I passed two people walking their dog along the trail this morning at 530 a.m. in the pitch black. As I passed them one said, “Oh I guess we can run with our headlamps.”

Now, I’m sure all of you know you can run with a headlamp. It does take some getting used to so give yourself some time to adjust. You’ll likely be a little slower at first until you gain confidence.

You don’ t need to use a headlamp either. You can use a flashlight or something else that will light the path in front of you. If you choose to use a flashlight as your primary source of light (I have a tiny one as an emergency backup) make sure it has a wrist strap in case you fall.

I wear my headlamp around my hips rather than on my head. Whenever I wear it on my head it slides with my sweat, it bounces a bit, or I get tunnel vision. The other problem I have with it on my head is that it wipes out my night vision completely. If it’s around my hips I don’t have these problems.

There are a few things you’ll need to figure out if you try wearing a light around your hips: first, make sure your shirt is not going to bounce over the light; second, you do have to turn your body to see in another direction with the light, but you may not need the light unless you’ve obliterated your night vision or it’s really freaking dark.

Okay so we all know we need to have a light.

What are the things we need to think about when purchasing a headlamp?

1. How far do you need to be able to see? If you are running trails you need a brighter light. There are lights out there that are self-adjusting for brightness
2. The beam width. A spot light is going to be brighter to see farther, but a flood light is going to show you more width.
3. Battery life. You don’t want to be changing batteries mid run. Although you should always have spares with you. When you’re looking at battery life, think about the different settings of the lamp. Bright is going to use more life. Steady beam is going to use more than a flashing beam.
4. Weather resistance. Rain, snow, heat, can your light handle it? Another thing in this vein is how durable is the light. Trail runners fall. Make sure your lamp can take a bit of a beating.
5. A lighter light is usually more comfortable. How much does it weigh? Some headlamps have a overhead strap which can add to the stability and is good for a lot of uneven trails or technical stuff where you are really getting around. Look for something in the 6-7 ounce range.
6. User friendly. Let’s face it, if you’re an ultrarunner and you need to figure out why a light isn’t working or change batteries on your own at mile 80, a three-year-old better be able to figure it out.