Safety First

I've been out of commission since Thursday, made a wrong turn and felt a shooting pain in my lower back. I scared everyone letting out a scream every time I moved a certain way for several days! My poor husband, even trying to sleep was a nightmare (no pun intended). Rest, ice and ibuprofen for a few days seems to have done the trick. I'm still taking ibuprofen around the clock and can deal with the dull pain in the back. I have orientation everyday this week for a new job and so I'll have to really manage my time to get my training back in gear. I planned on an outside run this evening but the thunderstorm pushed that to a treadmill run. I also only planned on an easy mile and ended up feeling pretty good and did a two miler. Pain is no worse and I hope it stays that way.

While I was being a couch potato, I had a chance to catch up on some great articles. If you don't read Women's Running, you should. It's published by the same folks as Runner's World, yes, I read that one too. Anyway, This article made me think of the ways I put safety first. I now live in a still unfamiliar area and so getting hurt on a run and my husband not having any idea where I am worried me. If he was home, I'd leave my map up on the computer and he could pretty much judge my time. If he is at work, especially since we moved here and he works 30 miles from home, how will he know where I am. I was in the habit of texting him when I started and when I returned, but it still isn't enough. I wear a RoadID bracelet and now have downloaded their app on my phone which I always carry! The app is GPS based and when I start a run, I send hubby an ecrumb and he can follow my route or at the least, he will get a message/phone call if I am stationary for a set number of minutes! Safety first!

 

 

If that isn't enough, I bought a pretty little purple stun gun. Yes, you can order them from Amazon and I did. It came with a carry case to clip on your waistband or belt but it's also small enough to carry in my fuel belt pocket. Radical? Probably but picture this. I'm on a run, alone, all 100 lbs of me. I see a car pass me and pull over. No biggie, he is just stopping. I continue on, round the corner and see the same car pass me and pull over. Aware but not concerned, maybe he's lost, checking his map, making a phone call. Several more blocks and turns later, I see the same care twice more.  I convince myself that I am paranoid and I can probably outrun him and I am almost home and I pick up speed and the only weapon I have is a plastic water bottle, empty at this point and I start scanning the ground for anything to use for a weapon and pick up my speed some more. I arrived home safely, in a panic after seeing the same car, the same man half a dozen times in a 45 minute run.  I started speaking to other runners about my concerns. The stun gun was just one more thing we could do to help protect ourselves.