My everyday carry on long runs

Hello all:

This is what I carry when I intend to run more than 3 miles.  The load varies.  Sometimes there is insect repellent and sun screen.  You will notice many of foot care products and many "Boy Scout" Be Prepared items.

A three compartment fanny pack with 7 inch piece of reflex tape added.  Buckles knotted to keep the straps snug.  $5 from Yea-Old-Big-Box store on close-out

Outside pocket.  A few coins.  A pill container with aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, Tums, loperamide, diphenhydramine.  Some mints and bandaids.

Middle compart:  Nikon Coolpix L26 camera (not shown), lip balm, toenail clippers, compass, triple antibiotic salve, more bandaids, pen, $10, lighter, wax soaked fire starter pads.  Missing from this picture is a pocket knife. 

Main compartment: Bottles of electrolyte, spare socks, tissues (a life saver on at least two occasions), stocking cap, water purifiers, 50 feet of 1/4" nylon rope, a Clif bar, a pen.  Not shown: enough plastic grocery bags to stuff compartment tight to eliminate content bounce.

Electrolyte is typically a half liter (about 17 ounces) bottle for a 6 mile run, two bottles for a 9 mile run.  I pre-position bottles on three mile intervals if I am planning on running more than 10 miles.  Temperatures above 88 degrees F jack up the amount of liquid I need to carry.

I mix my own electrolyte because I am cheap and I want to drinking plenty of it.

In a clean, one gallon plastic container (known as milk jugs in our household), I mix 8 ounces by measured volume of table sugar, 1 measured teaspoon of non-iodized table salt, and two packages of Kool-aid....one of which is always Lemonaid.  Fill with clean tap water and shake until sugar is dissolved.

I figure it costs about fifty cents to make a gallon and there are more than seven half-liters to the gallon.  A single bottle of commercial electrolyte costs over a buck.

-Joe