Last weekend, when I ran with Betsy, she commented that I run with a lot of stuff.
She’s not wrong.
That particular day, I was out for an 11 mile run. I was wearing a t-shirt and a Sparkle Skirt with all its amazing pockets. I don’t think Betsy realized just how much stuff I had on me. With me, I had:
- My phone
- Headphones
- 3 packets of Gu (only 2 of which were consumed)
- A water belt holding 32 ounces of water
- House keys
- Garmin 305
- Road ID
- Inhaler
- Lip balm with SPF
It seems like a lot, but really, I’m not sure what I would leave at home if I were trying to minimize what I was carrying. The headphones? The items I was carrying fall into a few categories.
Health – Gu (fuel), water (hydration), inhaler and Garmin 305. Since I have to watch my heartrate, I need some sort of HRM when I run. I suppose I could have something with less bells and whistles. But I like the data from the 305.
Safety – Road ID and phone. Keys too, I suppose, because the other option is to leave the house unlocked or hide keys, neither of which sounds like a good idea.
The lip balm? Not really a necessity, though the SPF sort of is.
I plug the headphones into my phone and listen to podcasts while I run. I prefer podcasts to music because it’s much easier to hear what’s going on around me. Music tends to drown out sounds like the biker bells behind me.
So that’s what I tend to carry on a long run. Still trying to figure out hydration for the longer runs coming up. I think there’s a water fountain near a school that I pass on my route. Going to have to look into that.
What do you carry when you run?
Well, in terms of time rather than distance, how long were you out there? I tend to think like that when determining what to carry. I’ve been the one carrying a bunch of stuff before – you should have seen the looks I got running the Green Bay full with my hydration vest. But I was training for a 50K, and I needed to know that the setup would work!
Maybe you could consolidate some things. Some folks mix the Gu with their water ahead of time. Road ID makes a shoe pouch, in which you can keep a key. Otherwise, if you want to just go for it, I highly recommend the Wink. 🙂 I love having pouches up front for the stuff to which I need access, and the compartments in the back hold a ton more!
Haha. Once again proving our similarities. My list is almost exactly the same! Depending on the distance I’ll use either my 2-bottle (20 oz) or 4-bottle (40 oz) water belt. Also, in the front tiny velcro pocket of the belt I’ll carry a couple tylenol and a few enduralytes). If it’s over 85* I’ll tuck my ChillyPad into my belt as well. I figure if the SparkleSkirt pockets can handle the stuff, why not bring it?
In addition to what you carry, I usually have individually wrapped wet ones and/or Cottonelle wipes in the pouch on my water belt. This have come in handy for me or those running with me on more than one occasion.
You carry a lot less than most. I consider myself a minimalist runner and the only thing from your list that I don’t take with me on long runs is my phone & headphones. Well, and the inhaler, but that’s only b/c I don’t need one.