I was going to post this in my BL team's weekly chat, but I thought I would post it here so that everyone could possibly benefit. I'll do my best to keep this short (but this is a big problem for me).

For those of us who exercise outside - whether it be walking, running, cycling, whatever please consider taking the following steps in case you're in an accident or fall ill or something. You never know when something terrible can happen.

- Carry your cellphone with you. You never know when you'll need 911.
- In your cellphone, make sure you have an "ICE" contact in your contact list. For those who don't know, ICE stands for "In Case of Emergency".
- Carry some sort of identification with you. First responders need to know who you are in an emergency.
- If you're uncomfortable carrying your identification with you, you might consider purchasing a "Road ID". I updated my Road ID info recently - I felt it was necessary because I'm having major balance issues lately (since a nasty vertigo attack). Go to: http://www.roadid.com/ . They have several different "flavors" for sale and the wristbands have some reflective material on them.
- In the U.S. - you should walk/run facing traffic.
- In the U.S. - you should ride a bike with the traffic flow.
- If you're out at dawn/dusk or while it's pitch black, wear reflective clothing and consider wearing a flashing light on your person.
- Always try to exercise with another person. Not only is it more fun, there's safety in numbers.
- If you're going to ride a bike, for goodness sake - wear a freaking helmet! I've seen too many accidents over the years where people suffered major concussions because they were not wearing a helmet. Protect your brain, it's the only one you'll ever get!

Please be safe, everyone. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.