For your security and safety

[Realfoodieclub]

Just a little reminder to all our new members.

Your safety is very important to all of us that work within this forum and we want you to enjoy your experience while here and feel safe

We can guide you on dos and don’ts that keep you safe but ultimately it is up to yourself to make sure you only share information that you are comfortable with complete strangers knowing

You have some anonymity in the fact you can have a user name that has no links at all with you as a person but all that anonymity is useless if you then post a run somewhere online Garmin, strava, or the like that shows where your front door is.

If you don’t want all that information in the public domain please check your privacy settings of the apps you use.

If we see anything we are worried about on this forum we would always message you to ask if you wanted to share that much and usually we delete any posts that have email addresses in them

We are so lucky to have this wonderful safe place to share our journeys and nothing has happened to change that. We just wanted to remind you to always look after yourselves online. Happy running

[benwill Marathon]

Well said. I would say that there are security solutions in most running programs where it doesn't show the last .5k so you cant pinpoint your home. If anyone needs help in setting anything up or has any issues then do ask.

[Irish-John Marathon in reply to benwill]

And there you have a great solution to safeguarding your personal information and joining in the fun here Thanks benwill

[Irish-John Marathon]

It is sometimes chilling to see how much information is sometimes put on here and on other sites.

I can guarantee you that with some of the screen shots of 'mapmyrun' and similar Apps posted by Runners I would have no problem figuring out where they live to within four houses, where they run regularly and the likely times they would be on the route...all with just the start and end flags, the times etc.

Simply plugging in the names of surrounding streets, parks etc into Google Maps and so forth, and there you have it. It does not take James Bond and 'Q' technology these days. Your Forum name is not enough if you wish to guard your privacy in those circumstances so - and especially the Ladies (yes, I'm a sexist Neanderthal but such is life) - please do be careful.

Thank you Admins for pointing this out - and members, please help spread the word....

[Tomas Marathon]

Laura taught us in w1r1 to always start with a 5 minute warm up walk and end with a 5 minute cool down walk. If concerned about anonymity, then it's a simple safety measure to only start the watch after the warm-up, and stop it after the cool down (and as an added bonus that means a 10 km training run isn't actually a 9 km one).