Wednesday, August 29, 2012

What goes with me for a long run...

When I gear up for my long runs every week it feels a bit like I'm getting ready for some kind of expedition.  When I was on vacation my family gave me a hard time for how long it took me every morning to actually get my foot out the door.  I'd get up to run at 7 (yes, even on vacation!) and I wouldn't start running until 9 or 10.  I'm not so bad about stalling when I'm at home, but at home I don't have my parents, my brothers, the beach or a cute pug to distract me.  So between all these distractions and getting my pack ready, it takes a while.  Here's what I pack before I leave:


On the left is my SpiBelt.  It's sort of a mini-fanny pack for running.  It holds some of the things I like to be able to grab quickly - My phone, Clif Bloks, Gu, and my apartment key.

In my backpack goes the rest of the stuff.  The pack is a Kelty Big Basin.  True to the amazon reviews, the reservoir that it came with leaked terribly, so I got a new one from Camelpak and now I can say that the combination meets my needs.  You might notice in the picture there I've got my handy sweat rag tied to the chest strap and the waist strap is tied up behind the pack.  It took me way too long to figure out that for me this is the only comfortable way to run with a pack.  

In the pack:
-Pepto Bismol Chewables (gotta be chewables!)
-Toilet Paper (just in case)
-Wallet
-Extra Socks
-Mini Body Glide stick
-Clif Crunch Bar
-Payday 
(I rarely eat both the crunch bar and the payday, but it makes me happy to have options to choose from when I need fuel.)

My long run at the beach was a little rocky.  I bonked at mile 12 out of 14, but I got to run through some new trails and nearly got the piss scared out of me by ... a butterfly.  Go ahead and laugh, but I had run through a few too many spiderwebs and was feeling VERY jumpy after not having seen any other humans for about an hour, and it startled me.  I shrieked like there was an axe murderer after me, and then laughed my way down the trail, relieved there was nobody around to see or hear my response to the very scary butterfly.

These are the only two pictures I took during that run.  The trail I was on opened up to a view of the beach.

Same part of the same trail, just a little closer.

Even though my long run that week was embarrassing and disappointing, the rest of the week went really well.  I managed to get all of my runs in, plus a trip to the gym to lift, and - AND! - (you may want to sit down for this part) - I beat my brother in a four mile race.  Gasp!  All three of my brothers are very athletic, and being the tomboy that I was when I was growing up, that meant losing a lot whenever we played sports together.  So this was big.  He might have beat me by one stroke the day before in mini golf, but I smoked him in our race and I couldn't have been happier about it.  Now that I think about it, we put a bet on that race.  That jerk still owes me ten dollars.

Stats from my long run at the beach:

Okay so the stats aren't working.  But I'm gonna go ahead and leave that there to show you I tried.  It's garmin's fault.  I think.  I'll repost later in the week to see if it's fixed.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Yeah, I believe garmin apis went nuts. Still, if you click on "Untitled" it will bring you to the correct garmin activity page.

We share lots of things we bring on long runs :)

Diane said...

I LOVE this posting!!

Diane said...

Okay - changed my profile (from when I wrote to Heidi) so that it doesn't say AUNT Diane

Laura Walker said...

Awesome - I have a spi belt too! Just wondering, do you listen to music while you run, or just get in the zone with your thoughts?

Unknown said...

On my long runs I'll take some tunes along, but I usually try to limit my headphone time while running. I think it can be kind of distracting which can be both a blessing and a curse depending on how I'm feeling that day.