Running Here and There

The more convenient that you can make your running, the better. That’s why some busy runners try to combine it with other parts of their lives when possible. For example, you leave your car with the mechanic for repairs, and rather than bother a friend to follow you there, you run home. Or you spend a full day with the family at a mall or at a park and have your spouse drop you off a few miles from home on the return trip.

Obviously, these aren’t everyday solutions, but if your life is as busy as most people’s, it can help to always be thinking of ingenious ways to squeeze in runs or catch a quick-few. These out-of-the-ordinary jaunts are sometimes among the most fun.

A more routine example of this kind of thinking is running to and from work. My coauthor, Scott Douglas, used to do this when he lived a few miles from his office and really came to look forward to it. Scott would run home from work on, say, Monday night, lengthening the basic route by however much he wanted. When he got home, he enjoyed the feeling of being done with both work and running for the day. It didn’t hurt that his commute via foot didn’t take all that much more time than by car. The next morning, Scott would run to work. Knowing that your car is at the office is a pretty good incentive to get in a morning run! There, Scott would shower and change into the work clothes that he had brought in on the previous day. Sure sounds better than sitting in a traffic jam.