Review and Giveaway!—iFitness Hydration Belt

My iFitness Neoprene Double Pouch belt is one of my favorite things. In fact, it made it on my "favorite things” list last year. I also have purchased it for two of my friends and told a friend’s husband to purchase one for a third. I wear it on nearly every run and wear it whenever I don’t want to carry a purse (which is most of the time these days).

When I found out that they were coming out with a hydration belt, I was thrilled. I  have recently started disliking my belt,* but for long runs, it is a necessity. I have been using my handheld a lot this summer, but I really want to carry both water and Nuun on my long runs. I was eager to try a better belt.  Enter the iFitness Hydration Belt (16 oz size).

The iFitness Hydration Belt features:

• Water resistant pouch, stretchy and sturdy, made of neoprene will keep your cell phone or iPod (any size) dry. 
• Two 8oz  bottles (BPA free)
• 2 elastic slots will hold your gels on your belt, for easy access.
• A special inner pocket will keep your ID/credit cards or room key securely.
• Comes with two reflector strips in the front and one in the back, for night time safety.
• Also featured are two toggles to hold your race number, under the pouch.

In addition to getting the belt, I purchased two add-ons. These are holders and bottles that slide onto any iFitness belt. Currently, iFitness only offers a two-bottle option and I need more liquid than that on a very long run.  The add-ons are a great option!  I can run with two, three or four bottles.  In fact, I have put a single add-on onto my double neoprene belt for a short run in the heat. 

Here is a picture of my double pouch with an add-on.

I received both items quickly.  In the past, other belts I have ordered have arrived in a timely fashion as well. There is no set up and while I did rinse them, the bottles did not appear to need to be washed before use.

I have now worn this belt on two long runs (20 miles and 22 miles) as well as during two legs of Hood to Coast
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Here are my thoughts.


Pros:

• The belt fits just like my pouch belt, nice and snug. If I have it adjusted correctly, it doesn’t bounce at all. I prefer it to sit down on my hips where I just forget about it.
• The bottles fit tightly into the pouches. In the past, I have had bottles fall out of the belt.  A couple times, this happened in a race! Once, during a half marathon, one of my bottles was knocked out by my arm during my sprint to the finish.  I just left it. I have actually used rubber bands to secure the bottles during a key race—pretty junk-show. The iFitness belt also has some elastic loops to secure the bottles, ensuring that they never pop out.  They are easy enough to get out to drink, however.
• The pouch is nice and roomy without being too bulky. It is big enough for my phone, cash, a packet of flushable wipes and a Gu. Saturday, during my twenty-two miler, I also stashed a Honey Stinger Waffle in the pouch.
• There are two elastic loops that fit a Gu packet.
• The pouch seemed to keep everything dry. On my long run Saturday, it rained pretty hard. My phone stayed dry and protected.
• They have reflective stripes for safety. I don’t always run in the dark, but it was pitch black Saturday when we started. I also used it during my night leg of Hood to Coast.

Cons:

• I like having ten ounce bottles. The eight ounce bottles aren’t quite big enough and I think I might have to refill during the marathon. When I ran marathons with the other belt, 40 ounces lasted me 26.2 miles. I am not sure if 32 ounces will last.  We’ll see.
• While I didn’t notice it during my long run, the belt gave me a little bruise on the front of my hip. It was a little tender Saturday night, but don’t even notice it today. To be fair, this happens with any hydration belt I have tried.
• The bottles are a little too far apart to fit exactly between my hips. If I wear it straight on, the bottles lay directly on my hip bones. Ouch. I have to turn it a little catty-wompus (is that even a word?) so it lays flat. One of the bottles sits directly in front of my hip bone and the other one sits right behind my other hip bone. This puts the rear bottles in a strange place.  It is ok because I drink from the front bottles, switching them with the rear bottles as I empty them.

Pricing**:
The iFitness Hydration Belt is priced competitively with the other belts out there. It retails for $39.95 for the 16 ounce belt. The 12 ounce belt (using two six ounce bottles) sells for $36.95. There are belts out there with ten ounce bottles that sell for the same price as iFitness.

Where the iFitness is not as competitive is when you jump to four bottles.  The two bottle add-on is $19.95. That makes a four bottle set-up a $60 investment. There are cheaper options out there. The thing each person has to decide is—is comfort and convenience worth the extra $$.  For me, I think it is. The add-ons offer me a lot of options, so they are worth it.

Final Word:
Overall, I really like this belt. I don’t think I will ever LOVE a hydration belt.  However, when I want plenty of options for my hydration and fuel, this is a good option for me. I will most likely be wearing this for St. George. I originally was planning on running with my handheld bottle, but I like the idea of having both water and Nuun with me (I prefer to wash down my Gu’s with water over Nuun) as well as the ability to carry 32 ounces instead of the 20 ounces that my handheld holds.

The Best News:
I have the opportunity to give away a hydration belt to a lucky reader! Please find all the ways to enter below.  In order to be eligible to win, you must be a follower and must go to iFitness and check out their products, leaving a comment about your favorite. There are a bunch of other ways to earn entries. See below for how to enter. The giveaway will end on Sunday, September 18 at 9 p.m. PDT.



Happy Running…

*I have used the Roadrunner/Nathan four-bottle hydration belt. The one I have is three years old and might be a bit different than what they sell today. It has a velcro closure and after losing some weight, it doesn’t fit well. It bounces and I have to jerry-rig it with rubber bands to fit me at all. It ends up looking pretty gaudy.

**I was given the iFitness Hydration Belt (16 oz.) free to try, but purchased the add-ons myself. My opinions are all my own.

Hood to Coast Movie

I went to go see the Hood to Coast Movie last night.  It certainly didn’t disappoint.  The “event” portion was a little lacking and didn’t meet my expectations at all.  However, the movie was great.  It was everything a running movie should be.  It was funny, inspiring and I even shed a tear or two.  Like Spirit of the Marathon, it followed participants of the race before, during and after the race.  I think there were more poignant moments in HTC and definitely more laughter.

The movie documents the Hood to Coast 197 mile relay in Oregon.  Teams start at Timberline Lodge* on Mt. Hood and run to Seaside, Oregon on the Pacific Ocean.  The course travels down steep mountain roads, through countryside, over bridges in downtown Portland, and over a mountain range to the coast.  Teams run all day and night and get little to no sleep.

Most runners have heard of long distance relays.  The Ragnar series holds races all over the country and is getting more and more popular every year.  But Hood to Coast was first.  Even the Ragnar race directors admit that HTC is the granddaddy of relays.  The movie really did a nice job of giving the viewer a sense of the history of the race.

This movie had special meaning for me.  I grew up in the shadow of Mt. Hood.  I heard about HTC through my dad, who either ran it or drove a van (I’m not sure which).  I remember thinking that it sounded like a cool event, even before I ever thought about running.  The race took me through my childhood.  They showed Sandy, Oregon, where my mom taught for years and years.  They showed downtown Portland where I would go to shop and enjoy the city.  The finish line and festival is in Seaside, Oregon.  I spent many weekends and vacations in Seaside, where my dad grew up and my grandfather lived.  Seeing the turnaround, really brought me back.  The inception of my marathon dreams was right there.***  Throughout the movie, I kept leaning over to Marci saying things like, “I grew up near there.”  I started to get pretty homesick.

The movie followed four teams throughout the journey of HTC.  There was a team of men who have run it for many years (one member had run it 27 times—every year it had been run) called Dead Jocks.  They were pretty darn fast for guys in their 60’s.  There was a team called Heart and Sole, consisting of older women.  They spotlighted one team member who had suffered a heart attack the year before.  While her story was inspiring, it was also a bit disturbing.  Her theme was of perseverance and determination, but it also conveyed a message that you don’t necessarily need to listen to your doctor—I was a little uncomfortable with that.  Another team, Team R Bowe,  was running in honor of their friend/family member who had passed away (tear jerker alert).  The final team was my favorite.  Team Thunder and Laikaning  were a bunch of non-runners who were more interested in beer drinking than training.  The two main “characters” provided the comic relief of the movie and, frankly, stole the show.

Last night was a special screening “event.”  They had a red carpet in Portland and had a simulcast** in the theaters.  The red carpet commentators were Runners World Chief Running Officer, Bart Yasso and producer, Anna Campbell. Neither of them will take jobs away from E! reporters for red carpet duty. LOL.   It is tough to get excited about people on the red carpet who we have never seen before.  I hope they post red carpet footage now, however.  I’d like to see some of the people from the movie now that I am emotionally invested in them.

After the movie, they had a panel discussion about the movie and the race.  Unfortunately, very few people in my theater saw it.  It was almost 10:30 when the movie ended.  The audience was comprised of runners who get up at o’ dark thirty to run every morning and it was past our bedtime.  The credits rolled and by the time the credits finished, most people had left the theater.  My friend Nadine left just so she could use the bathroom!  After the credits stopped rolling, the house lights came on and the screen was blank for a minute.  I had been looking forward to the panel discussion, but even I thought maybe they had cancelled it and thought about getting up.  I had to talk Marci into watching it with me.  They had advertised Bart Yasso, Mary Decker Slaney and Alberto Salazar.  Yasso and Slaney were there, but not Salazar, who is one of my personal favorite runners.  We watched for a few minutes, but we were pretty tired and the discussion didn’t seem to be going anywhere.  We left.  I hope they post the discussion today, because I would like to see it now when I don’t have a 40 minute drive ahead of me.

The movie alone was enough. We really didn’t need the “event.”  However, I believe that the “event” could have been more successful.  I think that each theater could have had a host or moderator.  That way the audience would have all known about the panel discussion afterward.  They could have even had raffle drawings to keep the excitement going (and give an incentive for staying for the discussion).  Leftover HTC t-shirts would have been a fun prize.  I know that the movie showed in 350 theaters, but they have a pretty active facebook page and could have easily found volunteers for each theater.  Nadine’s running club was there and one of the leaders could have done a great job moderating.  Even better (but a logistical nightmare) would have been a true live broadcast where we could have called in with questions. 

I am so glad I went.  It was just the inspiration I needed.   I laughed, I cried.  I remembered how much running brings different people together.  I want to run a relay.  I want to run THAT relay.  Heck, I just want to run in Oregon.  It’s been a very long time since I’ve been home.
 
So if they do another set of screenings, I recommend seeing this movie. Otherwise, put it in your queue for Netflix or Blockbuster.  Better yet, buy the DVD. 

Happy Running…

*Timberline Lodge (the original lodge) was the spooky hotel in the movie The Shining
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**I think that the live event was actually at 5:30 and we saw the taped version, just like the Oscars.  The east coast got the live feed at 8:30.
***They used to have a marathon in Seaside called the Trail’s End Marathon.  I remember my dad volunteering at this race.  I have a memory of running times from the finish line to somewhere inside the hotel.  I remember thinking to myself that I wanted to run that marathon someday.  I am sad to say that The Trail’s End Marathon held its last race in 1999.