The Best Running Gear on Amazon, Handpicked by the Runner’s World Team
Our editors tested (and loved) these essentials—from apparel to accessories—that’ll keep you moving comfortably and efficiently.
Our resident ultramarathoner. Best All-Purpose Running Watch on Amazon?
If you’re hunting for the best running gear on Amazon, you already know it can feel like falling down a rabbit hole of 10,000 sneakers, shorts, and gadgets all promising to make you faster, stronger, or at least less sweaty. That’s why we’ve done the dirty (and often gross) work for you. At Runner’s World, we’ve tested, sweated in, and sometimes cried in this gear so you don’t have to spend your evenings endlessly scrolling. Our cart is full of the good stuff you actually want, and yes, that includes more than one anti-chafe cream—for both your nipples and your butt. Because runners know: where there’s friction, there’s regret.
The right gear can change everything. It’s the difference between feeling like a gazelle or waddling home in soggy socks wondering why you signed up for that 10K. We’re not saying a pair of shorts or a certain slick little stick of lube will make you love hills, but it’s a lot easier to tolerate them when your thighs aren’t on fire by mile two. Sometimes it just takes a new gadget, shinier water bottle, or miracle cream to get us moving.
There is some running gear not readily available or easy to grab on Amazon. Sneakers for one, are often sold by third-party sellers only, or they have more limited sizes, styles, and colors. Technical gear like sunglasses, performance wear, and running vests are also often only available on the maker’s websites or through specialty shops online. That’s why this list exists. You can learn what’s best to buy on Amazon, and get a glimpse into what a group of people wacky enough to make running our jobs buy every day.
In this roundup, you’ll find gear we actually swear by—practical picks, some borderline lifesavers, and a couple that might even make you laugh. Running is already hard enough. Your gear shouldn’t be.
Our resident ultramarathoner, Pat Heine-Holmberg, loves this Garmin watch band. It’s soft, durable, doesn’t make your wrist sweaty, and no offense to Garmin—is way more comfy than the bog standard variety they give you. This model is for the Epix and Fenix lines.
This one is my pick for Garmin bands, because I mostly run in the Forerunner series of watches. I actually just bought a replacement for mine as I may have stained mine when painting my bedroom. It’s soft, the clasp doesn’t bug me when I’m typing, and I can adjust it at night so that my wrist doesn’t feel like it’s being squeezed to death in my sleep.
Another Heine-Holmberg pick, this is his favorite nipple tape. It may sound weird, but bloody nipples are no one’s friend. I say this as a woman who breastfed for four years of her life and ran marathons while breastfeeding. This is a solid choice, but if you’re a bit more adhesive-sensitive, we have alternative choices for you.
These are the nipple covers I wear, and I’ve turned many a runner (yes, even men) onto them because the adhesive is a bit more friendly to those of us with adhesive issues. Think more like a plaster and less like an EKG line. Plus, it’s always hilarious to see a dude runner pull off his shirt, and oop! There are flowers on his nips. I add a tiny bit of Vaseline on the nipple directly for even better friction protection.
Associate editor Kristine Kearns swears by this flask. It’s soft, collapses neatly, and holds just enough water for your mid-length run. It’s designed to be handheld or stuffed in a run belt or vest.
Running watches are a great thing to grab from Amazon because the prices are often the lowest you’ll see. And unlike running shoes, which can be a tricky proposition on the ’zon, these are usually in stock, and not from third-party retailers.
The 965 is one of my favorite watches of the past year (I tested over a dozen models), and the performance, GPS capabilities, and options for pacing, racing, and even music, are top notch.
She’s beauty, she’s grace, she lets you leave extra chargers at your place. This turns any old USB-C charger into a Garmin charger. Jeff Dengate turned me onto these, and my husband (Charger-In-Chief at our house) is so grateful for that. He just keeps it looped on the charge cord, and uses as needed.
Deputy Editor, run coach, and personal trainer, Mallory Creveling swears by this handheld water bottle, and Jeff Dengate carries a slightly larger model. As I am on Team Hydrate (no matter the distance), I just picked this up. If Creveling says get it, I listen.
It’s insulated to keep my Gatorade Zero (white flavor only) icy cold, double walled to minimize sweating, and the strap is fully adjustable.
Thighs, armpits, underboob, butt cheeks, and even elbows can chafe like a mother-trucker on a long run. A+D is both my and Heine-Holmberg’s favorites. I think this is because we both have the somewhat nutty tendency to run 50, 100, or even 200 miles at a time. (OK, I’ve never done 200. I would die.) A+D has staying power, doesn’t have a weird smell, and doesn’t get sticky.
Aquaphor Healing Balm Stick
Marathon superstar Amanda Furrer is a devotee of the Aquaphor stick. I love it for my face and lips, but she uses it to prevent chafing. It’s small enough to go with you on your run, but there's enough there to last a long time. Unless, you’re like my 14-year-old, and you reapply it to your lips like they’ll fall off if you don’t do it every hour.
You want a Garmin that looks a bit sleeker and can act a bit more like a lifestyle watch? The Venu X1 is your bff. It is a multisport workhorse that seamlessly switches to a well-tuned everyday watch with music, Garmin Pay, sleep monitoring, and a killer battery that leaves other square-faced watches in the dust.
I like this treadmill so much I keep it at the office. She’s a workhorse that I get to run on on rainy days before the other editor hooligans show up to work. (Can’t let them see me sweat.) It’s a solid treadmill that’s almost always cheapest on Amazon. It doesn’t have a ton of bells and whistles, but what it does have is a quality build and easy-to-fold body.
Baleaf has become one of those brands that have taken off on Amazon. They’re affordable, great quality, and easy to wear. These shorts are a fan fave over here thanks to their deep, zippered pocket, soft lining, and breathable material.
I know many people run in shorts no matter the weather, but not me. In the winter (coming sooner than you think) I need leggings on to be comfy. These are fan-freaking-tastic. They hug you without being compressive, they have pockets, they breathe really well, and, not for anything, they make my ass look great.
I don’t know about you, but I need my phone, house key, a few packages of Gummy Nerd Clusters, and my Aquaphor stick when I run. (And a few self defense items.) This SPIBelt holds all of it and has a bit of space for more. Don’t let the compact look fool you. She stretches. Mine is in boring blue, but this one comes in all kinds of fun colors!
I often run when it’s pitch dark out, and I have no interest in getting hit by a car. While I hate wearing this reflective harness, I do wear it. It’s not uncomfortable, and it’s better safe than sorry.
Genuinely one of my favorite sock brands anywhere, and often on sale on Amazon. I actually have the exact colorway pictured. It hugs my arch like its paying for the privilege and I could sing its praises all day, and frequently wear them even when I’m not running. And for an autistic person who usually hates socks, that’s a big deal.
If you’re a distance runner who has never nearly crapped themselves during a run, you’re either lying, or the gods themselves have blessed you with a magic colon. For the rest of us schmucks, there’s this tiny pack of wipes on the go. Gotta squat? Do not wipe with a leaf. You don’t want to know what poison sumac looks like on your butt. Bring these on your long run.
Credit: Trevor Raab Seussian thneed. You need it to be a gaiter? Done. Hat? YUP. Mask? Also, yes. (Doesn’t block germs, though.) It’s also a neck warmer, ear warmer, it even makes julienne fries! I wear this in NYC dust season of early winter and early fall. I do not know what’s in the dust, but I don’t want to breathe it in.
So long as I tape my patella, my knees don’t hate me until about mile 50. As a woman in her 40s, who has had a knee injury, I think that’s pretty great. It’s all thanks to my good friend KT. I tape up my knee and ankles and it keeps things where they need to be, and it keeps them comfy.
Cat Bowen has been covering parenting and home for over a decade. At Best Products, she has tested hundreds of products for parents and for the home, often spending dozens of hours per product to ensure her reviews are accurate and informative. Prior to joining the team, she was at Romper where she covered everything from breastfeeding to child sleep habits to abortion rights access. You can find her work on Bustle, Romper, and more. Cat is a bit of an intellectual magpie and perpetual student, most recently receiving a graduate degree in gender studies where she examined a topic that vexes so many — pockets in women’s clothing.
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