More race loot (and a demo event)

A long time ago, I think it was when I lived in Plymouth, I bought myself a running belt. It has three pockets; one big enough for a key, one big enough for a modest wallet, and one designed to hold a small bottle. I have used it a lot over the years. I often have key, phone and water bottle in it. But it has some issues. The first one is: the wallet pocket will allow for a phone, but it's not very secure. The phone sticks out, and even if it didn't; the zip has broken. My phone has fallen out on several occasions.

Running with my old belt

 

The second thing is: because it has a water bottle- shaped compartment, it is a bit bulky. That matters for instance when you are travelling. And that's in spite of it not having much space. Apart from these three pockets, that is it!

Altogether I figured I wanted a better way of at least carrying my phone with me. This could be a safety issue! Remember the time I had to phone Mountain Rescue because Tim had broken his ankle. And I did have a running vest, but that is quite committing. I don't want to have to wear that if the only thing I really need is a phone and a key. It is great if you carry water, a head torch, an extra layer, and jelly babies, but most of the time, you don't need all of that.

You can buy running shorts with built-in phone pockets. I don't own any of them. There also is a new generation of running belts on the market. I had seen one lady during a Thursday Night Hill run wear one. I know she works in a local outdoor shop. And I also knew I still had a voucher for that shop, that I had won in the Felinheli 10k. 

In the second week of my jury duty, there would be another demo event at that very outdoor shop. And as I had been released from my duties in the afternoon, I figured I could make that. And I decided to show up quite early so I had time to do a bit of shopping.

I didn't see any running shorts, but I did see some running belts. Jude, the lady who I had seen wear one of them, was there, and she let me try a few. One of them really did the job. It is all soft fabric, and the pockets are such that you would put your phone horizontally in one of them, close to your skin. Not in some rigid pocket it can bounce out of. And even if you buy a bigger model of phone, it would still fit. And you would have the other pocket for putting your keys in, and potentially some gels, or even an extra layer if you want to. It has pockets all around.

I bought it. Thanks to my voucher, it only cost me a few quid. I didn't quite wear it on that very run, as I had already prepared my running vest.

New belt! 

The demo event went fine! We were wearing Inov8 Trailfly pros. They were lovely! They fall a bit large, so I was running in a size 4.5. And we were running in the woods above Llyn Padarn. It was a big group.

The shoes

I also had a reason to remember it for something other than the shoes; at some point I wanted to sneak off for a convenience break. It was raining, and I was wearing a hat with a cap. That means you can't look above you. And after I had done what I need to do, I hurried back to the group, watching my feet, and I managed to walk straight into an overhanging branch. It got me straight in the nose! It immediately swelled up. My right eye had to look past a sizeable bump. But as nobody else quite has that perspective, other people didn't even notice anything was wrong. Good.

My temporarily asymmetric nose

When we got back, there was Dr Pepper, and chips, and a raffle. And then it was time to go home. With my new treasure! And a sore nose…