Some Winter Wisdom: The Locked Out Story

Its easy to read articles and blog posts about how to stay warm. hydrated and motivated during runs in these long winter months. When I go out I always remember to layer to accommodate for changing temperatures. I remember to warm up a little indoors before I hit the road so that I don't injure myself if I start off to fast. And I remember to bring some hydration with me if my runs are on the long side. But in all of this, I never prepared for what happens if I lose my house key along the way!

Yesterday afternoon I was out for a tempo run; I was in a good mood, going strong, feeling motivated and even threw in an extra lap because I was simply loving life. So, when I reached my drive way and started doing my typical cool down (walking in circles on my drive way until I could breath normally), I started stretching my quad and I reached into my right jacket pocket to fetch my house key that I put in there when I locked the house initially. Except, it wasn't there, and it wasn't in the left pocket either. I walked to the end of my drive way and searched, then to the end of my street to search, and I went another 2 blocks after that to search but there was no sign of my brightly coloured key. Immediately, I began to panic a little bit because I was sweating, and the temperature at this point started to drop drastically as the sun set. 

How could this happen? Where did this happen? Did I even have the key when I left the house? Yes, of course I had it because the door is locked. I can't run another 7km to look for this key! HOW AM I NOT PREPARED FOR THIS AFTER ALL THIS TIME!?

Needless to say, I did not have an extra key anywhere around the outside of my place, or keep one at a neighbours, or even carry a cell phone with me. In this day and age I was stranded on my own island. I managed to borrow one of my neighbours phones and call up someone who had my spare key, but the wait was another 30 minutes. That's thirty minutes to be standing in the cold, now rainy/haily/windy weather just waiting around! For those of you who like to run in winter, you are well aware that this is asking for hypothermia. So I decided to run for an additional 30 minutes, despite being exhausted and wanting to just lay down on my lawn face down until some sort of rescue arrived. Eventually, I returned from my forced run to find my saviour with my house key in my drive way and I immediately thought of my future contingency plan for winter disaster aversion! 

So with this in mind, and a fever to remind myself of my stupidity, I bring you some suggestions:

1. Carry the key in a secure location, either a key holder cuff, a zippered pant pocket or even tie it into your shoelace! Though on second thought, this last idea could result disastrous if your laced come untied and you don't notice. So scratch that once. 

Key cuffs can be purchased anywhere really, they are cheap and can obviously be worn all year around. Embarrassingly enough, I must admit that I have one, and simply stopped using it. I assure you, its going to get some serious mileage from now on. 

But if you are looking to buy one, Lululemon.com has a pretty pink one for $14, or RunningRoom.com has a few options too! 

2. Leave your key with a neighbour. Don't do what I did, and leave your key with someone who has to drive a ways to get it to you. I admit its not the smartest thing to do, but it was never an issue, until it was. 

3. And finally, if you're really stuck for what to do. I would suggest always keeping a spare key under a mat or in a plant or wherever it can be easily reached if you're ever locked out. 

I know these probably seem like really basic ideas for house keys, but some of us don't have that contingency plan! We run for years and never encounter an issue, so we become confident that our methods are fool proof. However, despite my efforts to keep my right jacket pocket zipper closed, somewhere along my run that house key abandoned ship... along with the left ear gold stud. But that's another story.