Posted on the Ultralist:
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:05:52 EDT
From: Erskien Lenier
Subject: Laz: What did you typically carry on your multiday runs?
In a message dated 10/25/2007 9:49:48 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
> From: [email protected]
>
> I have decided that I am going to do a multi day road adventure to see what they are like… I would like to ask those who have run with jogging/running strollers over long multi day events to let me know which strollers have been a success and which have not….
hello jetfuelburner,
I want to encourage you to do the run you are planning. Having done a lot of multi-day road stuff, up to two weeks at a time, I can tell you they are a lot of fun.
However, I think the stroller would be a mistake. No matter how well the stroller works out, it would still be a pain in the butt to drag it along day after day. I know, from experience, that you can easily carry everything you need in a fanny pack. I started to say a small fanny pack, but I’ve seen some postage stamp sized packs, and you need a little more than that.
When you are self-supported on the road, anything you carry that is not vitally necessary is a double penalty. First, you have to tote it all the way. Second, you have to deal with it every day. One penalty of carrying excess stuff is obvious – the weight, and the space it occupies. Less obvious is the nuisance of unpacking and repacking crap you aren’t using… every day.
You wont use as much stuff as you think. After you spend the whole day running, and then do all the required foot travel to feed & restock supplies, etc, there isn’t going to be but just enough time left to rest.
In my experience, watching 30 minutes or an hour of TV before going to sleep is about the most non-required-to-run time you will get (at least if you plan to cover any ground) and some days you wont even get adequate time to sleep, since the length of each days run depends a lot on where the next place is to overnight.
You can opt to spend some nights alongside the road (I recommend cemeteries or church lawns), but you will find that life without bathrooms & showers is not near as much fun.
Over the years I have pretty well figured out what I require and what I don’t. I consider it a success to travel for a week or more carrying about 5 pounds of stuff, and finishing without any item in my pack that I did not use, and not ever needing anything I did not have.
Although I have not been past a couple of weeks, I believe that I could go indefinitely with the supplies I carry.
If you take a stroller full of stuff, you will spend your trip acting as a slave to all the un-necessary material, and it is supposed to be a vacation for you, not for your running gear.
laz
Sounds like you got it pretty down to an art and science. Tell us what the typical contents of your running pack was that added up to approx. 5 lbs?
I and I’ll bet many others would like to “Run in your Foot Steps” :o)
Barefoot – E in Corona, CA
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