On the Friday before Thanksgiving, I ran a race called Run the Lights at Shady Brook Farm in Yardley, PA. This was a two mile run along through a farm field that is lined with large Christmas and Hanukkah light displays. The race began at 7pm, long after the sun set.
The entire point of the race was to appreciate the lights in the dark. But some people were running the race and not walking it with friends and family, and there were stretches of the course where the holiday lights were not bright enough to light the course. So each runner was provided with a battery-powered glow stick, like the one I’m holding in the photo. I wore a mountaineering headlamp over my baseball cap, which you can see peeking over the brim. But even that was not enough light to be sure of my footing in the darkest parts of the course.
Since I crossed the finish line from that race, I’ve been looking for lights to supplement my headlamp in a night cross country race. I think I’ve found a good solution in these Knuckle Lights
The conditions in this race were ideal (41 degrees Fahrenheit, 49% humidity, 3 mile per hour winds), but if the conditions had been colder, I would have wanted to wear gloves. Knuckle Lights would work well if runners were wearing gloves.
When running in a race where you are supposed to be admiring Christmas lights, I naturally turn my head left and right to look at the lights I’m passing. When you are wearing a headlamp, the light shines in the same direction as you turn your head. Knuckle Lights continue to point forward because my hands would not turn as head turns.
Finally, if the only strong light source I’m running with is a headlamp, I have to constantly position my head in a way that shines the light a good distance in front of my feet. With Knuckle Lights, the angle of the lights would be closer to the ground and likely to be more parallel to a level surface. I think these lights would be great for next year, and I will definitely try to get a set of them.