Safety first, my friends.

Here’s a question of the day: where on earth do girls put stuff when their fitness attire lacks pockets? I’ve wondered that for a while actually, as most of my fave workout clothing is without pockets. Also, some of it is four sizes too big because I’m too cheap to frequently invest in clothing that I plan to just sweat in anyway. It’s a sexy look—let me assure you.

Let’s look at a recent day of running: on Saturday I ran 12 miles (oh yeah, I am awesome) and wore socks, running shoes, yoga pants, sports bra, tank top, and a headband. Not a pocket in sight, in other words. Now ideally a girl would also carry with her items such as her id, house keys, a device to play music and ward off boredom, etc, etc. On the longer runs you’re also supposed to take some form of sustenance in order to refuel and avoid death. So where on earth do people expect me to stick these things?

It isn’t just my yoga pants that lack pockets either. I have several other pairs of running/workout pants that are either pocket-free or have one measly pocket that wouldn’t even hold my keys. I know they have things like fuel belts that are basically glorified fanny packs and would probably annoy the holy heck out of me. As such, I have adapted and created a very strange system for things like refueling. I live in a tiny town, right? So it is pretty much void of serial killers and predators other than my neighbor’s evil dog that likes to try to eat me. Also, it is in the middle of nowhere so my routes are somewhat limited unless I decide to run on the highway and that doesn’t seem very safe at all.

My 12-mile route consisted of three four-mile routes in succession. Conveniently, this involved plenty of hills and still kept me close to town where people would find my body if I died. My town is actually small enough that running two miles leaves me outside of town. Sadly, I’m totally not kidding. The solution to the refueling problem led me to leave a bottle of Gatorade and some raisins sitting on the trunk of my car in my driveway—as I ended each four miles I could take a drink and be on my merry way. It works well for me. Also, I amuse old people sitting on their porch if I pass by more than once and they cheer me on.

But where should I put other necessary items? I usually just carry my mp3 player in my hand, as it is tiny and not very annoying, but my house keys? My driver’s license? There’s only one logical place for extraneous items: the sports bra.

I’m sad to admit that I don’t carry my id with me when I run and am very unsafe as a result. Bad, bad Leslie. I also don’t strap reflective tape all over my body and some would lead me to believe that I’ll die if I don’t look like a human traffic cone. With that I will take my chances—come on people, there are like five cars in my town. Luckily I do prefer to lock my house when I’m not there and so my spare house key usually gets shoved down the front of my sports bra.

Imagine my delight when I’m perusing random blogs and come upon a lovely discovery over at Roni’s Weigh: a sports bra with a pocket! The inventor of such a device is my hero. I clicked on the link to the product line and these people are so hardcore that they have all kinds of pocket-friendly items. Obviously I am not the only one with pocket problems. Roni’s giving one away as part of a contest too, so I totally entered. Why not, right? You should all go look at her website, and also at Gracie’s Gear to bask in the wonderfulness that is pockets on your chest.

What do people do when they live in places where it is unsafe to leave stuff sitting on their car or run without id? Should I be concerned about serial killers (and where on earth is a good place to stick some pepper spray)? And seriously, why DO they call it chicken fried steak? I’m still wondering.

I entered the Gracie Gear Giveaway!

Check out Roni’s Weight Loss Blog for more information.