5 gym bag must haves!

It's Friday!!!! Time for the Friday Five Link up with Eat Pray Run DC, Mar on the Run and You Signed Up For What?!  What are FIVE things you have in your gym bag?

Well, if I am completely honest with you, I do not have a gym bag.  I don't own one and I do not have a gym membership anymore.  Once I fell in love with running, I ditched the club and put the money towards my daughters dance class instead.  Now it is just me and the open road 365 days a year.  Heat, humidity, rain, blizzards and even hurricanes have not stopped me from pounding the pavement.  However, I still have a small arsenal of must have items when I head out.

First thing? My HipS-sister of course! Thanks to the amazing Linda at Traveling Light and Comfortable , I am the owner of the Global HipS-sister and it is a great addition to my running gear! Why?  Well it is a sleek, comfortable way for me to carry what I need too while I am out running.  No matter how many miles I go I wear it to hold the essentials.  It is light and I never even realize I am wearing it.  Best part?  The Baby Bump has grown to ginormous proportions and I am STILL able to use it!


Next up is the reason I purchased the Hips-sister in the first place.  I am a runner running with a severe allergy to any stinging insect so I must MUST remember to carry my Epipen.

On longer runs I need to carry two.  If stung, the Epipens buy me 40 minutes to get to a hospital so every second counts.  At first running with an allergy was terrifying.  I would be out and see bees everywhere and freak out.  But now that I have a way to carry my Epipens I feel much much more at ease and I can forget they are there in the HipS-sister.

Which leads me to the reason I had to buy the Global HipS-sister and not the Coastal, I also need to have my phone on me.  I have always run with my phone, in my arm band because I used to use it as a GPS device and a music player.  However, about a year ago I decided to just start running naked, after a race that my phone failed me on and I missed a PR by ONE second!!! Now I run to the sounds of the road or trail and I no longer need my phone for distraction.  It is now thrown in the HipS-sister as an emergency backup.  If I am in trouble out on the run, stung or you know having a baby or something.  I can stop, stay
calm and call for help.  I have an android phone so the wider HipS-sister was needed.  And a little secret?  There are a few occasions I still use it to blast some tunes.  Like for example, this past Christmas season I would head out for a run in the snow and just loop around neighborhoods looking at decorated houses and I would play Christmas songs.  It was very peaceful and fun!

Last two items?  No they do not go into my HipS-sister although, gum just missed the list and I always have an extra piece in the pocket.  The last two items are my Nathan Reflective Vest and my Garmin Forerunner

110.  My vest is a total must have since being a mommy with a hubby who leaves the house at 4:30 am means that 90% of my time to get out there and run is in the fading light of day into the darkness of night. I love that I can have a reflective vest that I can count on to be visible.  It is also great to wear out on overcast and rainy days to give that extra pop of color for visibility through the gray and rain.  It gives me a sense of security that I am doing everything possible to be seen as a runner in order to avoid being hit.  And of course the Garmin.  I mean come on we all want to know the distance we have run and the pace at which we have done so.  Whether it is so we can push our limits and set records or so we can practice holding it at a certain pace for a certain distance.  The watch is fantastic! I love the fact that I can check in whenever I want to see how far I have gone and how long it has taken me.  I have this slight problem of always trying to better myself and that watch helps me see how I am doing.  Right now it is helping me to remember to take it easy and even on days where I have no pregnancy pains it helps me to stop at a distance I know isn't pushing it.

So what is in your gym bag? Or your must haves when you hit the road running?  Anyone else running with Epipens?  How are you dealing with that?