Last week, as I was driving to meet my running friends for a 6AM Saturday long run, it was very dark. I passed a cyclist pedaling in the middle of the right lane, dressed in dark colors, with no light and big headphones covering his ears. My first thought was: This is a tragedy in waiting, and it will be his fault.
So, once again, as fall sets in and light begins to fade earlier, I find myself writing about a running cardinal rule: My safety is my responsibility. Nobody is out there looking for me except, maybe, the group of friends Iâm running with, who simultaneously must look out for themselves.
It is paramount to be purposeful about our safety, vigilant about our surroundings, and aware of our physical place within the context of where we decide to run.
Running against traffic is the most basic of running tips (Image by ChatGPT)
Please consider the following guidelines to keep you safe while enjoying your runs in less-than-ideal lighting conditions:
1 – It is irrelevant who is right: it doesnât matter who had the right of way, who had the obligation to see you, or who will win the argument in court. If you get hit by a vehicle, you are the one getting hurt. You must make sure those who could harm you see you.
2. Wear a light and/or reflective device: Plan to be visible at the time you end your run, not just at the start. You may run lit like a Christmas tree, wear a reflective vest, or wear blinking lights on your shoes, shorts, or hat. The options are plenty, and they fit every budget. Purchasing a light will always be cheaper than a hospital stay.
3. Run against traffic: It canât be easier than this. By running against traffic, you can spot any danger right in front of you. Drivers may be distracted by their phones as they head toward you. You wonât see these idiots unless you are facing them. Even if you are running against traffic, you must obey all traffic guidelines.
4. Rethink your usage of headphones: Running in the dark has its own challenges. Donât handicap yourself by dedicating half your brain to music or podcasts. If you canât run without your headphones, jump on the treadmill or choose a well-lit, familiar route where you donât have to cross any streets.
5. Do not improvise your routes: The dark is not the setting to be adventurous. Choose roads you know are well-lit and familiar. This is not the time to cross a street and find out there is no sidewalk on the other side or realize you are lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood.
6. Carry your phone: It is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Share your location with someone who will check in on you periodically. With so many apps for that, there is no excuse not to do it. Having nowhere to carry it is also unacceptable, since countless options fit every preference and budget.
7. Let someone know where you are going and how long you plan to run: Even if you are taking your phone, but especially if you are stubborn and you donât, make sure someone knows what your route is and how long you expect to be gone. If you are going for a 5K around the block and it’s been two hours, someone better be checking on you.
Let someone know where you are and when you are expected back (Image by ChatGPT)
8. Run in groups whenever possible: There is safety in numbers. It is easier for a driver to see a group of runners than to spot just you. Plus, more eyeballs, more brains, and more safety devices can only increase the protection of your run in the dark.
9. Carry ID: RoadID is, to me, the best alternative for carrying identification. I’ve used it for years, and they have plenty of unobtrusive, affordable options so anyone can assist you if you are ever found in a ditch. Worst case, carry your driverâs license in a pocket.
10. Know how to use your pepper spray: Having it is not enough. You shouldn’t be figuring out where it is or how it works when the dog is ready to bite you. There are plenty of stories out there about runners pepper-spraying themselves.
11. Trust yourself: You shouldnât be second-guessing or negotiating with yourself at decision time or when it is already too late. If something doesnât feel right, get out of there immediately. It is better to be overcautious and wrong than to face Godzilla around the corner.
This is not a comprehensive list. These are just generic thoughts to get you started. Anything else I forgot, or anything you’d recommend to your fellow runners?
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I love data. I really do. If youâve read me for a while, you know Iâm not anti-tech, anti-GPS, or anti-metrics. Data can be incredibly useful, and it’s been key to my success in getting runners to their goals. It can guide decisions, confirm progress, force adjustments, and even prevent you and me from doing something stupid.
But somewhere along the way we crossed a line and started obeying it instead of letting it guide us. We have let the data determine how we feel, when, and what to do about it. We have delegated the agency of our running to the data.
I recently read an article by Coach Steve Magness where he nailed it by stating: âData can make you a better judge, or it can make you forget you were ever the judge.â Eighteen words defining a bad trend in running.
The app shouldnât emit verdicts. They gather data for you to use, analyze, and act on (Image by ChatGPT).
Data is a blessing and a curse. It has revolutionized all sports. Baseball is out of control and has become hard to watch. Joe Maddon, who managed 2599 MLB games and even won a World Series, recently said, âThe game today would rather lose analytically than win based on feel.â How sadly true.
And donât we all know a runner just like that? The one who ran a PR but is sad because Garmin marked him unproductive. The one who decides she needs to double the mileage because the watch says VO2Max is slipping, while not knowing how it is measured or what it measures. The one who is told three days of rest are required when the training calls to run on tired legs for a very specific reason? That runner may even be yourself.
Leaving a running decision entirely to the data, instead of allowing input on how we feel at decision time, is equivalent to pulling your starting pitcher in the 8th inning while heâs tossing a perfect game because data says he gets tired after 100 pitches. It is total nonsense. Letâs stop this madness!
The algorithms used by watch and app giants are based on averages from millions upon millions of data points from millions of runners. And while they do segment certain areas of the data and wonât (hopefully) average Olympians with weekend warriors, they still calculate averages and tendencies without you or your needs at the center of it all.
Please, don’t ever become this guy (Screenshot from Instagram)
The algorithm doesnât know your kid had you up at 2 a.m. with a tummy ache. It doesnât know your boss has been a jerk all week, or if you had a screaming match with your spouse before hitting the road. It doesnât know you cut your run short yesterday because you didnât want to push on that niggle on your ankle that, even though it didnât hurt, you just knew it was there. It doesnât know your running goals either. So why would you allow it to make bad decisions on your behalf?
Letâs stop delegating unearned authority to a gadget designed to record our movements so we can make better decisions. The app shouldnât emit verdicts. They gather data for you to use, analyze, and act on.
The watch and the app are tools, amazing tools. But they are not your coach. Ignoring the data is as dumb as following it blindly. Learn from it. Look for trends, not single-day fluctuations. Let it help you make informed decisions, not dictate your emotions.
I advocate simplicity in our running lives. Simplicity doesnât mean easy. Donât make it harder by outsourcing your self-belief, your choices, and your progress to a piece of plastic strapped to your wrist, even if it has a supercomputer inside.
Trust your training. Trust your body. Trust you know yourself better than the algorithm does.
As usual, I would love to read your thoughts on this subject. Please leave a comment below.
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A couple of months ago, I was at church, and the Pastor wanted to illustrate a Bible teaching, so he asked, âBy a show of hands, who here has finished a marathon?â I couldnât believe it (Drop exploding head emoji here). Three of us lifted our hands. Running and finishing marathons has become so ubiquitous that itâs even used for Bible teachings at church.
Interest in running has become so popular within the last few years that we must conclude that we are well into a running boom. The Third Running Boom.
Three very distinctive running booms have seduced different type or runners into our beautiful sport. (Image by ChatGPR)
The first running boom happened after the 1968 publication of the book âAerobicsâ by Dr. Kenneth Cooper and Frank Shorterâs Olympic marathon gold in 1972. The second boom began in the mid-1990s, fueled by the need to achieve something huge in your lifetime and big-city marathons providing that opportunity even to the humblest of weekend warriors.
Then came COVID, when the only chance for solace and sanity was exercising outside. This, plus the combination of oversharing life via social media and the birth of the motto âif it is not on Strava it didnât happen,â led a new generation to discover running as a lifestyle. Many people started trading dating apps, bars, and weekend drinking binges for Saturday-morning long runs with their peers. They embraced lifestyle influencers, vlogging their running journeys and validating their efforts through half-marathon or marathon finishes.
The KPIs that confirm the post-COVID boom start with increased global participation in the sport. Up to 785 million worldwide, based on numbers Iâve read. But there is so much more:
âș We no longer run in our gym shoes or the first shorts and shirt we find in our drawer. Clothing and shoe brands have invested billions in advertising, and fashion has become part of the allure. Styles, color schemes, and the latest fashion are as important as the achievements.
âș Investment in research for nutrition, hydration, books, media exposure, wearable and recovery gadgets has reached levels that the earlier booms couldnât even fathom in their niche world.
âș Awareness of the need for wellness through exercise, nutrition, and a sense of belonging in an increasingly isolating world is bringing the younger generations into a world that was primarily shaped by middle-aged people who got hooked on trying to extend their lifespans by making radical changes to their sedentary lives.
âș The change in demographics is revealing. While in 1967 Kathrine Switzer became world famous for defying the Boston Marathonâs âunofficialâ ban on women, today the male/female split among participants is approaching 50/50. About 60% of half marathon finishers in the US are female.
âș Young adults have embraced the running trend, and now the 18-29 age group is about 21% of race participation. They are no longer a rare breed at the marathon finish lines. They are there either to check off a bucket-list item or to test their limits (while sharing it with the world on Instagram, of course).
The perfect color scheme and the Instagram post have become more important than the achievement (Photo by RUNFFWPU, Pexels)
According to an article by Matteo Sargenti on The Running Week website, this 3rd boom is very healthy because it’s driven by new people coming in, not older people staying put. Yet two trends threaten its continued growth: A â the constant increase in race registration fees, which leaves out the new entry-level runners needed to sustain the boom. And B â While women continue to raise their participation numbers, their share of marathon finishes has been slipping from its 2017 peak.
Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and I was in my late teens and early 20s, I was the only kid running with my dadâs running buddies. I did it because I liked it, not because I was going to meet friends or find the love of my life. 40 years later, clubs packed with 50, 60, or 80 young runners, with millions of social media followers, led by a wannabe influencer, are a dime a dozen. And that is a good thing.
It doesnât matter why someone in their 20s or 50s wants to run. The positive thing is that they both want to adopt a healthy lifestyle, socialize, test their limits, or inspire strangers through social media. Letâs embrace that our sport is healthy and growing, and reap the benefits of having access to choose from 250 models of running shoes, 50 brands of gels, 25 podcasts to listen to, or laugh at pseudo-influencers talking crap they know nothing about on Instagram.
Please share your thoughts in the comment box below. I read and respond to all of them.
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Last August, Peruvian Olympian and 2:07 marathoner Christian Pacheco won the Mexico City Marathon. Yet his victory was somehow overshadowed by traditional and social media because he was wearing a basic Casio watch, which retails for $22. No GPS supercomputer tracking all the latest and trendiest parameters.
Where is the fun in running like this? And this image doesn’t even show taking the mandatory selfie (Image by ChatGPT)
I thought this was remarkable. I donât know what he uses for everyday training, but in images I reviewed, he won the Pan American Games and the South American marathon championship wearing the same basic watch. At least to me, who has been running since the 2nd running boom, it is refreshing to see some elite runners still capable of improving without the latest space-age technology and gadgets.
I am not against the use of technology. Running has advanced as an industry through investment, research, and the development of consumer products, and that is good. Very good. I donât think we should go back to the jealous days of hardcore amateurism and leather running shoes. What I donât like is overcomplicating what should be a very simple sport, especially for those of us who run for fun, to the point where joy and progress are subservient to the broadcast of your VO2Max or strangers pitching in on your latest 400-meter repeats.
Talya Minsberg, a runner and a New York Times fitness and health writer who has extensively reported on distance running, recently wrote: âRunning is a simple sport. You donât need a ton of equipment or expertise to do it, and running is a great way to improve your health, spend time outdoors, and connect with other runners.â
If you are not trying to make it to the Olympics and your living is earned outside the sport, enjoyment should be enough to make running a part of the rest of your life. It is not permission to be lazy or to be OK with being stuck in a rut. If you can run a sub-3 marathon, go for it! If we want to pursue that elusive sub-2 marathon, keep working towards it! If you want to run 1000 miles this year, focus on it. Goals are good.
Check the wrist. This is the Casio watch that suddenly became famous again.
In his book The Kenyan Method, Joseph Kiprono explains that the edge of Kenyan runners from the Great Rift Valley isn’t based on genetics, running to school as children, altitude training, or super shoes. It is based on accepting that running should be very simple.
âThe Kenyan method is not complicated,â states Kiprono. âThat is precisely what makes it hard for the modern runner to accept. It is built on things your grandmother would approve of: run mostly slow. Run sometimes very hard, and mean it. Rest like it is your job. Eat simple food. Run with other people. Be patient for years, not weeks. Respect the hill. Keep your life quiet enough that your running can speak.â
To me, the key to the entire paragraph is the part about âwhat makes it hard for the modern runner to accept.â We canât run if the watch runs out of battery. We use our $300 Nike Alphaflys even though we heel strike. We become running philosophers, posting runs with motivational quotes on how tough we are. We pause our watch when we stop for water so it wonât mess our averages on Strava. We sweat over our VO2Max or our functional threshold power, having no clue what they mean, let alone what they measure.
Look. I am not pontificating on the return of the 1960s-style bare-bones running. I do have a Garmin watch, I use highly engineered fueling gels and running shoes, too. It is not about becoming monastic about our running. It is about understanding that all the gadgets out there just give us an edge. And no edge will set a PR for us if we donât put in the work. Just like that. As simple as The Kenyan Method.
A few Mondays ago, I got an urgent text from one of my trained athletes. His workout for today wasn’t in the app; could I tell him what to run? Sure, sometimes it happens, so I checked the app and called him back.
âYou are off today,” I said. “You put in a very hard weekend of work, so I gave you a rest day. It is in the app.â
âBut I am already at the park,â he said. âThen run 30 minutes super easyâ, I replied.
The mistake was harmless enough, and we laughed about it. But it illustrates something I see surprisingly often: runners prepare all sorts of things without first preparing themselves for the workout they are actually supposed to do today.
This is not the time to realize you do not have water. It takes so little to avoid this scenario (Image by ChatGPT)
This is not about the long-term mistakes that can eventually derail your training or lead to injury. This is about todayâs run and whether you are prepared to execute it properly. Unfortunately, this happens more often than you may think. I have lost count of how many runners have asked, âWhatâs up for today, Coach?â when we are already on the move. Baffling!
Being prepared is more than knowing how far or how fast you are supposed to run. It is also thinking through what you will need along the way. I once had a runner at mile 6 of a marathon who realized he had a hole in his pocket and that his gels had been scattered somewhere along the course. I was running with him as part of the half-marathon, so I gave him my nutrition to at least mitigate the problem.
You have no idea how many runners finish a hot summer afternoon training run exhausted and drenched in sweat, only to discover that they do not have water or electrolytes waiting for them. If they did not think to bring water, chances are they did not bring a dry shirt either. They planned the run but failed to plan for what their bodies would need afterward.
Another one I see a lot is running your buddyâs training run instead of yours. You go too fast, too slow; perform repetitions that were deliberately left out of your schedule, or you end up going too long or too short. You may be running together, but you are not necessarily training for the same thing.
Is this the right time to figure out your plan calls for a day off? (Image by Grok)
Training is a long-term proposition. There are no magic workouts, and a single altered run wonât make or break your training cycle unless it leads to an injury. Occasionally changing a workout to help a friend or simply have some fun is usually not a problem, provided the change is intentional. Accidentally ending up with six one-mile repeats when you were supposed to run a 30-minute recovery session is an entirely different matter. One is flexibility. The other is a failure to prepare.
The gist of todayâs writing, and sorry if it feels like a rant (maybe it is), is simple: Prepare for todayâs run. Know the purpose of todayâs workout, what it requires, and what you will need before, during, and after.
Getting it wrong once will not derail your training. But getting away with it may convince you that preparation does not matter. Repeat that often enough and carelessness becomes a habit, your training loses direction, and your mental toughness begins to erode. Do not wait for the mistake that finally costs you. Prepare for todayâs run, today.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this one. Please share your thoughts in the comment box below.
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