I’ve Fallen and I can’t get up

When I started running one of the things that concerned me was dying while running, literally.  Dropping over from a heart attack, zombie bite, whatever.

while a junior wife sounds tempting”

So one of the things I did was get a RoadID from roadid.com so that if I did expire someone would be able to ID the body and let my wife know.  I’m wearing two charms on it, #NOTARUNNER and 10K which is my current furthest race distance.

Another thing I did was install Automate on my android phone.  Automate is a block based programming application that lets you do a lot of super cool things with an android phone.  Some things do require root of course.

One of the things I was able to do was set up an panic button so to speak.  If I press my power button 3 times in 5 seconds it sends my wife an emergency text with my current GPS coordinates.  Technically it’s the fact that the screen comes on and turns off 3 times in 5 seconds which is what pushing the power button repeatedly does.     It works fine as we’ve had a handful of false triggers due to accidental pushes.  Each time she calls me and verifies I’m not dying somewhere.   If I don’t answer then she’ll pull up the Garmin Livetrack and see if I’m not moving.  Or ping me on Google’s Trusted Contacts app which if I don’t deny the request for my location then something bad is likely happening.

It’s these kinds of things that make running by yourself regardless of the circumstances safer.  Whether a health issue, tripping and smashing your head on the street, getting your throat torn out by a zombie, hit by a drunk or just stupid or texting while driving driver etc, these are all (okay most of them) valid reasons that you might need help quickly and be in a position where maybe just spam clicking your power button is the only option you have.

Now that I primarily run with someone it’s not as big a concern but I still have solo days so having that peace of mind helps.

Other things I’ve set up is to have texts read to me while I’m running, just SMS though so texts from iphone users which use MMS for everythign don’t work.

And I’ve added the ability that calls from unknown numbers, i.e. not in my contacts list, go straight to voicemail, not even a ring on my phone.  I get a jacked up amount of bullshit calls a day from random callers for everything from helping my credit score to getting a second wife.   And while a junior wife sounds tempting, it’s not really something I’m going to interview on the phone for.