1 Kings 18:46-

The power of the Lord came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt (girded up his loins, KJV), he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

The belt, or girdle as the KJV calls it, was one of the most useful articles of clothing of all.

It was frequently also the most ornamented.

With the long loose clothing that was worn, sometimes it was necessary to gather up the clothing and tuck it into the belt. This enabled people to walk and run, keeping it out of the way of the legs.

Because this freeing of the legs (which contain some of the largest muscles of the body) gave the sense of increased strength, the word translated "gird" (KJV) is sometimes used figuratively to denote strength (see Job 40:7, Ps.65:6 and 93:1)

In ancient times, belts were available in different sizes and were made of different materials, from calico to cashmere. The rich used silk or linen, and decorated their belts with gold, silver, and precious stones.

The belts of the poor were constructed of coarser materials, leather being very commonly used. Elijah's belt was of leather (2 Ki.1:8) as was that of John the Baptist (Matt.3:4).

A belt has been described as being put on in this manner:

While someone holds one end of the belt, you take the other end and hold it against your side. Then you roll yourself round and round as tight as possible until you arrive at the other person (who has remained still). If you don't have anyone to hold the end of the belt for you, you can use a hook or a tree branch instead.

Then when running, the ends of the outer garment could be tucked into the belt.

Running before a chariot:

In the Middle East, it was customary for many centuries to do honour to a king by running before his chariot. At times the same honour was conferred upon others than the king.

Reference is made to this custom in: 1 Sam.8:11; 2 Sam.15:1; and 1 Ki.1:5.