As the sun descends and sets upon the Great Plains, I cannot help but wonder: where are we going? Life is a journey, not just a destination, but it definitely helps to have some sense of direction and coordinates in order to arrive safely. We must have some aspirational incremental goals to drive our direction and help us move forward and upward.
Similarly, as we deal with more darkness during fall and winter, increasing the hazardous risks that we face, it’s important to ask: where are we glowing? What bright points illuminate us so we can be safely seen from a distance in all weather conditions, including precipitation?
One easy step is to use a rechargeable headlamp. (Some runners/bikers use headlamps with batteries and those are fine as long as the batteries are still working.) This time of year, I use the headlamp more often. In fact, if in doubt, I wear it. It’s easier to shut it off than to run home and get it if I could have brought it along in the first place. My headlamp I use is a Petzl Tikka R+ with white and red streams of light. It can also do blinking light with the red lamp. The white light can be on low beam or high beam (for darker conditions). The main thing I need to do is just to remember to charge it. If I see the yellow (or red) light on the battery indicator, I know I need to charge it. It only takes a few minutes to charge and it charges by USB adapter with the computer. Even when I walk the dog at night/early morning, I try to bring it. Sometimes my iPhone light is not bright enough depending on the conditions.
If you wear a hat or headband, check to see if it is brightly colored (or with bright stripes/portions) and/or if it is reflective. I like to wear black a lot but find that it’s better to include some type of safety element upon hats (for example) that are too dark to be seen easily at a distance (or even nearby). So today I added Brilliant Reflective safety strips to the UnderArmour hat. I think the logo is reflective already. So I added a diagonal strip to the front. On the back of the hat, I added a horizontal safety strip. So now I can wear this hat safely in darkness and be seen front and back. With the headlamp on, the front is even brighter. I tested it a little bit and it helped on today’s run on a very cloudy, dark, and rainy day. (I should explain: we rotate the hat to backwards “rally cap” position late in runs or after a run. It’s a fun custom. You should try it. So that’s why my hat is backwards in the third picture. Plus to show you how/where I applied the tape.)
If you wear a Road ID, I added BR to my wristband all the way around so my Road ID remains reflective (the Road ID strip had faded before).
Running in cooler conditions, try to wear a brightly-colored and reflective jacket. Even one with a bright reflective stripes if you have that. You can see my UnderArmour jacket is bright yellow neon and I added Brilliant Reflective to the front vertically in a straight line.
Running vests/belts are other items that should be reflective. Some manufacturers have applied a little reflectivity, others do not add quite as much. Add reflective components to the front and back of your vests. I even add the tiny Brilliant Reflective pieces to the small vest pockets to increase the safety. As you can see, I’ve added BR to the OrangeMud running vest shown here.
Running shirts likewise should have some reflectivity (sometimes we roll up our jackets at the sleeves or take jackets off if we get warm). Same with running shorts/pants. Check for reflective logos and stripes. If it is lacking, simply add some reflective safety strips. (For example, the UnderArmour black running pants I’m wearing only reflect at the logo by the pocket so I need to add some BR soon.) You can use the stick-on or iron-on varieties for Brilliant Reflective. The strips last a very long time.
If you run with a dog, attach some Brilliant safety strips to the dog leash (both sides), especially at the bottom up to at least half the length of the leash. I hold our leash up to estimate drivers and pedestrians’ eye level and go a little higher than that. The dog leash is a good place to use those interstitial Brilliant Safety squares and triangles (separate the BR quarters) that are too small to use on anything large. See the photo at the very bottom showing where the interstitial parts are between the safety strips. The top part of the photo is the illuminated in the dark shot with the flash, the other one is in natural light (the one below it).
Finally make sure your shoes are reflective (front and back). Attach safety strips if needed.
You also want to be seen from the side when running/biking/walking so attach safety strips to the side of you too (sometimes I do these diagonally).
Blinking lights are wonderful if you can obtain those. I have a blinking wristband that I like to wear at night or when it’s dark/precipitation is present. Beware of the ones you attach to shoes (sometimes they fall off at least while running), just test them and make sure they are solid.
From head to toe, you want to be as visible as possible for safety purposes, from all directions. Not just front and back. Be seen. It’s very important to take adequate safety precautions.
Want to try Brilliant Reflective? Here’s their website: BrilliantReflective.com. As a BR ambassador, if you have any questions about the tape or how to use and apply it, please let me know. I’ve been using it for a few years now and it’s helped us a lot (me and our dog).
Your phone should have a good light (make sure you charge your phone before you go or bring your phone charger along if you think you might need to charge it before you come home).
Some watches have very good lights but it can burn the battery if you have it on for a long time. So charge your watch too, daily if possible.
Wherever we go, we should glow together. Go, grow, and glow!
Follow