Friday, September 14, 2012

7 days until Ragnar / Night running

So, last night I met up with two of my teammates for a night run. For those of you who aren't familiar with this kind of relay race, You start at a set time (6:30am for my team) and you don't stop running as a team (everyone has 3 set legs) until you reach the finish line. This means we will be running through the night. Don't worry. It's pretty safe. We are required to wear a reflective vest, a headlamp, and a tail light.

It takes a little getting used to the headlamp and running when there isn't much ambient light. I bought a vest that has additional lights on it and I have reflective bands to wear on my ankles. It also helps to wear light-colored or bright clothing. Our shirts for Ragnar ar hot pink :)

We started our run in a well-lit neighborhood. That wasn't bad at all... Just like a normal, daytime run with a little lower visibility and a little more equipment. Then, we went on a trail with almost no ambient light. The good news was that we could see each other well. The bad news was it was DARK. You have to pay more attention to your footing and that can slow you down a bit. I've run the trail we were on dozens of times and it still freaked me out a bit at first. I'm glad my night leg looks like it will be on some major roads and isn't unassisted.

Do you think you could run at length in the dark?

No comments:

Post a Comment