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I read the news today, oh, boy…
… about a horrible story of a young man who was hit by a car while out for a run. Alone.
The driver of the car didn’t stop at the scene, and the runner lay unconscious on the ground for several minutes before some passerby attended to him.
The passerby quickly called 911, and help was on his way. The runner was okay, thank God, but it does leave me two questions:
Who Are You?
What ID are you carrying? And how do you contact your next-of-kin when alone on a run?
This situation can apply to cyclists, mountain bikers, hikers, and other sports. Every year Vancouver has its fair share of lost hikers and out of bounds snow boarders!
When you think about it, all you have are your clothes, shoes, a digital watch with a stopwatch and maybe an iPod or iPod shuffle Nike+ product.
Chances are, you’ll leave your house with three of the above basic items.
For your pocket, you could carry a laminated business card (sweat destroys paper) and write the words “this is me” or “ICE” which is supposed to stand for In Case of Emergency. I am told if you find a mobile phone, you should look up the Contact “ICE”, but most smart people have their keypad locked.
For your shoe, you could always get a fancy shoe tag like YikesID.
My Christmas Wish List for Stopwatch Manufacturers
So how can we use technology to enhance your watch or stopwatch?
If they could only find a way to enter your name and phone number, like they do on cell phones or PDA. Most runners and joggers I know always wear their stopwatch.
This could be a one shot deal, with the data entered by the vendor by an input device by Bluetooth wireless.
Then again, old fashion first-aid tape and a Sharpie marker does the trick, too.
Please don’t be one of the statistics. Then again, there are things you have no control over.
Jimson Lee
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That’s something I have thought of too. A good thing to do before you start your run is to tell someone were you are going to run and for how long, but it’s not always you can do that.
I use to have my phone with me when I do my long runs alone. It serves as a music player and if something happens I or someone else can use it to call for help.