It’s not feeling much like fall here at all, but the sun is taking it’s sweet time to rise in the morning. The weather around here doesn’t show it but it will be fall running season soon (my favorite!)

One of the best ways to be sure of your safety is to run with other people. We have started a run club in the mornings and will run with them a couple times a week as a group. On mornings I can’t run with others I like to take the following precautions:

• One of my pieces of gear that makes me feel the most secure is my Run Angel. A Run Angel is a wearable safety alarm that is quite loud. If you set off the alarm then through your phone it will send an alert and your location to your angels (people you set up to get the alert). Wearing the Run Angel makes me feel much safer while out in the early morning hours on my own.
• This might be a given, but I always run with my phone on me. I like the idea that I can stay in touch if needed. Also it’s great for run selfies and podcasts.

• Visibility is really important so I like to wear running gear with reflective tape and a reflective vest for extra visibility, I got this one for a really good deal and it doesn’t bother me at all while running.
• A good headlamp is also key. I really love my Petzl it has worked for me for years.
• I use an app called Glympse, it sends my location real time from my phone. I send my location to my husband when I leave for a run. This is great piece of mind for him knowing he can check in on me and be sure I am still moving in the direction I should be. This just gives me extra assurance if something were to happen someone would know about it.
• My favorite one that I currently don’t follow but hope to in the future. Run with a dog! Research shoes that you are much less likely to be attacked if you have a dog with you. I would love to get a breed of dog that can run with me, unfortunately the French Bulldog just isn’t down for morning runs.

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Any tips for safety while running in the dark?