Product Review – Fitletic Ultimate II Fit Belt

Recently I participated in the Disneyland 10K. During the race weekend I visited the runDisney Health & Fitness Expo which feature “the latest in apparel, fitness equipment, high tech gadgets and nutritional products.” One of the vendors at the expo was Fitletic. We stopped by their booth to check out some of the gear and ended up purchasing one of the products. I settled on the Ultimate II Fit Belt.

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The belt sells for $28.99 online and comes in seven color varieties (I chose the blue zipper because blue is my favorite color). My main reason for buying it was to have a place to store my phone during the run. Importantly, the belt easily fit my iPhone 6 while still enclosed in the Otter Box case. I recently tried an armband case for my iPhone but had to remove the Otter Box for it to be able to fit – a minor irritation but certainly one that is bothersome enough to seek out an alternative.

The belt pouch is water resistant. This was an added plus. Because we were running at Disneyland, I thought of the non-race uses such as riding down Splash Mountain and Grizzly Peak. It wasn’t too difficult to take the phone out of the pouch or to put it back in while running but I wouldn’t suggest using the pouch if you need regular access to the phone throughout a run or race. On this particular run I was running through Disneyland so I didn’t really use the belt to hold my phone. For much of the run I wanted easy access to take pictures but it was nice to be able to store my phone during the parts of the race that were outside of the parks.

My favorite feature of the belt on race day was the race bib toggles. When we purchased the item I didn’t think much of them but after using the toggles for the race I’m even more pleased. I have always been challenged pinning my race bib to my shirt. For some reason I can’t seem to pin it on straight and it always seems to be loose at one of the corners. The belt’s toggles take care of all that. At first I thought having the bib hang low would be irritating during the run but it wasn’t a problem at all. Much like the belt itself, I hardly knew the bib was there.

The belt boasts other features as well which are listed on the product page. Fitletic also has a variety of other options plus they have add-ons to help you customize the belt to your running needs. If you’re looking for a running belt that is comfortable and can conveniently carry your phone, gels, and other running essentials, then I suggest taking a look at the Fitletic product line. I love the one I got.

#runDisney – Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend 2017

​Over Labor Day Weekend I participated in “the happiest race on earth!” A couple of years ago my Papa (father) and I tossed around the idea of doing one of the Disneyland races but we never got around to registering. My family has always been a big fan of Disney and Disneyland so it would make sense for us to schedule a visit around one of the race weekends. This year, as I dedicated myself to running more, I suggested we sign up for the Disneyland race together and we did.

We ran in the 10K race and it was an excellent experience. There were more than 8,000 finishers and many runners and spectators dressed up as their favorite Disney characters – some of whom did a really good job designing their costumes. Probably the coolest part was getting the chance to run through California Adventure and the Magic Kingdom. Ordinarily there are rules against running in Disneyland but there’s obviously an exception for the races. It’s oddly satisfying when you get permission to break the rules and running through Disneyland certainly fits that feeling. I just wish they would have let me keep running through the park after the race ended so that I could be the first rider on Indiana Jones.

The race is marketed as a “fun run” so many participants stopped to pose with characters along the course. I decided to forego those photo opportunities due to the lines. I guess it’s just the Disneyland way to have lines form for everything.

I clocked in at 1:12:02. I didn’t run as well as my last 10K (51:14) but I am giving myself a pass since my training was limited by injury. Fortunately, I was healed by race weekend and able to run injury free – just slower.

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I tried my best to capture the experience via Snapchat but it’s tough to run and take pictures at the same time. The video below is my Snapchat Story of the run.