Who are you?

About 5 years ago, in the school district where I was working, a district employee was out running one morning, and was hit by a car. She ended up being ok, but she was unconscious for about 6 hours. She was not carrying any form of identification, and the hospital and police were therefore unable to notify her family until she came to or was reported missing. Since then, I've been pretty diligent in carrying some form of ID with me when I run.

Over the years, I have tried various means of identifying myself. I used to carry my driver's license with me, but then one day, it fell out of my pocket and I had to retrace my steps to find it in the middle of the road about 2 miles back. I tried carrying a little notecard in my pocket, but this was easy to misplace or forget. I considered purchasing one of those Road IDs, but I'm a cheapskate and I don't what another tan line on my wrist/ankle (I know they have other options, but I'm still a cheapskate). Then last year, I stumbled across a website for military style dog tags. They were perfect for key identifying information, could easily attach to my shoelace, and they were very inexpensive (only $7 for 2!). There were a lot of websites out there, but this is the one I used. Now, with Lani running, and her birthday coming up, I think I'll be making another purchase (shh, don't say anything ;-)).

So, I am wondering what other people use for ID while running. Below is a poll for you to cast your vote:

Online Surveys & Market Research

Speaking of "Who are you?" I added the Followers gadget to my sidebar, if you'd like to declare yourself a Life Strides reader.

Blasphemy?

by Lani

Will you all burn me at the stake if I confess to you that I'm not a fan of Asics? Not that I have anything against the company, mind you. I think the phrase their company name came from--"Anima Sana in Corpore Sano" (sound mind, sound body)--is way cool. Reid tells me Asics are, by far, the most popular brand of running shoe. He swears by the Asics GEL-Cumulus. I wish I could like Asics. "Real" runners wear Asics, right? We even bought me a pair of Asics (different model than Reid's) several months ago, but they weren't in my possession for long. After a few days of deliberation, I finally accepted that I just didn't like the feel of them and went back to my old shoes.

Yesterday, we hit Sports Authority with a coupon 'cause I decided it really was time to retire the Sauconys I'd been wearing for far too long (plus we decided they could be my anniversary present from Reid...7 years!). I thought I'd go ahead and give Reid's beloved GEL-Cumulus a chance (even though they were pricey). I tried a few different brands, but, when push came to shove, my feet just preferred Sauconys. Even the lowest model Saucony felt more comfortable to me than the GEL-Cumulus. In the end, I came away with a pair of clearance Saucony Hurricanes for about $40 (originally $125). Love a good deal! Here they are next to their retired cousins...I took them out for their virgin run this morning. Verdict... I'm definitely a Saucony girl. And I'm okay with that.

How about you? Take our poll and show us who's boss. :-)

Boston: Lessons learned

For all of you who are planning on running Boston in the future, I'd like to share some of the things we plan to differently next time, because there will most definitely be a next time. In no specific order, here is our list:

1. Stay in Boston. We chose to stay outside of Boston to be a little closer to friends out there, but it would have been so much more convenient to have just stayed in the city for the weekend.

2. Don't rent a car. Boston is "America's Walking City," at least based on the map we got at the information desk at the expo. Even though it's a pretty big city, you can pretty much walk or take the "T" to anywhere you need to go.

3. Get to the expo early. If you wait till 30 minutes before they close on Sunday night, you'll miss out on tons of stuff happening there, and the booths have either run out of what you want to buy or they are shutting everything down, and you might end up with a women's marathon shirt because they've run out of men's.

4. Don't book a flight leaving 3 hours after you finish the race. Things went pretty smoothly for us, but it was a stress we would have rather avoided. Plus, we would have liked to hang out for a while for the post-race festivities.

5. If you don't ever want to run a marathon, don't accompany somebody who is running. As you can see from Lani's recent post, it was very contagious. Or, if you have someone who you'd like to get running, make sure they come with you.

6. Stay longer than just a few days. We felt very rushed on this trip. We would have loved to have had more time to see the sights and friends.

7. Bring the kids with you. This will make #6 more possible. We were happy to have had the weekend to ourselves without the kids, but if we had had them with us, we could have stayed longer and had more time to enjoy all that Boston has to offer.

8. Train hard. I learned that I needed to do more longer tempo runs. Dealing with injuries limited my ability to get those longer runs in, but I know they would have helped a lot, especially toward the end.

9. The Boston Marathon is tough! I never expected it to be as hard as it was. Those hills aren't that big, but they are the real deal.

10. Heartbreak Hill wasn't as bad as I was expecting. As I mentioned in my race report, I felt like that was actually the easiest of them all.

Hopefully these lessons will be helpful for you in making your future Boston Marathon plans.

On a side note, Lani has written another running/birth post on her birth blog where she compares giving birth to running a marathon. It's pretty cool. Go check it out.

Also, I found a picture of the "I get my courage from the crowd" poster I saw in Boston. I've added it to my race report if you'd like to see it.

One more thing. I've added a poll to my sidebar about recovering from a marathon. I'd appreciate your input.

*UPDATE* I've created a new post for a total of 26.2 lessons learned and tips for your next Boston Marathon.

Toenails, revisited

I want to thank everyone for participating in my Toenails Poll and leaving comments over the last several weeks. I can no longer say that I only know of a few instances of toenails falling off. Of the 24 votes on the poll, nine people said that they have lost toenails, 3 said they have had toes turn black but remain intact, and 12 people said that it had never happened to them before. This doesn't count the few comments that were made without voting on the poll. So, I guess it happens about as often as it doesn't. I did a little internet search in hopes of finding more scientific results as to the frequency of occurrence in the general population, but couldn't find anything. However, all the sites I looked at suggested that the cause is improper-fitting shoes. They recommend shoes that are a half-size too big as a means of prevention. The Running Doc at Runner's World also recommends keeping your nails clipped, and wearing synthetic, moisture-wicking socks. Maybe I can attribute my healthy, normal-looking toenails to already following these recommendations, but I'm sure there are many of you who also do and still get blackened toenails. At least it's not an injury that will sideline you longer than a day or two.

Toenails Poll

Since the time I started training for my first marathon about 4 years ago, I have heard many accounts of the prevalence of blackened toenails and/or toenails falling off as a result of running. It kinda grossed me out at first, but I accepted that it will probably eventually happen to me. Maybe I've been blessed with perfect-for-my-feet running shoes, but over the course of the last 4 years, I have never had a single problem with any of my toenails. And to be honest, it wasn't until last week that I heard a first-hand account of it actually happening. I began to wonder, "How frequently does this happen? Does it really happen as often as they say? Am I an anomaly?" In an effort to uncover the truth, I am creating a poll: Have you personally ever had a toenail turn black and/or fall off as a result of running? To respond, see the poll in my sidebar (just below my Boston Marathon countdown). Thanks for your help!

UPDATE: See my recent post with survey results and a few suggestions.