How To Stay Safe While Running

Running is empowering but as a runner it’s important to be proactive about your safety. A little bit of planning goes a long way to reducing your risk out on the road.

Long distance runners Georgia and Margo reveal their top 5 tips to help you run safely and confidently when you next put foot to pavement. Although in an ideal world we wouldn’t have to worry about harassment, incorporating these simple and realistic running strategies into your routine doesn’t have to slow you down. 

Check out Georgia and Margo’s tips and our summary below.

1. Run with a friend

Running with a friend is not only motivating but acts an immediate deterrent to perpetrators. Not only are you perceived as less of a target but running as a pair or group makes it far more difficult for a perpetrator to attack or restrain you. It allows you to look out for each other and means there will always be another set of eyes to stay alert and another pair of hands to contact emergency services if needed. 

If you don’t have a human running buddy available, running with a larger sized dog can also be enough to deter a perpetrator – plus it’s always a joy for your four-legged friend to come along for the ride.

2. Plan your run

Particularly when running solo, let a family or friend know the checklist of where, when and how long. With the Strava Beacon function in the Strava fitness app, your partner, friends or family can even keep track of your real-time location.

In the low light hours of early morning, evening or night, stick to well-lit areas that you know well, with streetlamps that cast significant light and paths with a fair amount of foot traffic (like other runners or walkers) rather than deserted roads. This will help you to detect any trip hazards and stay noticed by others.

We highly recommend taking your phone on your runs in case of an emergency. With running accessories on the market like smartphone armbands and running waistpacks, keeping your phone on you hands-free is easier than ever. If you choose to run without your phone, ensure you have an emergency contact number on your person and a form of identification.

3. Run against traffic

Running against traffic allows you to see oncoming cars – so you can react faster rather than relying on your hearing alone. By facing the vehicles, you can keep track of the movement of cars instead of having to turn to look behind you. In the case of blind corners with poor visibility, you may need to cross over to the other side of the road temporarily and return to running against traffic when it is safe to do so.

When possible, run on the footpath rather than the edge of the road to reduce the risk from cyclists or traffic.

4. Wear something visible

We know black goes with everything and never goes out of style but vivid yellow, orange, blue, pink (or ‘insert bright colour here’) is the new black when it comes to your running. Colour truly does count when you need to stand out – and black and dark shades put you at a disadvantage, causing you to blend into the road or the night.

Running visibility accessories and reflective running clothing are also a smart move to prioritise you running safety. Many leading sportswear brands include reflective accents in their running jackets and tops for this reason – so keep an eye out for that when you next update your running wardrobe. Reflective compression calf sleeves are another great option – setting you up with vibrant, unmissable patterns to stand out from the dark.

High-performance running headlamps from brands like Petzl provide on-the-go lighting – both helping you to see and be seen. Being seen is a way of being safe – drivers are more easily able to identify you from a distance and react accordingly, and perpetrators are less likely to attack if you’re visible to others.

5. Strava privacy controls

Strava is a popular app among runners and cyclists to share and track activity with friends or an online fitness community. It helps you stay motivated – mapping your running route in real-time using GPS technology so you can know how far and fast you’ve run and can compare it to your previous sessions.

However like with any social media platform, it’s important to customise your profile settings to ensure your information is only accessible to the people you want to see it. If you have your account set to public, anyone can see where you run – and often for apps like this, public is the default setting. This is a safety risk, particularly if you stick to the same running circuit regularly or run directly from your home.

Strava allows you to add in privacy zones around where you live and to set a radius that hides the exact start and end point of your run. Taking these precautions allows you to enjoy the motivation-boosting benefits of the fitness app, while putting your safety first. 

Bonus Tip: Tune into your senses

Listening to music while running can keep you motivated and improve performance, but it’s important to listen smart if you choose to do so.

AfterShokz bone conduction open ear headphones have an innovative design that keeps your ears open and prevents blocking out ambient noise – meaning you can enjoy a feel-good workout track while remaining auditorily aware of your surroundings.

For standard headphones, it’s often recommended to keep the volume low and leave one earbud out, so you always have one ear tuned into other road users – whether vehicles, cyclists, fellow runners or pedestrians.

However, listening to music on-the-run does have its risks if you mentally zone out of your environment and into your tunes - distracting you from your surroundings. Even if this isn’t the case, wearing headphones may make you appear less alert and this can make you a target of potential attackers.

Particularly at night when you can’t rely as much on your vision, it’s a good idea to keep your ears free. Tuning into the soundtrack of life – birds singing, crickets chirping or whatever it may be – can also make you feel uplifted and rejuvenated, so it’s OK to leave the headphones at home. 

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Look out for each other, stay safe and happy running!