With the bladder of my hydration pack breaking during my last race I had little time to replace it. I have another smaller bladder at
home but needed at least 1.5 liters of water for my long run this past Sunday.
After some thinking I decided it was a good time to look for
a new, good quality hydration pack and not just a new bladder. I’ve got some
serious trail and mountain goals to meet in the next few months and years and I
believe quality equipment is one area where investment is not a waste of money.
I know exactly what I want and need in a hydration pack, so
after looking at what was available I finally decided to buy the Animas pack
from The North Face.
This pack offers everything I need. It comes with a 3 liter
bladder and 9 liter pack space for other essentials. We are required to carry
things like space blankets and rain jackets during some races and the ability
to carry this in the same pack as my water is great.
Another selling point for me was the two side pouches on the
outside where I can carry two 500ml bottles of my favorite energy drink. I’ve
been looking for a way to carry my water in the hydration pack plus two bottles
of energy drink and this is perfect.
Other nice features are a strong magnet that keeps the pipe
in place and also a very effective non-spilling mouth piece. The straps can all
be adjusted easily while running which is also great.
I put the pack through its paces on a 28.5km trail run this
past weekend and it was awesome! It worked perfectly for everything I need while being super comfortable on my back at the same time.
Do you use a hydration pack? Do you carry more than water with you?
Thanks for reading! Train well my friends!
