Your brand new Brooks or New Balance cross trainers are laced up and ready to be put to good use. Jogging or walking in Middle Tennessee is one of the best ways to stay healthy and enjoy the outdoors.

Perhaps if you’’re in the downtown area of Nashville Tennessee, you can take advantage of Centennial Park where you can jog or walk on the paths and enjoy the sights and sounds of folks taking a paddle boat out for a spin in the man-made lake.

Another Middle Tennessee favorite is the Stone’s River Greenway in Murfreesboro with their 4.5 miles of trails. The scenery while you walk or jog is something to behold.

But whether you are at Edwin Warner Park while taking in the beauty of their wooded trails, or sight-seeing at Radnor Lake, staying safe is the most important thing for you and your family, so we’’ve got a few tips to help keep you that way.

Now, even on the lighted Trails at LaVergne’’s Memorial Park, please try to avoid walking or jogging alone, call a girlfriend or a buddy and jog or walk with a partner.

As mentioned above, many of the trails and parks in Metro Nashville are well lit, but if you and your partner are jogging at night, stay in well-traveled areas and avoid the secluded places.

If you’’re jogging or walking during twilight or hours of darkness, please wear a reflective vest. You need to make sure that drivers can easily see you.

Make sure you wear comfortable clothes that allow freedom of movement and shoes designed for walking or jogging. As a former “Grunt” in the Marine Corps, I well know that nothing is more painful than sore feet from wrong or ill-fitting shoes, so trust me on this one.

For added safety carry a referee’’s whistle around your neck on a lanyard when walking or jogging, use it if necessary. A can of Mace or pepper spray might be something you’’ll want to consider carrying as well.

While you’’re walking or jogging, be careful if someone in a car pulls up close to you and asks you for directions. Be sure to keep your distance from the car and keep that whistle or pepper spray ready to use.

If you drive your vehicle to Percy Warner Park, right off of Highway 100, and you are going to walk or jog, always lock the doors to your vehicle when you leave and remember to carry the key with you. Many times my locksmith shop, Sherwood Locksmithing, has been called by walkers and joggers who have locked themselves out of their car.

When you return to your vehicle, have your key ready before you reach the door.

During your walk or jog, if you think you’’re being followed, change directions. If the person is still there, use your whistle and head for an open store, restaurant, gas station or house and make as much noise as possible while doing so, but find some place safe. Don’t try to make it home.

And as my Mother always told me, don’t hitchhike and don’t pick up hitchhikers.

Middle Tennessee is a great place to walk or jog and view the incredible scenery available to us here, but remember, always be aware of your surroundings and what’’s going on around you.

And one last tidbit, did you know that jogging can pay? Back in the 1980’’s Health Corporation of America, based out of Nashville, was paying their employee’s per mile to jog. Now that’s a healthy incentive!

Hope you have found these tips helpful.

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It’s time for Spring Break in Middle Tennessee.

The children from Nashville to Murfreesboro are out of school and the majority of parents are ready to pack up and head on vacation too.

It doesn’t matter if you live in Smyrna, LaVergne, or Antioch.

It doesn’t matter if you live in Franklin or Brentwood.

It doesn’t matter if you have a house or an apartment in Murfreesboro because you attend Middle Tennessee State University.

What does matter is that your home or apartment is most vulnerable is when it’s left empty for an extended period of time, especially if it’s quickly and easily identified as empty and vulnerable.

The worst thing you can do is leave notes, especially one’s like; “Hey, we’re away in Panama City for the week, please leave any packages at the neighbor’s house.” Notes like that are screaming neon invitations to a thief. Darkened windows, un-retrieved mail or newspapers piled up are also like ringing the dinner bell for a hungry burglar to hear. You might as well leave the doors unlocked and post a sign that says “Come and Get It!”

So what can you do to keep your home or apartment off the bad guy’s radar?

As a Tennessee State Licensed Locksmith, when people call me for advice, the first question I ask is, “Do you have a house sitter?”

You see, one of the best ways to protect your home while you’re away is to have a house sitter. When you have a friend or family member stay at your house, they can take care of your pets, water you plants, pick up mail and/or deliveries and keep your yard mowed. That’s more than enough activity to make your home less of a target and send thieves a signal that says “No Free Lunches!”

When you’re planning your vacation, don’t publicize your plans. Today’s burglars have learned to use Twitter and Facebook updates and other social media sites to search for people who are going away on vacations. Educate your children about why they shouldn’t make a big deal about it on their Facebook page or brag about it in public settings. You never know who is reading or listening while you’re on your cellphone while standing in line at the local coffee shop or the Mall.

Talk to your neighbors well in advance about your plans. Maybe you can trade house sitting duties with some of them or with a family member or two.

If you don’t have a trusted friend or family member willing to housesit, here’s a few ideas for you:

Pay a close friend or neighbor to check on your home while you’re away. Have them turn on lights, radios or TV’s. Ask them to open and close curtains or blinds and leave them in different positions, because that will give your house the appearance of someone being home.

Don’t ever leave door keys for whoever is watching your house in silly places like under flowerpots or doormats, inside an unlocked mailbox or over the doorway. Those are obvious places and they’re the first place a burglar will look.

Instead, when you give your keys to the house sitter, make sure they know how to work your alarm system and who to call in case of a problem. Give them their own password, if possible, as you can always cancel it when you return. Also, inform your alarm company that you will be away and give them the name and password of the contact person, along with their home and cellphone numbers.

This may sound silly, but I always double and sometimes even triple check to make sure all windows are closed and locked and that doors and deadbolts are locked before I leave. Perhaps it’s just my locksmith background that causes me to do that, but it takes little time and the potentials savings are well worth another 3 minutes.

An empty garage, with no cars, screams “No one’s home!”, so close those garage doors too. You might even disable the garage door opener, so that it can’t accidentally be activated.

Another tactic that will work from Hendersonville to Franklin to Brentwood is to have your house sitter scatter several toys around the yard at various times of the day. This creates the illusion of occupancy. Of course, this works best for homes that normally have children playing outside.

When you arrive back home from Spring Break, or vacation, the first thing you should do is inspect your home for signs of being broken into. In the unlikely event you do indeed find a door or window has been forced or broken into while you were away, DO NOT ENTER. The burglar could still be inside. Use a cellphone or neighbor’s phone immediately to call the police.

Do not touch anything or clean up if a crime has occurred. Preserve the scene until police inspect for evidence.

If you have any doubts or questions about potential security issues, such as your locks, windows or doors, call us and we’ll inspect your premises before you head out. That way, you’ll be able to enjoy your time away, instead of worrying about your valuables.

A quick, easy and painless security analysis will put your mind at ease, so you can worry about what’s for dinner or what to wear, instead of about what might be going on back home.

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Sherwood Locksmithing is proud to serve the Metro Nashville area.  Please call Trapper Sherwood at (615) 355-5886 for all of your locksmithing needs.  Our services are listed below. If you have any questions,  please give us a call.

Services Offered by Sherwood Locksmithing

• Lockouts
• ASSA High Security Locks Available
• Locks Rekeyed
• Dead Bolts Installed
• Foreign & Domestic Vehicle Keys Made
• File Cabinet and Desk Keys Made
• GM Vats Keys Originated on Site
• Ford PATS Keys Originated and Programed
• Computer Masterkeying Available
• Panic Hardware and Exit Devices Serviced and Installed
• Keyless Entry Locks Installed and Serviced
• Detex Alarms
• Bump Key Proof Locks