and ice and less noticing of foot traffic on the road.  Adding to the problem, colder weather brings frosty car windshields, and not all drivers are diligent about cleaning their windshield sufficiently before they drive.  I've had a few close encounters with cars in the past year, all of which involved inattentive drivers.  And because I'd rather not be in the hospital anytime soon, I've done a lot of reading about safety strategies for runners.

Visibility is your friend.  Be seen.  Be a peacock lit up like a Christmas tree on fire.  Or something.

Face it - fashion isn't a high priority for most runners.  We choose function over style.  I'll use my shoes as Exhibit A on that point:

If you would have told me five years ago that I'd be wearing purple and orange clown shoes on purpose and loving it, I would have pulled a muscle cringing.  But, such is the #runninglife, so let's embrace that fact and use it to our advantage.  If you are running in the dark, you want to be seen.  Light, bright colors are your friends.  Running clothes come in plenty of neon colors - embrace them.  Better yet are lights and reflective materials.  A cheap, reflective running vest is a great investment.  I have a Runner's World branded version of this bargain deal from Wal Mart, and it lights up wonderfully in headlights.  There are a ton of products on the market now that blink and wink and light the way. You may look ridiculous, but that's okay.  I think you look great (and that counts for something, right?  RIGHT?)  Plus, all of us night-runners are right there looking ridiculous with you.  The bottom line is:  give drivers no excuse for not seeing you.

And trust no cars

Always, always, ALWAYS assume that drivers cannot see you.  Always give the car the benefit of the doubt, as even if you have the right of way, your bones are far more breakable than a car, and the car will always win regardless of who was "right."  In my worst me vs. car experience, I actually made eye contact with the driver - I know she saw me - yet she pulled out anyway and knocked me to the ground.  You'll lose a few seconds off of your time waiting - that's life, it happens.  Hardships make you stronger, or something.  But it is far better than being knocked out of training for a few weeks - or worse - because you lost a game of you versus car. #thecarwins 

Stranger Danger

Darkness and bad drivers aren't the only enemies.  There are bad people in the world too, as this recent piece of tragic news has reminded us.  I don't think that there's any surefire way to prevent a horrible attack like that one, but there are things that runners can do to make themselves a little bit safer while they are out there.  Running with a group is a great idea for those who have the option.  Meetup.com is a good resource for local running groups, and many running stores and clubs offer weekly fun runs, especially during race season.

But what if running alone is your only option?  One strategy is to take everything you know about not talking to strangers and throw it out the window.  Well, maybe not everything, but hear me out:  be memorable.  Say hello to people as you pass them on your run.  Hello, good morning, good evening, hi, whatever you can huff out at the pace you are running.  Why?  Because if something happens to you, you'll be more memorable.  Did that sound morbid?  It kind of is.  But if the 6:00 news is talking about a runner who went missing from the park, I want everyone who was at the park to say "Hey, I think I saw her.  I saw her right by the restrooms around 3:00. She said 'hi' to me right before she misfired a snot rocket." #idontdothat  Saying hello is such a relatively effortless thing, and if nothing horrible ever happens to you while running, then at least you'll seem like just a friendly person who talks to strangers.  There's nothing wrong with that.

Give A Loved One an ETA and a Route

I'm honestly not much of a route planner.  I usually go out with a vague idea of the mileage that I want to run, and then I plan my route as I'm running it.  This drives my husband bonkers.  Fortunately, Road ID has come out with a wonderful free app that lets you advise a loved one via text message where you are and provides a real-time map for tracking.  There's also a setting that will send an alert if you stop moving for a certain period of time.  It is good, it is free, and there's no excuse for running without it.

Santa Hustle 5K - Milwaukee

Santa Hustle Milwaukee, December 5, 2015

This was a last-minute add-on to my race schedule, courtesy of Bibrave (I am a new Bibrave Pro, and received a comped entry to this race).  I had no intentions of racing this one, as my "goal" 5K was the following day, but I did want to enjoy it as a fun run and from what I could tell from the Santa Hustle website, this looked like a perfect race to just go and have a good time.  The Santa Hustle promised aid stations with cookies and candy, and Christmas music along the route.  Plus, it offered some of the nicest race swag for a 5K:  a really cute red half-zip jacket (plus a Santa beard and hat).  I can't say enough about the jacket - it is really adorable and I'm quite frankly amazed at its quality.  It is a huge step up from the usual race t-shirt.  Based on the promises made about the course itself and the apparent quality of the swag, I went in to the race looking forward to a fun time.

Of course, things don't always go as planned and I ended up running late the morning of the race.  I was really worried about parking and packet pickup, and I thought I might actually miss the start time.  It turned out that I didn't need to worry about either:  there was plenty of free parking around Veterans Park, and packet pickup was incredibly smooth.  I got from my car to packet pickup to the start line in less than ten minutes.  Not bad for a race with over 1000 participants!

I put on my race swag and my number, and was ready to go.  Most runners wore the race jacket and hat for the run and it was fantastic to see this sea of Santas lined up to run along Milwaukee's lakefront.

There was a costume contest too, so aside from a few very well-dressed Santas I saw some people dressed as gingerbread men, Christmas trees, and a very enthusiastic Buddy Elf.  He was adorable.

It was chilly at the start:  the temperatures were in the 30s and being right next to Lake Michigan the air just felt cold.  But the sun was shining and overall the weather was nothing to complain about for a December day in Wisconsin.  The pre-race set up was great:  a giant inflatable Santa and other fun props for photo-ops, real reindeer, and some fun Christmas music.  All we needed was a little snow!  (Just kidding - go away snow!  I'm loving this non-snowy December).

The race had a corralled start, and because I planned on taking it easy and enjoying the run, I lined up with the 9:00 mile corral.  However, in spite of the corrals, my first few blocks were spent pushing through a crowd of walkers.  Oh well - this was just a fun run.  Eventually I made my way out of the crowd and settled into a 9-minute pace.  This was my first race with my new Garmin, and it was nice to actually know my pace rather than just feel it and hope for the best.

And because I'm never one to say "no" to a cookie, I did grab a cookie at the first aid station.  Do you know what it feels like to eat a cookie while running?  It feels like choking.  But I tried.  And I even took a mid-run cookie selfie.  Please appreciate it - I had to take off my mittens, hold up the cookie, hold my phone still and keep running.  It took a lot of work to get that picture.  :p

So obviously the Santa Hustle was more of a fun run/walk than it was a race, and the results definitely showed it.  My 9:10 pace merited me 4th place in my age division out of 139.  Huh.  I'm a little bummed on that actually - they had age group awards that went three deep, so I missed out on an age group medal by 10 seconds.  Judging by how cute the race swag was, I would bet the medals were adorable.  Who knew?  My time was 28:29.

I'd recommend this race as a fun thing to do with a group of friends before brunch, or as a first race for someone who just finished Couch to 5K.  This isn't a place to PR, it is a place to have fun (and there's nothing wrong with that!)

Interested?  Check out the Santa Hustle website for the various events in other cities around the USA and even a virtual event.

A Tale of Three 5Ks

I like to run far, but I'm not so good at running fast.  For that reason, I'm not much of a 5K runner, which made it especially weird that I recently had three 5K races within a span of ten days.  I did want to run one 5K before the end of 2015 as a sort of an evaluation of my progress.  A year ago I was struggling to go sub-30 on the 5K, and I wanted a yardstick by which I could measure my 2016 goals, so the 5K seemed like a good idea.

So I signed up for three.  Because...well, it just sort of happened.

Pewaukee Turkey Trot, Thanksgiving day.

I love a good small-town turkey trot.  There's something just plain fun about a no-frills race through a small town with a hundred or so other runners, and the Pewaukee Turkey Trot totally fit that bill.  Plus, the race started at 7:30 a.m. so it was clearly aimed at those of us who actually had stuff to do on Thanksgiving.  (Seriously, who can run at 11:00 on Thanksgiving Day?)

The course was a total mystery to me.  In fact, it was such a mystery that I very nearly didn't find the start line.  Nettesheim Park didn't come up in Waze, and it showed up on Google Maps in a totally different location.  I literally found the race start, parked my car, sprinted to packet pickup, pinned on my bib, and ran to the start line, and barely made it on time.  Totally my own fault, but big kudos to the folks working packet pickup for getting me in and out in less than 60 seconds.

The route was a little hilly and took us through some nice neighborhoods.  It was a gray morning and cool but not cold, which made for great running weather.  I went out a little fast in an attempt to get away from one runner who was running with her dog for the first time and having a hard time controlling him, and I paid for it later in the race when the hills came, but overall I did better than I had expected.  Age group awards were given out for 1st place in each age group in 10 year increments.  No award for me but I was very close.  Despite what Strava says, my official time came in at 26:14 which was a new PR.

Santa Hustle Milwaukee, December 5

This was a last-minute add-on to my race schedule, courtesy of Bibrave (I am a new Bibrave Pro, and received a comped entry to this race).  I had no intentions of racing this one, as my "goal" 5K was the following day, but I did want to enjoy it as a fun run.  The Santa Hustle promised aid stations with cookies and candy, and Christmas music along the route.  Plus, it offered some of the nicest race swag for a 5K:  a really cute red half-zip jacket (plus a Santa beard and hat).

Most runners wore the race jacket and hat for the run and it was fantastic to see this sea of Santas lined up to run along Milwaukee's lakefront.

There was a costume contest too, so aside from a few very well-dressed Santas I saw some people dressed as gingerbread men, Christmas trees, and a very enthusiastic Buddy Elf.  He was adorable.

It was chilly at the start:  the temperatures were in the 30s and being right next to Lake Michigan the air just felt cold.  But the sun was shining and overall the weather was nothing to complain about for a December day in Wisconsin.  The pre-race set up was great:  a giant inflatable Santa and other fun props for photo-ops, real reindeer, and some fun Christmas music.

The race had a corralled start, and because I planned on taking it easy and enjoying the run, I lined up with the 9:00 mile corral.  However, in spite of the corrals, my first few blocks were spent pushing through a crowd of walkers.  Oh well - this was just a fun run.  Eventually I made my way out of the crowd and settled into a 9-minute pace.  This was my first race with my new Garmin, and it was nice to actually know my pace rather than just feel it and hope for the best.

And because I'm never one to say "no" to a cookie, I did grab a cookie at the first aid station.  Do you know what it feels like to eat a cookie while running?  It feels like choking.  But I tried.  And I even took a mid-run cookie selfie.  Please appreciate it - it took a lot of work to get that picture.  :p

So obviously the Santa Hustle was more of a fun run/walk than it was a race, and the results definitely showed it.  My 9:10 pace merited me 4th place in my age division out of 139.  Huh.  I'm a little bummed on that actually - they had age group awards that went three deep, so I missed out on an age group medal by 10 seconds.  Judging by how cute the race swag was, I would bet the medals were adorable.  Who knew?  My time was 28:29.

I'd recommend this race as a fun thing to do with a group of friends before brunch, or as a first race for someone who just finished Couch to 5K.  This isn't a place to PR, it is a place to have fun (and there's nothing wrong with that!)

Last Call 5K, Waukesha, December 6

I had pinned my hopes and dreams, so to speak, on this 5K.  I knew the course well and frequent it often, as the race started just blocks from my house and ran along a small section of the Glacial Drumlin Trail, which I frequent.  The course was flat with no surprises, and the weather was predicted to be chilly but just fine for a run.

The Last Call included a half marathon that began at 9:00 and the 5K which started at 9:10.  I made a last-minute decision to run without music, regretted it, and ran back for my headphones which got me to the start just a few minutes before the race began, but that was fine.  It was better than standing around and freezing.  The field was small - maybe a hundred runners, and with age group awards three deep, I had a pretty good shot at finally getting an age group award.  But what I really wanted to do was anything under 26 minutes.  A time that started with 25:XX would be a victory in my book.

I started out at an 8:40 pace which was pretty good with the intention of pushing it after the turnaround.  I passed a few people along the way and stayed steady, with few people passing me.  There was one woman just a few feet in front of me the whole race that I was trying to catch up to but I felt like she sensed me behind her and sped up when I did and slowed down when I slowed.  I spent the last mile at just over an 8:00 pace but she still stayed out of reach.  The timing clock at the finish line was set up for the half marathon so I had to wait around for the official results to learn my time.  It was a short wait to learn that I came in at 25:25 - victory!  My time was good enough for 3rd place in my age group.  The woman I was chasing through the whole race took second in our age group, finishing at 25:24.  I thanked her for setting the pace and told her I spent a good 2.5 miles trying to pass her with no luck.

So now it is time for me to set my goals for 2016.  I will be running the Trailbreaker 5K on March 28 and I'll use that as the "starting point" for my 2016 race season, but for now I'd like to set my sights on finishing a 5K in 24:XX, which I think is very doable, possibly even by the Trailbreaker.

As for the rest of the 2016, I am currently signed up for no races.  I'm evaluating my options but I'll have to start finalizing plans soon:  two races on my list have registrations opening soon, and they both have reputations for closing quickly.  So whether 2016 is the year I focus on shorter, faster distances or whether I continue running my long, slow races is something I'll have to figure out soon.