What's up with packet pick-up? Ins and outs of this running race must.

  

Packet-pickup has become a standing tradition for running races. Whether it’s a simple walk-up table in a local location or a huge running expo in a major city, it’s a familiar part of the process from 5Ks to full marathons. Most important, it’s how runners obtain their registered race numbers (tagged as bibs), which are required for participation in the event.

 Packet pick-up details are listed on race websites, and often on their social networking pages as well. Additionally, registered runners will usually receive email reminders as race day approaches.

 

When does packet pick-up occur?

 Although plenty of smaller races (such as community 5Ks) hold packet pick-up on-site on race day, most running events schedule it ahead of time. Often, it’s the day before a race, but it may be a few days or a week in advance. A few running events offer multiple packet pick-up choices, perhaps on different dates in a couple of locations, if the race will be in a large metropolitan area.

 In many cases, running events will also offer race-day registration, check-in, and packet pickup. This is helpful for out-of-town runners who may be unable to arrive ahead of time. Sometimes there’s an extra charge for on-site pick-up. And there’s almost always a higher cost for signing up for races at the last minute.

 Race day packet pick-up can be convenient for some runners, but it can also be cumbersome, as they need to stash the stuff in a car, hand it to a non-running supporter, or place it in gear check at the race site.

 

Where does packet pick-up take place?

 Race organizers may choose to set up shop for packet pick-up in all sorts of spots, such as: 

• a hotel lobby
• a local gym
• a park pavilion or picnic shelter
• a sponsor’s location
• a sporting goods store
• a tent at the race site
• and more.

 I cannot tell you how many packet pick-up events I’ve attended that occurred inside running shops. Of course, the race table is always set up towards the back of the merchant facility, so all of the race entrants must walk the gauntlet through all of the product displays. (It’s a little like the exit-through-the-gift-shop setup at popular museums, theme parks, and other attractions.)

 Packet pick-up is an excellent opportunity for running enthusiasts to volunteer, especially for charity races held by non-profit organizations. Race ambassadors may be volun-told to participate in such occasions, greeting fellow runners and handing out race packets. In some cases, races may hire temporary staff for assistance as well.

 Most packet pick-ups are done in-person, although more and more of the larger, well-organized races will offer mailed packets for an extra fee. These generally arrive at least a week or two ahead of race day.

 

What’s in the race packet?

 The primary item is the individually numbered race bib, which is actually a square or rectangle sheet (generally coated with plastic or some water/sweat-resistant substance). This is to be attached to the front of the entrant’s shirt, identifying the runner and proving paid admission. (No bandits allowed!) It also helps race photographers to sort images for runners to find and possibly purchase after the race.

 Some runners write their names on their bibs for crowd cheers.

 The bib may or may not have a microchip for timing, or it might have a tear-off portion for manual/old-fashioned timing. It could also feature a tear-off for beer, post-race food, or other goodies.

 Usually the bib has a bag check tag, on which the runner’s bib number is printed. Race staff (or volunteers) affix this to the individual’s bag or pack when it is checked in for holding till after the race. That tag is matched to the runner’s bib when the bag is claimed later.

 Almost always, the race bib will be accompanied by four safety pins, for use in case a runner does not use his or her own bib magnets or clips.

 

What else is in the race packet?

 Some races distribute runner packets that are filled with give-away merchandise – at least to early registrants. Such packets are frequently known as goody bags, much like those given out at children’s birthday parties.

 Most often, such contents (also known as swag) will include a race tee, jacket, or hoodie (usually bearing the race emblem and often also displaying company logos of race sponsors). There might also be running-related trinkets, such as sports nutrition samples, refrigerator magnets, stickers, and such.

 And there’s almost always a few promotional flyers, postcards, or coupons announcing future races or special sale events by running-related merchants.

 All of this is usually contained in a plastic bag, an imprinted nylon string pack, or even a manila envelope.

 

Can a runner ask others to pick up his or her packet?

 A friend or family member may be allowed to pick up a runner’s bib, but it’s important to confirm this ahead of time. A signed form, a copy of the runner’s driving license, or other confirmations may be required. Some race directors insist on advance notice for such arrangements. Others allow individuals to pick up multiple bibs for various entrants.

 A few years ago, an acquaintance planned to go and procure race packets for about a dozen running friends for a military-themed race. But there was a catch, as he discovered arriving at the packet pick-up location. The facility was situated inside the gates of a military base, and appropriate identification documentation was required. Alas, he was not granted entry, and the group of runners had to grab their packets on race morning instead.

 However it happens, packet pick-up is the go-to precursor to a running race – even if it’s as simple as obtaining the numbered race bib. Without that, no one crosses the start line when the race begins.

 

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• Race aid stations - What are they serving this time?
• Race management: 10 tips for choosing race tees
• Race volunteers are both valued and violated
• The worst-run race I ever experienced ... and why

 

 

Image/s: Pixabay public domain photo

 

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Do you stop to visit friends mid-run?

 Gotta run!

 Picture this. You’re running along outdoors, clocking your miles, when you see a friend or neighbor, beckoning you to come near. Or maybe you encounter someone you know on the trail. Do you run on past him or her, or do you stop to visit for a few minutes? 

For me, it depends on several factors. Here’s a dozen possible considerations, on-the-fly. (I'm just being honest here.) Maybe you can think of more questions you’d ask yourself right about then.

• Am I trying to beat incoming weather?
• Am I sneaking in a run during a scheduling crunch?
• Am I meaning to contact this person anyway?
• Am I just starting my run?
• Am I overdue for a deadline?
• Am I pretty sure this person will want an extended conversation?
• Am I nearly done with this run?
• Am I struggling with this run for some reason?
• Am I eager to connect with this person?
• Am I clocking an important training run?
• Am I gearing up for a tough race?
• Am I running to keep up with my training buddies?

 I guess the point is that there’s no hard-and-fast rule that a runner has to stop and chat, when a simple hand-wave can suffice for now. It’s always possible to follow up later with a call or a text or a social-networking message.

 

If you do stop to socialize, do you pause your activity tracker?

I wish I’d remember to pause and restart my Garmin, every time this happens. (It’s especially tricky in colder weather, when we tend to wear several layers of sleeves, along with mittens or gloves.)

 

To jabber or to jog? It’s always a judgment call.

Maybe sometimes it’s important to pause and enjoy the journey, greeting a friend along the way. But sometimes we just have to send a wave and keep on going.

 

Related Items:

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• Sorry, neighbor. But your dog's gotta stay away from runners.
• The best fellow runners inspire the rest of us.

 

Image/s:Composed by this user on online generator

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Why do runners crowd the road shoulder?

 Beep-beep! Road runners (Nope, not the feathered kind.) dash and dart along city streets, county roads, rural highways, and other thoroughfares. We pound the pavement, logging training miles for marathons and more. Frequently, that means we endure honking (and other signals) from motorists, as they roar past us. 

 

For safety reasons, pedestrians (including runners) are supposed to go against traffic.

 Non-runner drivers may wonder why runners often crowd the road shoulder, perhaps even stepping over the line into the actual roadway at times. Quickly, at least 16 reasons come to mind, listed alphabetically.

1. Agricultural equipment – It’s not unusual for rural runners to encounter balers, mowers, planters, plows, sprayers, and other farm tools along the edges of roads that pass farm fields. Short of vaulting over these, joggers have to step sideways to pass them.
2. Broken glass – This is a sticky widget for runners. Who wants to plant a sneaker on someone’s discarded liquor bottle or other glass item?
3. Car parts – Hubcaps, blown tires, and other automotive components clutter roadways. You guessed it: joggers have to steer around them.
4. Chewing gum – Gross! This is a sticky widget for anyone making tracks along a route.
5. Dead stuff – Roadkills are buzzkills for runners. ‘Nuff said.
6. Dog droppings – It’s hard to pick up the pace, if one steps where someone else failed to pick up after pet.
7. Gravel and slippery sand – Got road construction? Navigating such areas in running shoes requires detours, often into the edge of the actual roadway.
8. Ice and snow – Winter runners can bank on it. Snowplows don’t usually clear road shoulders. That puts us right in the path of oncoming drivers, as well as their slushy/salty splashes.
9. Mud – It doesn’t take an unpaved dirt road for a jogger to find mushy mud. And don’t get me started about potholes.
10. Parked cars – This is extra tricky on curvy roads or when drivers park their cars half-in and half-out of driveways. (If I had a nickel …)
11. Pets – Runners appreciate it when pet owners control or otherwise contain their pets. Sometimes pet perimeters extend all the way to the edge of the road. So we might veer away from an excited or seemingly agitated animal.
12. Puddles – Splish-splash, I was taking a run. Wouldn’t you rather step around a puddle than in it? Ask any runner about cranking out miles in soaked sneakers.
13. Ruts – Unkept road shoulders or areas of soft, soggy ground can trip up runners. That puts us in drivers’ path.
14. Tall or thick vegetation – Can you say, “Ticks”? If you’ve ever found an embedded tick after walking or running through unmowed grass or woodsy areas, you get the picture.
15. Toys and bikes – I’m still surprised to see these left along roadways, unless it’s bulk pick-up day.
16. Trash – Whether dumpsters or piles of discards, these send runners sideways to avoid tripping or other surprises.

 Generally, runners do our best to stay out of harm’s way. Most of us are not deliberately trying to interfere with traffic. But sometimes we have to shift our paths a bit.

 Sure, it’s courteous and safer for runners to go in single file, if we’re running along a road. But we still may step into the street, if the shoulder sports hazards. And, of course, runners are supposed to go against traffic, unlike bicyclists and those in/on other wheeled vehicles. It helps when we can see vehicles coming in our direction. But we need drivers to look out for us as well. (Dare I launch into a diatribe about texting and inattentive driving?)

 Maybe that’s why many runners choose to log their miles on trails, rather than roads, whenever possible. Some even stick to walking/biking paths or even sidewalks.

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• Power Play: 15 reasons runners often run faster in races than training runs
• Runners: What's the weirdest thing you've ever stepped over on a run?
• Sorry, neighbor. But your dog's gotta stay away from runners.
• Would you stop your run to pick up found money?

 

Image/s: Public domain photo

 

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Have you been caught WALKING again?

 

Cue the blush here.

 OK, I’m totally kidding.  But sometimes it feels like that, when a runner is spotted out walking.

 A non-runner might say something like this:

“I saw you out there yesterday, but you were walking.”

 It’s as if we are expected to maintain an all-out sprint the whole time we are out on the trail or the road or the track in our sneakers.

 

It doesn’t really work that way.

 Even elite marathoners begin their jaunts with warmups and end with cool-downs. These may include giant steps, backward steps, lunges, and butt kicks. But they also include walking – plenty of walking.

 And plenty of fitness fanatics walk miles and miles and miles, burning countless calories without ever breaking into a jog. They’re on-the-move for hours, which is almost harder in some ways than running faster for shorter time spans.

 

Walking may be purposeful.

 It usually is exactly that.

 Walking is a primo plan for beginner runners, but also for those who have run countless races and are still committed to practicing physical fitness (perhaps past their primes). Professional trainers and physical therapists prescribe walking for those who are recovering from injuries or long races.

 Additionally, more than a few runners mix walks into their weeks for cross-training, socialization (with other runners and non-running friends), dog-walking, sightseeing, stress relief, or even phone calls on-the-fly.

 Let’s not judge one another, or ourselves, for slower steps.

 

Runners build one another up – at any pace.

 Mostly, the running community acts like a fellowship of mutual encouragement. We say things like “Your race, your pace,” and “You’re lapping everyone who’s at home on the couch.”

 Sure, runners want to become faster. We want to beat our own personal records, racing the clock more than one another. Some of us even want to win race titles – or at least place in our age brackets.

 But we generally enjoy waving at each other (at the run or the walk). We salute one another for getting out there and cranking out the miles, from 5Ks to ultras. We “like” each other’s online posts. We basically celebrate running, hoping to inspire anyone who’s getting up and trying.

 

So why do we almost apologize for walking?

 We act like we’ve been caught in a crime when another runner catches us walking. We trip up into a trot when we approach race cameras (if we spot them). We jump into a jog when a car comes along, if our routes take us on the roadway. We pick up the pace when another runner (or even a walker) approaches.

 Why are we embarrassed to practice a slower pace?

 

There’s no shame in walking.

 All miles count. And just by stepping out there, we are all burning calories, building endurance, improving our cardio condition, and doing the distance. All that makes us stronger … and yes, faster.

 

Related Items:

·        Long runs: Shared-track slowdowns don't have to be let-downs

·        Long runs: Sometimes ya just gotta walk a bit

·        Mixing it up: Cross training adds spice and fitness

·        Some training runs are simply dreadful

·        Walking works wonders for warmups and workouts

•   What’s the difference between a runner and a jogger?

 

 Image/s: public domain photo

Feel free to follow Runderdog on Twitter, as well as Run Run Run in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois (Runderdog Runs the Midwest) on Facebook. Please visit my Amazon author page as well.

RW's 'Not Today' video sounds alarm on runner assaults

 

Runners World’s January 2022 documentary film, titled Not Today, details the horrific experiences of three female runners, who suffered violent attacks while running. One of these runners survived the assault; two did not.

 

 Honestly, I hate that a video like this one even has to be made. But it does.

The film focuses on these three runners, profiling these examples, which are representative of so many more.

1. Kelly Herron (36 at the time) was cornered in a restroom in a public park in Seattle in March 2017. She was able to fight off the attacker and escape.
2. Mollie Tibbetts (20) was stabbed to death while running in small-town Iowa in July 2018.
3. Wendy Martinez (25) was likewise murdered during a jog in Washington, D.C., in September 2019.

 According to the RW film, 84 percent of women runners have been harassed while running. Incidents range from catcalling to kidnapping, stalking to stabbing, following to full-out physical violence.

 You can watch the video on RW’s YouTube channel here.

 

 

 Every week, headlines announce new attacks on joggers of every age and gender, from Central Park in New York to Central Florida, from Michigan to Manhattan, from Arizona to Atlanta, from Cleveland to Chicago, and so on.

 

Despite these tragic (and infuriating) occurrences, we continue to run.

 Some pick partners for training or join running teams. Increasingly, joggers carry pepper spray, personal alarms, self-defense rings, stun guns, or even weapons. Although we almost universally enjoy music on the run, many have stopped wearing earphones, so we can hear our surroundings. (I prefer the neckband-style of Bluetooth headphones. Mine has retractable earbuds, which I do not use on the run.) Plenty run with dogs, who may deter strangers from approaching. Essentially, all of us run with fully charged phones and GPS mileage/activity trackers strapped aboard.

 Personally, I’ve experienced honking horns, rude comments, and uninvited approaches. I’ve changed my running routes midway to avoid creepy looking strangers, live-parked panel vans, and other shady looking situations. I seldom run alone in secluded spots or woodsy trails, choosing busy roads and familiar areas instead. I’d rather jump off the county highway shoulder into the weeds to avoid oncoming traffic than encounter an unexpected surprise in a desolate spot.

 Most of the time I run with at least one other person, or at least with a couple of big, alert, high-energy dogs. These two are snuggly pets at home, but they are trained to recognize danger and they’ll take down a full-sized adult or two, if they have to.

It's a crazy world, and it's terrible that runners have to take extra precautions and be super-vigilant about potential attacks. Maybe this video will heighten awareness to the prevalence of such violence, encouraging runners and others to be alert and to help one another stay safer out there.

 

Related Items:

·        10 safety questions to ask before going for a run

·        Do you plan your run routes?

·        Ever change your running route because of creepy people?

·        Hey, winter drivers! We're RUNNING out here!

·        Sorry, neighbor. But your dog's gotta stay away from runners.

 

Image/s: public domain photo

 

Feel free to follow Runderdog on Twitter, as well as Run Run Run in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois (Runderdog Runs the Midwest) on Facebook. Please visit my Amazon author page as well.