Failed Fit: Losing Your House Key on a Run.

By Cool J in Minneapolis

AWESOME UPDATE TO THIS STORY. The key has been found, and is safely inside our house.

How was your Easter? Did you spend it with your family? Go on an Easter egg hunt?

With neither my family nor my husband's family nearby, we were on our own for this holiday. After sleeping in a bit, we decided we should go for a quick run to exercise Ms. Matilda. Apparently, Tilda doesn't know that Sundays are for rest!

I grabbed a house key and put it in the velcro pocket on these gloves...

It was cold and windy, and my legs were still tired and sore from the 17-miler the day before. Neither one of us was really enjoying the run, and we were ready to get inside in the warmth when it was over.

Unfortunately, as we arrived back at our house, I realized that somewhere along run, I had lost the key! Yes, the velcro pocket had failed me, probably when I took off my gloves when my hands got a little too warm. Oh crap, what should we do?

All the doors to the house were definitely locked, and we realized that most of our neighbors were not home. It was Easter! Even if they did happen to be home, we would have felt pretty silly hanging out all sweaty, making calls with their phones trying to get ahold of a locksmith, while they searched for Easter baskets.

Instead, we ran the 1/2 mile to our friends Abby and Andrew's house, hoping with every step that they were home.  And thank goodness they were! I felt bad interrupting their peaceful Easter breakfast, but so grateful that we could borrow their cell phones and internet to find a locksmith that was open on Easter. And trust me, Easter Sunday is not the day you want to get locked out of your house! We had to make several calls before we finally found one that served the Minneapolis area who was willing to help us out.  Of course, there was a holiday surcharge on top of the regular fee. Never lose your key on Easter!

Two hours later and $200 poorer, we finally got back into our house. We learned our lesson the hard way, and have come up with a backup plan for future lockouts (which includes giving a spare key to our helpful friends!)

This morning, I met Kelly and Abby for some 5:30 am Monday morning tempo intervals- what a way to start the week! I wanted to be sure I didn't lose a key again, so this time, I donned this little fanny pack (below). I figured the zippered pocket was a lot more secure than the velcro on my glove.

How do you hold onto your key when out for a run? Apparently, there are a lot of options:



Source

Clockwise from top left:
1. Fuel Belt makes a zippered wrist pocket for only $7! Buy it HERE- I just ordered one!
2. Jogalite makes a pocket for your shoe that's only $10. Buy it HERE
3. Nike also makes a shoe pocket for $11, buy it HERE 
4. Similar to my fanny pack, you could go with a Nathan Reflective Belt for $21 - buy it HERE
5. Most running pants do have a small pocket, but it's rarely secure, which is risky.

Lululemon also makes a super cute pocket that goes around your wrist. Unfortunately, it's velcro, not zippered, so I question how secure it is.

Cute? Yes. Secure? Maybe not.

So tell me, where do you keep your keys when out for a run? Have you ever lost a key while running? I hope you didn't get locked out like we did!