Happiness Alert: Take Your Cellphone with You!

Happiness alert: Take your cellphone with you on your runs and walks!

I’ve advised this in 123 Cellphone Tips for Runners and Walkers.

Now, though, I have a real-life story to tell you about having a cellphone with you on the road or trail.

It’s a story that has a happy ending, but it could have just as easily had an unhappy ending.

No offense, but I’m going to get a bit in your face about this.

Let’s get right to it.

I was on a 15-mile run last Saturday with a running buddy we’ll call Adam.

We started at 5 AM, and we were running several urban and suburban streets.

When Adam and I stopped for water and sports drink at about mile seven, our water-stop guy told us that three people in our group training program already had fallen that morning.

It was still dark, and he warned Adam and me to be careful for the remainder of our run.

Adam and I even talked about how tripping and falling becomes more likely with fatigue.

I recall telling him at about mile 10 that I was turning off the LED floodlight on my hydration belt, given that sunrise was fast approaching.

We continued north down a suburban street, turned right, and turned left at the next street to keep heading north back toward the park where we had started.

Adam soon after that — at about 10.5 miles — caught the toe of one of his shoes on a half-inch rise in the concrete-paved street.

Well, you probably can guess what happened next.

Adam, who is 6′ tall, did a face-plant straight into the street. It happened so quickly that it was over before I realized what happened.

Adam’s glasses went flying, and he sat up almost as quickly as he fell. His face was covered with blood, with a small gash in his forehead and another one on the bridge of his nose — near where his glasses usually rest.

Adam then made the most jarringly important statement of the morning:

“I wish that I had a cellphone.”

I soon remembered that I had mine in a pocket of my hydration belt. I quickly fished it out of the pocket and out of the plastic bag that I use to protect it from sweat and rain.

I called a head coach in my group training program. He told me that he was out of town but would call me back with the number of a coach who was in town.

Meanwhile, seeing a small pool forming on the street from the blood dripping from his face, Adam asked me to call 911. Soon after I made that call, we heard a siren in the distance, and an ambulance rolled up to meet us.

A man in the neighborhood walked up on us with his dog and asked whether we needed any help. We told him that we didn’t, given that the paramedics had arrived. He explained that he was a physician, gave Adam a good once-over, and gave him two bits of advice: “Keep running, but first go get that checked out at the emergency room!”

Adam had the presence of mind to give me his car key and home address so that I could drive his car to his home after I finished running back to the park.

But, it eventually became clear that Adam was in a bit of shock — not just that “I’m pissed!” shock from falling and hurting oneself but also that dazed kind of shock from hitting one’s head — in this case on hard concrete pavement.

Other runners who had been well behind us on the 15-miler eventually ran up on us. As the paramedics were loading Adam into the ambulance, he tried to give one of those runners his only form of identification — a shoe tag with emergency information on it.

Fortunately, they almost yelled at him, “No, you need that!”

I say “fortunately” because Adam had not only no cellphone but also no wallet with him.

Yikes!

When I returned to the park and found his car, I arranged for my wife, who had just finished walking a different route, to follow along in her car while I drove Adam’s car to his home.

I found Adam’s wallet and cellphone in his car. His cellphone displayed on the lock screen a text message from his wife, who was out of town and was asking how his run went.

Unfortunately, I did not have the code to unlock his cellphone, so I could not call Adam’s wife to let her know what had happened.

When I finished delivering Adam’s car to his home, I used my cellphone to call the ER of the hospital mentioned by the paramedics.

When I spoke with Adam, he was in good spirits and told me that he especially needed his cellphone and wallet.

Fortunately, I was able to hand off Adam’s car key to someone at his home who could take his car, his wallet, and his cellphone to him at the hospital.

So, all is well that ends well.

But, please indulge me for some lessons learned from this experience.

Lessons Learned

Lesson 1:
[Tweet “Be especially careful running at dusk or dawn, when lighting is flat and hides tripping hazards.”]

Lesson 2:
[Tweet “Run or walk with a buddy, who can call for emergency help if you become incapacitated.”]

Lesson 3:
[Tweet “Take your car key with you on your runs. If you get hurt, you can give it to your running buddy.”]

Lesson 4:
[Tweet “Take your wallet with you on your runs. If you must go to the ER, you may need it there.”]

Lesson 5:
[Tweet “Take your cellphone with you on your runs. Your running buddy should have one but may not!”]

Lesson 6:
[Tweet “Put an emergency (‘ICE’) contact in your cellphone, and put its unlock code on your shoe tag.”]

Lesson 7:
[Tweet “Take your cellphone with you on your runs. If you must go to the ER, you may need it there.”]

What Say You?

Have you ever had to call for help for a running buddy? Have you ever had to call for help for yourself while out on a run? What lessons did you learn from your experience? Please leave a comment below!