Run Bayside Me

Vacation is good for our health, mind, body, and soul. We all need to take breaks. But we need to make sure that when we do travel and leave our comfortable known area, that we are still taking adequate precautions to remain safe and to keep our loved ones safe. It’s safer if we run together/with family/friends. It takes a little while to get a sense of what is safe and what is not in a new area.

Throwing it back to San Francisco on Throwback Thursday…In the San Francisco Bay area, the traffic is a little more congested than I am used to. Even crossing streets was laborious at times. I learned to navigate away from traffic when possible and when was best to not be stuck in a traffic jam on the run. Fortunately, the Bay Trail was only a mile or so from the hotel so it was really just that mile stretch where I had some traffic challenges. When you have a busy streets/highway/interstate nearby and it’s rush hour (morning or evening), you have to be extremely careful. The road less traveled is many times the safest path (might need to be more careful on trails though in remote areas).

Once reaching the Bay Trail, we assume the basic trail rules of safety. Stay on the right. Wear clothes that are bright. Pass on the left. Do your clothes, gear and shoes reflect light?

It was surprising how close the airport was to the bay trail. And it was fun and exciting to watch planes take off and land there while running or stopping.

One thing to be very careful of when traveling/on vacation: we don’t really want to act like we are tourists. If we do, we are actually more vulnerable. So it’s a good idea to take your photos maybe in smaller segments. Look around. Make sure you’re in a safe area. Watch out for other runners, bikers, cars, and pedestrians. And dogs. Dogs on or off the leash. Sometimes loose dogs are well trained and heel closely to their owners. But we cannot assume that.

Watch for different weather conditions. In San Francisco in my two visits this summer, there was a lot of fog. There was cooler weather. I was wearing my long sleeve shirts more. But I also needed a visor or hat because when the sun did break out, I needed to shield my eyes and face a little bit. Be prepared for that on cloudy/foggy runs: the sun does peek at us when we aren’t expecting it.

Definitely it’s a good idea when traveling bay-side the bay to wear Road ID in case of an emergency.

Bring your phone and keep it charged. Bring your charger just in case it runs out of battery power if you know it could happen. (It happened to me after a group run and I had to charge it at a coffee shop next to a group run.)

Look up group runs in the area. I was fortunate to catch two group runs with the San Francisco Marathon and Dean Karnazes ran with us in the second one. These are a lot of fun and it’s a great way to meet other runners and learn new courses, exploring the area in a more safe fashion with people that know the area better than we might. By the way, there are some steep challenging hills in San Francisco. Have you heard?

Keep in mind when you run you always want to look for a safe area/a zone of safety. This is really important in case of storms for example. Lightning is a hazard to be aware of and take cover right away if you see it. If you run with others, someone may notice a hazard that you don’t. That increases our safety. Strength in numbers. It is real.

If your reflectivity/brightness on your clothing is lacking, consider adding some Brilliant Reflective safety strips to your clothes/gear/shoes. You can see I attach it to all my running vests. It’s also on my Road ID, shoes, etc. I’ve attached it to several running jackets as well. Want to learn more? Check out BrilliantReflective.com to read about it. They have iron-on and stick-on varieties. It’s one of the easiest steps that I take to stay safe on a daily basis. We even have it on our dog’s leash. Every once in a while I have to replace a few strips. But some last for a very long time.

Down by the bay, you can get away, where the planes fly near, will you run bayside me? When? Let’s go for a run!

Have a wonderful safe Labor Day Weekend! Happy healthy trails!

Peace, Jeremy