Carrying Water

A lot of new runners wonder whether or not they should carry water during their races.  My opinion?  Do what feels right to you.

Some runners will tell you that it’s pointless to carry your own water in a race.  There are water stops.  Carrying water just means carrying extra weight.  These are true facts.

Personally?  I carry water at every single race.  Not enough to get me through the race, but enough that if I want a drink between water stops or if water stops are just too crowded, I can drink from my bottle and not have to worry about it.

I train wearing a water belt or carry a handheld bottle.  So I’m used to having water whenever I want it.  Why change that for a race?  My water belt doesn’t bother me, and I’m not fast enough to worry about being weighed down.

I only carry a handheld for a race of 5K or less.  For longer races, I wear a water belt.  I have a couple of different belts, most made by Amphipod, just because those are the ones that work the best for me.  There are a bunch of options out there though, so check them out if you’re interested.

You should do what feels right to you and not worry about what others are doing.  If you hate carrying water, or don’t want to be bothered with a water belt, then don’t worry about it.  A well organized race will have plenty of water for you on the course.  But if you feel more comfortable with your own water bottles, then carry them.  It’s up to you.  You’ll see people who have made both choices out on the course.

Don’t worry about how you will look either way.  It’s about how you feel.  If you are comfortable, you’ll have a better race, no matter which way you choose to go with water.

And if there are any typos in this post, I blame my writing partner.