January 5th - Training - Manchester, NH - 6.5

It seems like the more I am running, the colder the temperature is getting. Tonight's agenda had about 6 miles laid out on it and it did not matter how cold it was, I was going to get this run in. Mother Nature was not going to stop me. Nothing short of flooding, a tornado, sleet, blizzard "white-out" conditions, an earthquake, mudslide (not the drink), or a monsoon was going to stop me tonight. Lucky for me, Mother Nature was feeling generous and gave me another clear night with no wind.

Tonight however, I was going to try something new. I was going to bring a flashlight, along with the normal headlamp, on the run. I have been getting adventurous on my runs lately and have been taking some roads I probably should not be running at night due to potholes and cracked concrete. I figured the flashlight would at least aid me in the likely situation where I decide to run down an unknown road where I could hardly see what's beneath my feet with my headlamp alone.

This turned out to be a good decision when I ended up running down Cohas Ave in Manchester, NH and the streetlights decided they were not going to function tonight. I have made this road part of my normal route as it has 3 one-mile stretches (East Industrial Park Drive ~1 mile, Cohas Ave. ~1 mile, and Bodwell Road ~1 mile). Tonight was about my fifth time running down these stretches of roads allowing me to be pretty comfortable with where I was going however it was the flashlight that allowed me to avoid many of the street plow made potholes.

I think I am going to stick with this method of running with the headlamp and flashlight until someone can suggest a better headlamp to me. Tonight, I turned the headlamp around and used it's blinking feature so the cars coming from my behind me would have a better chance of seeing me before running me off the road (it has a few blind spots for cars) and I used the flashlight to light the road in front of me. It worked out very well for me but I just don't like holding anything while I run.  If anyone has a suggestion for a better headlamp than the Petzl 2 or 3 LED one that I have, I would greatly appreciate it. I am forced to run at night due to my schedule during the week usually and would love to see where I am going instead of mindlessly moving my feet on the unseen pavement. . .

(Suggestions anyone?)