This isn’t so much a blog but more a safety warning.
Whilst out training on Monday evening I had a bit of an accident and ran into a metal barrier. Don’t ask me how this happened as I haven’t figured that out yet. I must have ran under this barrier at least 100 times before on previous training runs but for some reason I just didn’t duck low enough this time and ended up head butting the metal at 10mph!! I don’t know, maybe I have grown since last time?!
On hitting the ground my first reaction was to jump straight back up and carry on running. However, as I stood up I immediately felt the warm liquid running down my face and drip off the end of my nose – blood everywhere!! I quickly figured that I wasn’t going to finish the last mile of my run so like the true athlete that I am stopped my Garmin!!
As I’d ran along the riverside I had noticed a girl in front of me walking a dog so I walked a few metres back down towards the river and shouted to the girl for help. At first she didn’t hear me, turns out she had her iPod on, but luckily her dog did and came running towards me causing the girl to turn to call it back. The poor girl must have got the shock of her life as she turned and saw me walking towards her covered in blood looking like something of a horror movie!!
As we sat waiting by the side of the road outside a block of apartments 2 other people walked by and 3 pulled in to the apartment car park. Not one of them stopped to ask if I was ok or even if I needed a tissue for the blood! I’m lucky that this young girl was around when I had my accident or I don’t know what I would have done.
I am always getting nagged by my partner and parents to carry ID on me when I run in case of incidents like this and especially with my background of blacking out during training and racing. I do have ICE (In Case of Emergency) details on my iPod which would be good for contacting my nearest and dearest if I am ever found unconscious but if this accident had happened to me out in the middle of nowhere I didn’t have a phone on me to ring for help and I may have had to walk for miles to find help. From now on I am going to carry a small phone with me just in case as you never know when you may need it. Most running shorts/leggings/tops etc now have phone/iPod pockets on them so it is easy enough to carry a small phone with you.
The other thing I have invested in is a Cram Alert This is a silicon wrist band which is printed with a unique ID number along with an emergency contact number. All of your next of kin details are
stored on a central database and if you are ever found unconscious whoever finds you ring this number and the contact centre gets in touch with your next of kin to warn them of your accident. They can also pass on any vital medical information i.e. allergies to the emergency services on the scene if it is that serious.
As the name suggests the band is patroned by Steve Cram. Steve’s brother Kevin died whilst out on a run a few years ago and as he had no ID on him the emergency service had no way of either identifying him or contacting his family. Because of this Steve has become a great advocate for runners/cyclists etc to always carry ID with them whilst out training.
Please people, if you never take notice of another word which I say, do me and yourself a favour and follow my lead in these steps, your safety should ALWAYS come first – you can’t guarantee you’ll never have an accident, but you can at least be prepared for it!
Keep safe!!!