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Pace, distance, cadence, water stops, bathroom breaks, nutrition intake… the list goes on. There are a lot of things that we expect to worry about when we are going running, especially if we are training for or running a race. One thing that we shouldn’t have to worry about is whether or not we will be safe on our runs. Safety can be a big concern for runners of all ages, races, genders, and identities. But what can we do about it?

As part of Runner Safety Month (November), we are committed to providing you with the resources to stay safe keep your community safe and continue the broader conversation around this topic.

Staying Safe on Your Run

Run With the Sun: Our first tip for runner safety is one that we’re sure you’ve heard before. You should run when the sun is out. You can see everything around you, other people and cars can easily see you, and crime occurs less frequently in daylight hours. All of those sound like wins to us.

Light the Way: If you have to run in the dark consider running with lights. You’ll want to have lights so cars and people can see you, and you can see them as well as your environment. Your eyes are your first line of defense, so make sure you are staying vigilant if you are running at night. Consider lights that attach to your clothing and a hand or headlight to illuminate your surroundings.

Shake Up Your Route: Make sure your routes aren’t always the same. For one, a new route can let you see new parts of your city and will keep your runs fresh and interesting. Choosing a new route also has the added benefit of making you less predictable to those that might not have the best intentions.

Take Control of Your Apps: Speaking of your route, it doesn’t matter very much if you change up your route if you are posting it to Strava, MapMyRun, and social media. Consider whether or not you need to share the map from every run. If you do enjoy posting your running map at every run use the security settings on apps like Strava to hide your start and end locations. This is especially important if you are starting and ending your workouts at home.

Trust Your Instincts: More than the rest of these tips it is important to trust yourself. If you feel like something is wrong, changing your route, cutting a run short, or even skipping a run entirely is always preferable to being in a dangerous situation. Trust yourself and be an advocate for your own safety on every run!

Keeping Your Community Safe

Making sure that individuals have the resources and knowledge to remain safe on runs is only part of the equation. As John Donne once wrote, “No man is an island.” We are all not only connected to but responsible for, aiding in the safety of our fellow runners and athletes. This does not only extend to our running groups, but also to the stranger that we know is running into an area where we didn’t feel comfortable.

Be sure to consider larger actions for runner safety in your area as well. Ask your city representatives to better maintain sidewalks, paths, and greenways; and keep those places well.

Keep the Conversation Going

Remember that all of the safety tips and defensive measures mentioned in this article are defensive. When we as a running community and as a society at large are ready to truly take a stand for runners, athletes, and human safety it has to start with deeper questions about who is unsafe and why.

In our podcast episode on runner safety, we talked about accidents which are tragic and hopefully less prevalent in the future, but the conversation on runner safety can’t be complete without talking about victims of intentional violence.

Names like Ahmaud Arbery, Susan Karnatz, and most recently Eliza Fletcher grab our attention, but for real change the story can’t stop after the memorial run. Have uncomfortable conversations in your communities, talk about these things, it just might save a life!

Questions to Start the Conversation in Your Community*

Do you feel safe when you go for runs? Does your race, gender, ethnicity, or other parts of your identity contribute to feeling unsafe?

What can I do to help you feel safe if we were running together? If I were a stranger?

How should I announce myself if I am running up behind you?

Are you worried about being stopped on your runs by regular people or law enforcement?

Do you cross the street when you see people coming toward you?

*This is most helpful if you get a wide variety of people and opinions that are actually representative of your community

Wrap-Up

Runner safety is the responsibility of all of us. Whether you are taking individual steps, helping your community, or continuing the larger conversation it is important that we all do our part to keep our fellow runners, exercise enthusiasts, and humans safe while we are sharing the streets and the trails.

Your first marathon is right around the corner and we bet you can’t wait! The years of talking yourself into it, the months of training, all leading up to one day when everything comes together. We know you’ve got it covered, but just in case you needed a little help preparing for your first marathon race day we asked the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon Ambassadors to give us some of their best tips for race day and the days leading up to it.

These tips can also be used as a refresher for you more experienced marathoners. Don’t worry they work for any marathon, not just Charlotte.

Pre-Race Prep

Read the Runner’s Instructions

Almost every race will send you a runner’s instructions email, or have them available for you on their race website. Don’t ignore these! They can include anything from changes in expo hours, to tips on parking, to instructions on using pacers. If the race director wants/needs to communicate something to runners it will be in that email. Check your spam, and read it!

Experience the Expo

The expo is the first time runners feel the race day energy! Usually held the day before a race, the marathon expo is one of the best parts of running a race. Of course, you will be picking up your packet, but you can think of big race expos as a collection of pop up shops straight from your wildest running dreams. For example, you might be able to pick up some race merch, meet your pacers (How to Use a Pace Team, https://runcharlotte.com/keeping-pace/), learn about local run clubs, and so much more. You can also expect a local running store or two to be there with a few of the race day essentials, just in case you forgot something.

Make Your Flat Runners

The night before race day you’ll want to make your flat runner. What’s a flat runner? A flat runner is what you create when you lay out all of your race day kit in the shape of a runner. Everything from your sneakers to your headband should be laid out. Runners (especially first-time marathoners) should do this for two reasons. First, it will help you make sure that you haven’t forgotten anything that you’ll need to head to Walmart for before you go to sleep. Second, it will help make sure you take everything with you on race day and keep you from forgetting things in the excitement.

Race Day

Nothing New

Race day is not the time to go off script. Don’t wear those new shorts you bought at the expo, don’t try out a new nutrition packet that your running buddies gave you, don’t even watch that new show that just came out on Netflix. There are more than enough variables that you can’t control on race day. Don’t add to the chaos by trying something new.

Show Up Early

There is nothing more stressful than having to run to the start line so that you can continue running for 26.2 miles. Even worse, realizing that the gun has already gone off and you are still a half mi away. Do yourself and your ride a favor and show up early.

Know Your Pace Plan

Based on your training and how you feel on race morning you should have a plan of attack for your race and try to hold to your plan. However, race day can be unpredictable and for better or for worse things might need to change in that plan. Be honest with yourself about your fitness level and listen to your body while you race. You may even have a great day and push your pace faster than you expected. Just make sure you run your plan.

Post-Race Celebration

Enjoy Your Moment

As you are closing in on the finish line, take a moment to breathe it all in. Your legs will be tired, your arms will be tired, your back teeth will be tired, but this is your first marathon finish line and you’ll want to remember this forever. Music off, stop looking at the watch, and get to the finish line. Enjoy the cheers as you finish your first marathon!

Keep Moving

It might be tempting to hit the brakes the second you pass the finish line; after all, you did just run 26.2mi. However, if possible, you shouldn’t come to a complete stop right at the finish line. Keep up a little bit of a jog or even a walk until you can get your heart rate down to a manageable level.

Don’t Miss the After Party

Depending on the size of the race you’re running there may be an after-party for runners to celebrate their accomplishments. You should be there. You might not feel up to it right when you cross the finish line, but get cleaned up, do some stretching, and then get out there! Today is your day and you won’t regret reminiscing with your fellow runners.

Let’s Get This Done

You’re ready! With these tips from the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon Ambassadors we know you’re ready to run your first marathon. The most important thing for you to remember is that at the end of the day, even if things don’t go exactly as planned with your race, be sure to enjoy it!

Parents with school-aged kids may argue otherwise, but this may be the most wonderful time of the year. Well, at least for runners. The weather finally starts to break; your investment in lubes, lotions, and anti-chafing products feels less like a second mortgage; the late nights skipped and sacrifices made; the long runs slogged through the summer… they all pay off in a date with destiny at your goal event.

Unless they don’t. Maybe injury, illness, work, class – or kids – conspired to keep you from the start line. Or you just didn’t “feel it.” Until now. And if your social feeds are anything like ours, they’re flooded with friends and folks we don’t even know at finish lines all over the world. Yeah, we feel you. That’s some serious FOMO.

So what is FOMO, and what creates those feelings in us? Shouldn’t we be happy for our friends and their accomplishments?? Excellent questions, all. We posed them to our friend, runner, and Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor, Juliet Kuehnle.

Simply put, FOMO is an acronym for Fear Of Missing Out. We feel it when we see other people having more fun, making more money, or doing cooler stuff than we are.

“When we talk about FOMO, we’re talking about a feeling we get from perceiving that others are experiencing something better than we are,” says Kuehnle. “A level of anxiety and envy comes because our sense is that something has been missed, we’ve been left out, or we simply don’t have experiences like what we’re seeing available to us.”

Since we are social beings, we want to have shared experiences and know that we belong and are part of the group. But, Kuehnle adds, we can have a skewed sense of what is “normal” and expected. And yes, social media can worsen those feelings, impacting our self-esteem and mood.

Listen In: Juliet Kuehnle on Running Around Charlotte

Bottom line, those FOMO feelings are natural. And what Kuehnle calls the “highlight reel” of social media can exacerbate them. So… how do we deal with those feelings? Kuehnle recommends the following:

Set some boundaries: Primarily with social media. The feelings of FOMO can make us want to stay connected to what others are doing so that we’re in the know, which obviously fuels the cycle. Be honest with yourself and check in around the feelings you have when scrolling. Perhaps it’s time for a hiatus from the feeds.

Practice radical acceptance: Whether it’s true or not that others are having fun without you doesn’t actually matter. Reality check: fun and amazing things are happening all the time that you’re not a part of. This doesn’t mean anything about you. Separate this from your feelings of self-worth.

Practice distress tolerance skills: These are those skills that help you navigate temporary discomfort. Things like grounding skills, challenging your thinking traps, appropriate distraction, etc. Lean into experiences and connections that are meaningful to you and aligned with your values. If your cup is filled and you’re attuned to your own needs, you’re less likely to get caught up in the negatives of FOMO.

Say it, do it: Go at your own pace, you do you, stay in your lane, and mind your own business! These are actually helpful mantras when you can really embody them and practice living them.

Lastly, if there is a pattern of you truly consistently being left out by a supposed friend, practice assertive communication to check in about what might be going on.

Take a gut check on why you’re feeling the way you’re feeling. And if they’re more than you can manage on your own, seek the advice of a pro. They’re here to help.

You’ve probably seen them at the races, the start line, or maybe even the afterparty. Those brightly dressed people that are holding finish times on a stick in the air. They look pretty confident. How do they know exactly what pace they plan on running for the race? Well actually, that’s their job! (Not a “job,” really. They volunteer for the role.) The person you saw was a pacer, and if you use them correctly they can help you stay on track during the race and maybe even set a new PR!

Pacers are runners just like us, with a little extra training. In fact, if you’re running a race in your hometown you may even recognize some of your pacers. But whether you’re running on familiar streets or not, running with a pace group is a great race day plan to reach a particular goal, stay on track during the event, keep you from starting out too fast, or prevent you from fading in the final miles.

Connect With Your Pacers

If your race has pacers, it’s easy to find them at the start line. Again, they’ll be the ones with the signs indicating projected finish times. Simply line up with the appropriate group, and maybe even introduce yourself to the runners around you, too. You’ll be spending some time together. When the gun goes off, away you go!

If you’ve got questions about “how” and even “who” you’ll be running with on event day,  it can be a good idea to meet your pacers and talk to them about your race day plan before lining up at the start. Most events that provide pacers make them available at the race expo. If you’re running Charlotte, we know they’ll be at the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon Expo. This is a great place to meet your pacers and ask some questions. Like most every runner, they LOVE to talk about running, too!

Even if you’ve run with a pace team before, don’t assume you know exactly how it will work at a race you aren’t familiar with. For example, if you line up on the wrong side of the street at the Marine Corps Marathon, your pacer may be far away from you. Having to catch up to them or slow down to run with them can throw a wrench in your race day plans. Bottom line, if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask them.

Speaking of race day plans, let’s talk strategy!

Create Your Racing and Pacing Plan

You know the pace you are shooting for, but if you are running with pacers it’s important to understand exactly how you are going to achieve that goal.

Our suggestions for running with pacers:

• Stick with your pace group from the start of the race. Nothing will ruin your race faster than starting too fast with an adrenaline rush.
• If your goal pace is between 2 pace groups start with the slower group and have a plan to break away from them once the course begins to thin out after the first or second mile
• Pace groups are great if you are hoping to PR, set a BQ, or even seek your first finish, They can give you extra motivation and help you maintain your pace as you get further into the race.
• Understand a pacer or pace team’s goal is to set even splits throughout the event.
• If you realize mid-race that the pace group you are with is going too fast, no worries. Slow down immediately and focus on getting your effort levels in check, connect with another slower group, so you can still make it to the finish line.
• Pro tip: Create your plan BEFORE the race expo so you can talk with the pacers about it.

Insider Race Info!

Introduce yourself to the pacers at the expo. Talk to them about your plan, and what you are hoping to accomplish. Your pacer can talk to you about a choke point on the course that might slow you down. They’re your “insiders” and can give you information on the race that might not appear on the event website. They are there to help, so use them!

“Making the race day experience enjoyable for all participants is what I focus on when pacing a race. Running a race requires concentrating on a lot of things at the same time such as fueling, hydration, and pacing. Leave the pacing part to us!”

-Eric Smith, veteran Novant Health Charlotte Marathon Pacer

Running Your Race Pace

Now that you know your pacers and you’ve got your strategy, you’re ready for race day– be excited! But don’t get caught up in the frenzy that is race day morning. Stick with your plan – including your warm-up. May we suggest “The Perfect Warmup?” But be ready to adapt if the weather, the course, your body, etc., demand it.

Lastly, run your race! You’ve put in the miles to get this far. And when it’s all over, remember to thank your pacer. They’ll be just as excited for you and your accomplishment.

We talked about coffee so of course, the next thing had to be energy drinks. There is no shortage of opinions when it comes to energy drinks, everything from, “you should drink one before every workout” to “you should never drink them they will burn through your stomach”. While we all know that the last one is a little far-fetched we sat down with a few caffeine experts from Novant Health to get the full story. Should athletes be drinking energy drinks? Let’s find out.

What Does Caffeine Do?

Before we can know if caffeine is right for you and your athletic endeavors, let’s start at the beginning… with what caffeine actually does. Caffeine is classified as a stimulant and works to speed up the signals from our brain to our body. The feelings of hyper-awareness and performance can be significant and make you feel like you have an edge in competition, but as some readers know it can also be addictive and the effects lessen the more you drink. It’s also important to pay attention to how you get that caffeine. Coffee, tea, and of course energy drinks are all different and provide different pros and cons.

Why Energy Drinks?

Energy drinks are the caffeine intake method of choice for many people, whether they need to stay awake for their next meeting or get in the zone for a workout. Energy drinks can provide a quick boost and some of the claims are pretty wild so how can they promise so much energy with no crash? Well as you might imagine things are not always as they seem.

The first thing you need to know about energy drinks is that by and large they are not considered drinks and therefore not subjected to scrutiny by the Food and Drug Administration. Energy drinks are considered supplements and the rules for supplements are much more relaxed than for food and drinks.

Check Your Labels

One of the biggest differences between a supplement and a food/drink is the label. When you buy food, a box of Cheerios for example, the law requires they add a Nutrition Facts Label, which is regulated by the FDA. However, when you buy some energy drinks you’ll see a Supplement Label, which is not regulated by the FDA. Companies that make supplements do not have to disclose what is in their supplement as well as how much of each ingredient is in each supplement.

Of course this raises some red flags with us, as well as our friends from Novant Health, because it is always important to know what you are putting into your body. Not knowing the exact amounts of caffeine you are consuming can quickly become detrimental to your performance as well as your health. Not to mention, since they don’t have to include a detailed ingredients list it is possible that you might not know about other ingredients in your energy “drink”.

Read the USOPC Caffeine Fact Sheet

Note for Elite Athletes: Be careful with the energy drinks you consume because some of the ingredients might be considered illegal performance enhancement, resulting in disciplinary action.

• Caffeine is a banned substance by the NCAA at high levels, so at the levels that are in some of these drinks, if taken close to an unexpected drug test can cause a positive test.
• Other substances like guarana, which is in Celsius, are also on the NCAA banned substance list.

To Drink or Not to Drink?

When you are deciding whether or not to drink that energy drink keep in mind that although the benefits of energy drinks can be great there is some risk associated with over indulging and with those strictly classified as supplements. It is important for everyone to know what is going into their bodies and that goes doubly for athletes that want to perform at their best.

Don’t get us wrong, for some people an energy drink once a day or every few days won’t hurt, and might even see an improvement in your training. Just remember everything in moderation, especially when it comes to caffeine and energy drinks. At least that’s what our friends at Novant Health keep telling us!