Reflections

Sep 21, 2011 by Greg Fowler

Normally, I try not to draw attention to myself when running. Someone might notice just how goofy I run. Now is the time of year I have to start making an exception.  Daylight fades fast in the evenings, despite daylight savings time fall back being over a month away,  so it is time to break out the reflective gear for night running.

There are many options on the market to make yourself more visible to on coming motorists – reflective hats and shirts, vests, and lights.  Here’s what I have in my closet:

1. Basic vest. At a minimum this is what I use and recommend you do, too.  It is lightweight and doesn’t get in the way. I use this one from Nathan:

2. Reflective hat. I’m a head wear person. Some aren’t.  So, I usually wear a reflective hat, too. I use one from Brooks similar to this but in the yellow version:

It is washable and mine has a flashing light on the back. My light died after a few months, though.

3. Safety yellow t-shirts. I lucked into these shirts – one long sleeve and one short sleeve.  They were a gift.  I normally don’t run in cotton shirts, but I make an exception for these at night. When combined with the vest, I’m pretty visible.

4. Blinking clip-on light. I have tried the blinking lights with little success.  They have 2 problems – the batteries don’t seem to last and I can’t seem to find a good place to clip them. They are inexpensive and worth a try, though.  Here’s the one from Nathan I have:

5. Water resistant jacket or pullover for cooler weather. I bought one similar to this last spring in a clearance sale:

Finally, the common sense items for the night runs: stay off busy roads with no sidewalks, run facing traffic, and ditch the ear phones.

Be careful out there.  You don’t have to run at night to encounter danger from motorists.  Actress Reese Witherspoon found this out last week: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44434373/ns/today-entertainment/#.TmkCSWr1g8k

POFIFOTO!