In an effort to sound as least hobby jogger as humanly possible... I live in chicago and work downtown. I was thinking of running home (8miles away) every other night. What are the best ways to hold on to your stuff like wallet, cell phone, keys. I usually just run from home in my neighborhood park(I run just with a set of house keys). I thought this could save me some time since i take the CTA everyday and get home pretty late anyway. Does anyone run with those pouches or back packs?
i've run up to 11 miles with an REI flash 18 daypack. it's got a narrow hip belt, sternum strap, and non-padded mesh shoulder straps. the straps are all long, so i used binder clips to keep them from annoying me flopping all over the place. i would run with a small plastic bowl of oatmeal, pants and shirt (left shoes/socks at school), and some course notes (for padding). i think the heaviest load i carried was in the neighborhood of 5 lbs.
after a few trips i wised up, left more stuff at school, and streamlined to a waist pack to carry the keys, wallet, phone only.
something you could try is to drive to work monday with tuesday's clothes packed. run home monday night, run back tuesday morning, drive home tuesday night. also, if you have the ability to leave stuff at work just leave a bunch of oatmeal and whatever fixings you like in your desk (in a rodent proof container of course) for a quick breakfast that doesn't spoil.
Same boat as you, I work in the loop and run home (4 miles if I go straight home, but I usually do 9 or 10 via the lakeshore). I do it every other day, leave my clothes at work and take them home on the CTA the next day. I use a camelback that I've taken the bladder out of. It has just enough room for keys, wallet and phone and the straps are soft and don't chafe.
If you are just looking to carry, keys, phone, and wallet, you may want to try a spibelt or similar product. That would be significantly less bulk than a back pack.
Get a backpack. Belts just jump up and down. I run lots of my long runs in the mountains and always carry stuff in a backpack.
I have something similar to this:
http://www.mountainhardwear.com/Wayback%E2%84%A2-30/OU4448,default,pd.html&colorID=010
I had no idea it cost this much, but it was given to me at a race. I normally detest running with a backpack and refuse to run with anything that bounces at all, but the one I have (note, not this exact model, but very similar) doesn't bounce at all and does not bug me.