Runner Insight

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Imagine giving a gift that your runner will use every time they head out the door to go running. If you’re not a runner, you are probably flabbergasted at the thought of having to come up with the inspired gift idea that your runner will treasure for many runs to come. Well, you can now set aside your “flabbergastion” and confusion.  

Yes, it’s true; you can give a cherished gift that will make your runner curious as to the source of your insight, and they’ll wonder how in the world they ever lived without it! But keep them guessing. You don’t have to tell all your secrets.

Being a runner myself for more than 15 years, I can attest to how much a runner can truly appreciate a thoughtful running gift, and you don’t have to sacrifice your self-respect by giving them the ubiquitous box of cordial cherries or resorting to the brightly colored toe socks, or whatever else you happen to walk by in the drugstore in a desperate search for something even slightly appropriate.

I know, I know….it’s not quite that bad…maybe.

To help you out, I’ve written an eBook that you can get for free. It’s called “Gifts For Runners – More Than 50 Unique and Creative Gifts For The Runner In Your Life”  It’s written in an easy to read, relaxed style in a quick downloading .pdf file format.  It’s yours at absolutely no cost, just by clicking on the link above or you can more easily fill in the form just below. There’s also a link in the sidebar under “Pages” if you know someone that wants to download it later.

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In the meantime, here’s an excerpt with my Top 5 Most Appreciated Gifts For Runners….the links are active, and they should all be formatted to open in a new window. So you can click on them to see pictures or get more information or order online and not lose your place on this page…

• Road ID – Most runners don’t carry any sort of ID with them as they head out for their run. Not because they don’t want to, but primarily because it’s inconvenient. You may not have thought about it, but it’s very difficult to carry a wallet or personal ID in the flimsy little bits of wick-away fabric known as running shorts. If it crossed my mind, I might occasionally remember to take a piece of paper with some general contact information on it. After a couple of runs, it would become worn and difficult to read, and I would toss it, and then forget to make a new one.

When I received the Road ID as a gift, I was thrilled to have something so small and light weight, with all my important contact information right on it.      

The Road ID is personal identification gear with your info laser engraved on a tag that’s easy to take with you, easy to read, and it comes in many different styles and colors.  I was given both the wrist band and shoe ID style. The wrist band Velcro’s around my wrist like a sports watch, bracelet-style. The Shoe Id attaches via Velcro to my shoe laces, and it just stays there, until I change out running shoes every few hundred miles. By having both kinds, if I forget to put my wrist band on, I always have the Road ID on my running shoes. They also have an ankle style and shoe pouch style. You can even choose a cool picture or logo to put on the dog tag style (Fixx ID) that will capture your runner’s unique personality. While I hope no one will ever have to use my Road ID for its intended purpose, it’s just a good layer of protection for me and peace of mind for my loved ones.

• Flashers/Blinkers/Safety Lights – I’m a big believer in being as safe as possible. And the primary way for a runner, walker or bicyclist to be safe is to be seen. Again, this was something I had never even considered using until I was given a safety flasher as a gift.

What better way to provide your runner with a bubble of protection than a blinking light that can been seen from half-mile to a mile away? Flashers and blinkers now come in all sorts of sizes and shapes; they are lightweight and the batteries last a long time. They even have flashers that clip right to your running hat! I often wear two or more, one on the brim of my hat, and at least one on my waistband. 

• Running Pocket - Now, I know this probably wouldn’t occur to the average non-runner, but to an avid runner, this is a coveted treasure. I searched high and low, long and hard for just the right clip-on pocket to run with. I knew exactly what I wanted; I just had a hard time finding it.

Most of the pockets I found weren’t really designed for running. They were bulky and bounced around a lot. It wasn’t until I was in Illinois visiting family, that I found exactly what I wanted.      

At the local running store, there it was: the perfect running pocket.  It was made by Amphipod. This handy piece of equipment is great, because it doesn’t bounce around at all, and it’s flat so it hangs comfortably on my running shorts.  The built-in pocket in running shorts is oftentimes too small or there isn’t one at all.  There are certain things I like to carry with me when I’m out running, such as Lifesavers, Chap Stick, my house key, and an extra battery for my mp3 player; not to mention sometimes I want cash or a Starbucks gift card for my caffeine fix on the way home! I can carry gels or energy beans with the pocket, and it’s great to have for races, too. 

• Pedometer - I don’t know any runner who wouldn’t love this gift. I love to chart my running mileage, and if I take a different route, I always want to know how far I have run. Omron makes a good one with a tether on it, the HJ-112 so you don’t have to worry about losing it. And it actually works for longer than two to three months, like so many of them that we’ve tried. We’ve had the Omron HJ-112 for probably a year and a half or two years now, and it’s still working great.

Most pedometers have several different functions on them, from time and date to counting mileage and calories to counting total steps versus aerobic steps to memory functions. Although the Omron HJ-112 doesn’t have a “talking” feature, it’s nice to have one that talks, that way I can just push a button and keep my eyes on the road. 

• Subscription to a Running Magazine – My favorite is Runner’s World, but there are other choices available as well. Just imagine, every month when they get their new copy of Runner’s World they will be thinking of you! And it’s just the thing to keep your enthusiastic runner motivated all year round!

Hopefully that gets you started with some great ideas, and don’t forget to get your copy of the free eBook I wrote for you:  “Gifts For Runners – More Than 50 Unique and Creative Gifts For The Runner In Your Life” .

How ’bout it?

- Vision Runner

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I wanted to tell you about a great gift I received a couple of years ago. 

But first, the story leading up to it…. 

A little over two years ago, I was running home from work shortly after 6 o’clock in the morning. It was September, and getting to the point in the year where it was soon to be too dark to run home that early. I knew within the next few days, I was going to have to start walking instead of running home in the mornings. But I felt it was still light enough to run home on that day. I was following the asphalt walk/bike path across town, when I tripped over a bike lying in the path. Now, even though I have vision issues, and the lighting was not ideal, I’m not sure anyone would have seen this bike. 

So this (probably) college-age kid was sleeping on a bench next to the path, and had just left his bike lying on the path next to the bench. Of course, I didn’t see the bicycle. So all of a sudden, there I was, sprawled out like a pancake spreading in a pan: trying to stop my fall with my hands and hitting my chin hard on the asphalt.  

The guy immediately tried to help me up. But I waved him off, still checking to see if I had all my teeth, grumbling “Just leave me alone for a minute.”  I knew that when I try to get up too fast, I have a tendency to faint. Something I only needed to find out once before I learned my lesson. 

Anyway, I was angry! This kid had just left his bike laying there in the middle of the path! How stupid!  I told him so, too. He kept asking me if I was okay, and was profusely apologetic. I said I would live.  

It was very strange, just laying there in the path, holding my elbow. I stayed that way for a couple of minutes, as I was going to make sure I wasn’t light-headed before I got up. So we talked. I figured I really didn’t want to yell at him too much. He seemed sincerely sorry, and I didn’t want to get him too agitated at me: after all, it was just past 6 a.m., and he was a stranger out early in the morning…You get my drift.  

So after a few more minutes, I collected myself, and decided I was in good enough shape to continue my run home. You may ask (as many others did) why I didn’t call T to come get me. Well let me assure you, I would have, if I had been truly hurt. But I didn’t want to hang around spending any more time with the guy who had caused me to fall in the first place.  Plus, I knew that I could get home faster by running, rather than waiting for T to come get me.  

When I got home, my arm had stiffened up a bit more, which made it difficult to get undressed and cleaned up. So I woke T up by saying “Don’t worry, but I fell.”  Prefacing the whole thing with “Don’t worry” wasn’t really effective, as she jumped up immediately, worried, and asked if I was okay. I told her my elbow hurt, and she asked if I wanted her to take me to the hospital.  No, not really. There was nothing they could do for me. I had fallen like that once before and hurt my other elbow, the same way, and there was nothing that could be done. And I was tired, and who wants to go to the hospital after working at the hospital all night long? I had just got off work from there! T helped me get cleaned up, and in to bed I went.  

Around 11 a.m. I woke up, and my elbow had swollen so that any little movement was hugely painful. So then I began to worry. Maybe I had hurt it worse than I thought.  With very little resistance on my part, T persuaded me to go to the E.R. 

There they took x-rays, and let me tell you, that was painful, as they needed me to bend and move my arm in ways it just didn’t want to. When the doctor came in, he told me just what I thought all along: I had cracked the radial head of my left elbow.  So he put my arm in a sling, gave me some good pain meds, and made a follow-up appointment for me to see a specialist in about 3 days. 

Okay, now this is where the passionate runner in me rears her obsessive head…

When I go see the specialist, the doctor told me to get rid of the sling, and start using my arm. He said that it would be sore for a while, but the best thing was to use it, without lifting anything heavy. I then asked him if I could run.  He just looked at me, as if I had two heads. He firmly replied that he would not recommend it. If I fell again, before it was completely healed, I could do permanent damage.

I had been in training for my first half-marathon, and it was coming up in about a month.  “Well then,” I asked, “When can I run?”  He thought probably about six weeks. I said “How about two?”  He ended up reluctantly compromising with me at three weeks, but he was serious about the warning. If I fell on it again, I was taking a huge risk of serious long-term injury. Hearing him, but pretty much trying to disregard his warning, all I heard in my heart was “Victory!”  I knew it would be cutting it close, but I could still run the half-marathon. It would be tough with three weeks off of my training regimen the month before the race, but I was determined. Obviously I had the strength of will to create whatever results I wanted; I had just won the test of wills against my doctor…       I can manifest miracles…. 

Well I didn’t re-injure myself. I did run my first half-marathon, and I did it in just over 2 hours. So I was pretty proud of that! 

Now, to get back to the point of this whole story….. 

Shortly after my close encounter with a bicycle and the asphalt, T was reading one of my Runner’s World magazines, and saw an ad for the RoadID. It’s an ID with a velcro strap for athletes to wear with emergency contact information on it. It’s a great idea, as oftentimes athletes, bicyclists, race-walkers, and especially runners don’t have pockets to keep an ID in. And if something happened to them, the medical responders wouldn’t know who they were or who to contact. They have different styles, but she got me the wrist band and the shoe ID. They are laser-engraved with all my contact information. It also indicates that I am legally blind. Before I got the RoadID a couple of years ago, I used to carry a piece of paper with some contact info on it.  But it would get tattered and hard to read. Then I would forget about getting a new one, and end up out running without any identification on me at all.  Not smart for anyone, but especially absurd for me.

www.RoadID.com

Now when I go out for a run, I always have the RoadID on my shoe. I wear the one on my wrist as well; of course, manifesting that they will never be needed for emergency purposes. But it’s one more layer of protection, just like the flashers and lights I use to increase my visibility. In fact, I’m getting my mom a RoadID. She likes to walk, and right now all she carries, when she remembers, is a piece of paper with my phone number on it.  So I plan on getting her one she can put on her keychain. 

The RoadID Shoe ID

Oh yeah, I have to tell you: after checking out their website recently, I see that RoadID.com now carries different colors of the wrist strap….When I got mine they only had black. You can probably see it in several of my running photos. Now I can get all kinds of different colors to match all my different running outfits!! Yee-Ha!

How ‘bout it?

Vision Runner

P.S. Just so you know, this endorsement was not paid for by RoadID.com or anything like that. We use this every day, so the high recommendation we offer of the RoadID product is unsolicited and heartfelt. However, I will also tell you that if you click on any of the links on this blog, and make a purchase, I will get paid a small commission.