Today, while reading the Washington Post, I was reminded about the importance of continually sharing the RRCA Running Safety Tips.  The following is an excerpt from the news article written by Dan Morse, Washington Post staff writer: "A 30-year-old jogger was raped Monday night after being pulled into a wooded area of Rock Creek Park just south of Kensington, marking the second time in the last week a Montgomery County woman has been taken into woods and sexually assaulted, police said. Investigators are examining whether the events are related, but thus far have found no evidence to that effect.

In the most recent incident, the 30-year-old started her run about 7:45 p.m., wearing a portable music player. As she jogged along a footpath in the area that crosses under Connecticut Avenue, just north of the Beltway, a man came up from behind and grabbed her. After the attack, she was unable to find help from passing motorists, so she walked home to Kensington, and was driven to a local hospital, where she was treated for the assault and trauma to her face, neck and shoulders, police said. She remained hospitalized today."
Our sympathies go out to this women as she recovers from this traumatic incident.  

As a result, I implore everyone in the running community to email their members or email event participants and remind the ever growing number of runners to practice safe running which includes leaving the headphones at home.

The RRCA offers a variety of running safety tips  that can be found on our website.  We encourage RRCA members and the running and fitness media to circulate these safety tips in newsletters, on websites, in print, radio, and visual news broadcasts as widely and as often as possible.

Sincerely,
Jean Knaack

Road Runners Club of America
1501 Lee Hwy, Ste 140
Arlington, VA 22209 703-525-3890