Run-commute backpack

With the cooling air provided by the monsoon surge, there’s a unique opportunity in December–January to run-commute from the office to home for those of us in Singapore who are lucky enough to have some sort of PCN connection between work and home. Being the opportunistic sports enthusiast I am, I jumped right in. However, one question arose:

How do I carry my stuff for this?

I need to fit a pair of running shoes, a change of clothes, and a few small items (such as access cards and an earbud case). At the same time, I don’t want to carry anything bulky, so my go-to gym backpack, which measures around 35L, was out of the question.

For my initial tries, I just used whatever I had around: a drawstring bag. I wouldn’t recommend it, as the strings cut into my shoulders, causing discomfort and some minor skin irritation.

To resolve these issues, I did some research on the topic and initially looked at “running backpacks” as well as “hiking backpacks.” However, I didn’t like the overall look of many of these backpacks; a lot of them resemble vests rather than bags, and most heavily focus on hydration systems, which I don’t need.

Eventually, I discovered there are so-called “day backpacks.” From there, it was a short leap to find:

The Osprey Daylite 13L backpack

It has enough space for my essentials and offers a harness system to keep the bag from bouncing around when I run. With just one 9km run behind me so far, my first impressions are positive: it fits well without any notable movement, and it’s comfortable on my shoulders. I can see myself using this bag for some of my future travels, too.

Some reviews mention the high-quality 300D PET packcloth (whatever that means!) used for its construction. Time will tell how it holds up in the longer term.