I'm going to be walking a 5K on a track in the near future and they said it's about 13 laps around the track we are using...

PROBLEM...how on earth am I supposed to be able to keep track of how many laps I have done?

I thought about using my little clicker that I use to count rows when knitting but I don't want to have to hold it in my hand and I think it might get sweaty in my pocket. Any ideas? Also, I don't want to spend $30 on a lap counter just to use once.

OH - I thought I was the only one with this problem. I count the first lap, I come up on the second lap, Oh is this the second lap? I noted second lap, was that before I got to the second lap and already aniticpated it, or did I already count the second lap and this is the third. Lost lost...

sometimes when i run, i just repeat the number of the lap over and over and over again in my head.. lol... doesnt always work though...

That's what I do or I time the first lap, let's say 2 mins, then when I'm at 8 mins I know I've done 4 laps...

I want to get one of these:
Lap Counter

When there was snow on the ground, I would make a mark in the snow every time I completed a lap. Now I am not sure what to do.

You are all making me feel so much better about being so bad at this. I still try when I'm walking/running on a track, but for swimming laps I now just swim by time in the pool, don't even try to count the laps.

I count in binary on my fingers, and I only change my finger count when I pass the startpoint - so at the end of the first lap my fingers go from 0 to 1, end of the second lab 1 to 2, etc. The only drawback is you can't hold your hand in fist or whatever it is you normally do.

My running partner and I were talking about this one day and she suggested buttons or pennies you switch from one pocket to the other ... Hey if it works

I've used a manual lap counter but then sometimes I forget to press the button

For some reason when I run or do cardio, I can't think or talk straight, maybe too much blood rushing through my body, who knows... It's weird...

Thanks for all the tips guys. I am especially intrigued by counting in binary on my fingers...although how do you convince the other people on the track that you aren't flipping them off, but rather that you are on lap 4??

Keep the ideas coming!!!

I'm going to wear my pedometer for the WW 5K and I'll just check the mileage rather than counting laps. :-)