MOVE: October 1, 2013

See & Be Seen

Darkness is coming earlier so when you step out the door for an evening run, it’s important you take precautions to ensure your safety. The two primary goals are “to see” and “to be seen” and some of the best ways to achieve this are as follows:

See:

• Handheld Flashlight: good for distance and if you want light in any direction, not just where your head is pointed. The best type for running are lightweight, small enough to comfortably hold in your hand, use small, common batteries like AA’s, impact-resistant and bright.  

• Headlamp: provides light in the direction you are looking and are hands-free, which is a plus if you want to hold a water bottle or just prefer empty hands. Any with approximately 50-lumens maximum light output and uses small, common and lightweight batteries like AAA is ideal for most road running situations. Two downsides: bugs are attracted to the light and sometimes the angle of the lamp creates a halo-effect in front of you.  

The ideal is to use both, but either should suffice.

Be Seen:

• Maintain 360-degree reflectivity: this ensures you will be visible from any direction - front, side or back. Simple options include wearing a reflective vest. There are many lightweight ones available designed specifically for running.

• Use multiple reflective points: wear items that light can reflect from at different heights. For example, reflective patches on your sneakers and on your hat.

• Wear retro-reflective stuff: Retro-reflective is the term given to materials having the ability to return (retro) most of the light back to it’s originating light source (a great example is a stop-sign). Many items are reflective but the light reflecting off them is scattered in many directions. Several running companies make clothing items that possess this ability such as the Asics “Lite-show Favorite” short-sleeve.

• Use active LED lights: These blinking lights provide terrific visibility, even during the day.

• Colored LED lights: Wearing different colored lights alerts drivers as to which direction they are approaching you. For example, white lights = from the front or red lights = from behind.

While you don’t need to wear all of these items, the more you can do to help a driver see you - and the more time he has to react - the better for all.  

Be safe and enjoy the run.

~ Joe G.
Always Believe

Joe Galioto is a CPT, Endurance Athlete and 30x ultra-marathoner, who has raced hundreds of miles at night