Nights come earlier. Often enough, by the time you get home, it’s dark!
That makes you choose one of three things. The easiest thing you can do is give in to the early onset of your Christmas Cookie Weight, meaning not run at all. This is obviously an unacceptable option.
Next, you can run inside on a treadmill. That’s great if there are no other options.
But we most of us who run usually like to actually go somewhere.
So there’s a few tips to ensure that you’re safe.
The Obvious
First of all, be smart about where you run. I’ve read quite a bit, and most articles recommend that women not run with music. This is for their personal safety against aggressive men. But honestly, when I run at night, I don’t listen to music. For me, it’s so I can be fully aware of my surroundings. Cars coming, emergency vehicles, or anything else that might impact my run or run path.
Run Form & Location
As much as I’d love to run on trails or the sidewalks of Summit Avenue, I usually don’t have the time or motivation to go there. That means I’m running on the sidewalks near my house.
Most sidewalks that are not on the main roads or around a lake, sidewalks aren’t always perfectly smooth. Basically, the sidewalk tiles don’t see eye to eye with their neighbors….
Generally, this is barely noticeable. However, the way I run on trails gives me very little clearance, even an inch of unknown elevation change could cause a trip, as I learned last fall when running after dark.
While generally there is enough street lighting or city lighting to see the sidewalk, there are quite a few areas you won’t be able to see. While one may be tempted to use a headlamp, as a fashion adviser, I think it would be a little awkward.
Another feasible option, and much less attention-getting, would be to slow down. Of course, then you’d have to slow down, and really, why don’t you just walk? Heck, if you’re going to walk, why don’t you just just stay home and eat some cookies?
No, you should run with your toes first. While you might think that you’d look funny running on your toes, but you shouldn’t worry about how you look running. I mean, you look totally normal, since it’s kind of how a sprinter runs. But really, you shouldn’t ever ever care what people think of you when you’re running.
But the reason you want to run on your toes is simply the motion of your step. By leading with your toes, your foot will no longer be be moving forward as it hits the ground. It will be moving in a downward motion, so if there’s a change in elevation or a change in terrain, you don’t step into the new terrain, but you step on top of it.
The motion on your next step doesn’t rely on gripping the ground, so if it’s sand, ice, or water, you’re not going to slip. Instead of pushing the ground back with your foot, you raise your leg up and forward for the next step. This allows for absolutely no tripping. It makes it do no matter what the elevation.
So really, until there’s ice, you have no excuse for not running.
