Fun and Fitness for the 40-Something

Last year, I wrote about an easy way to carry your emergency contact information—the Road ID. It’s a secure, light-weight shoe attachment that provides all of the information you would want on you if you have an accident. I’ve been wearing a Road ID on my running shoe for several years, but I always wondered whether a first responder would even notice it there. Now I know.

Recently, my sister collapsed on a path while running. I had clued her into the Road ID early on, and, like me, she wears the model that goes on the shoe. But when she went down, no one noticed the ID—not the passersby who first helped her, not the cop who soon arrived with a portable automated external defibrillator, and not the paramedics who took her to the hospital. In fact, an article about the episode suggested that my sister wasn’t carrying any ID.

The police ultimately used her old gym card that was on her key chain to track down her name and husband. Until then, they had no information about her medical history because she was unconscious the entire time.

The moral of the story? Road ID is still a great product, but the shoe version probably isn’t the best choice. The Ankle ID Band seems likely to be overlooked, too. The company also offers polished stainless steel dog-tag style options, but I plan on switching to the Wrist ID Band. And, in the meantime, I’m carrying my license and emergency contact number in a small wallet that clips on the waist of my shorts.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 5:24 am and is filed under General Fitness, Products and Reviews, Running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.