Sun Safety For Runners

Whether you’re heading outdoors for a short, fast run or you plan to tackle a long distance, taking precautions to protect your skin from the sun is vital. In honor of Skin Cancer Awareness Month during May, Women’s Running wants to help you carefully enjoy the bright spring sun while you pound out the miles. Here are some sun safety tips:

Apply sunscreen ahead of time. Allow your skin plenty of time to absorb the sunscreen by applying 20 minutes before you set out on your run. Proper absorption allows the sunscreen to be most effective against harmful rays. Stick to waterproof, broad spectrum sunscreen of a 30 SPF or higher to ensure the best barrier against the sun’s harmful rays.

Early rising pays off. If possible, schedule your runs for first thing in the morning when the sun’s rays haven’t reached full intensity.

Wear protective clothing. Though the heat of the sun might make you want wear as little as possible, make sure you take extra precaution to cover more skin by wearing a hat, sunglasses and even a lightweight long sleeve top.

There’s an app for that. Check out this cool new app called nevus. The app offers a GPS enabled sun alarm to recommend exact coverage based on the UV index of your location, a sunscreen visualizer to ensure proper coverage, a personalized skin record where you can record pictures of concerning areas, and many more tips for protecting your skin. Take advantage now, while the app is only 99 cents through May 31st.

Today’s prize. . .

1 NIKE+ SPORTWATCH GPS

Win a Nike+ SportWatch GPS, powered by TomTom! This device records the length and pace of each workout and maps the route and elevation so that you can get a full picture of each run. Worth $199, nike.com.

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