Written by John Boyle from RunJogHike.com,

 

 

This is the first RJH running tip that is also a run! It is important to start out by saying that if you are a beginner this is not the best way for you to start running. Try taking transit until a block or two from your home (or place of employment) and walk the rest of the way and then continuing to get off of the bus or train earlier and earlier until you feel more confident in your ability to run, jog or hike all of the way home. It is also important to have safe reflective gear if your commute is in darkness.

 

Why do I run commute?

 

In a car, I am a terrible commuter. I feel bottled up and kind of trapped. I do not like sitting still for long periods of time and what is worse than sitting in general is sitting while being stuck in traffic. Long traffic jams are a double whammy negatively impacting my health in a few serious ways. My stress level rises, and my blood pressure follows. I have completely replaced stress, anger and frustration with happiness, health and accomplishment. How have I done this? I have found a way to commute via my own two feet.

 

As a proud running addict I find myself working running into my routine as much as I possibly can. For much of my professional life I was stuck, very uncomfortably so, in my car. Given the stress and anger that this caused me over nearly a decade of being an automobile commuter I found running after a commute the best therapy for relieving my post-commute stress level.

 

The problem was that running only wiped away much of the stress and anger that comes with being put into the very unnatural predicament of commuting in a car. That stress was right back in my life the next morning. While running was the best medicine and the only thing that worked to relieve some road stress, I was still losing the stress battle. Enough years of this and I had to decide, do I want running to be an equalizer that just barely manages my stress level or do I want to get back to running for the love and enjoyment it brings to my life?

 

This was a no brainer. I value happiness over all other things and running brings more happiness to my life than almost any other activity. With this in mind I decided to find a new lifestyle that would allow me to run to or from work and get me out of the car commute for good.

 

It was not easy to become a running commuter. First it takes the very difficult first steps of getting into good enough shape. That can take months or even years (see 9 months to 5K shape running tip). Next it required me to change my place of work.

 

Anything worth while is usually difficult, and developing a running lifestyle is no different.

 

Now that I have made this my reality my commute has taken my life in a completely different direction. Now my commute brings me health, peace and happiness that I had not known before. On nearly every run home or to work I find myself in a place of relaxation. Freedom from stress delivers me more happiness than I ever expected, but add running endorphins to the equation and my commute allows me to experience real true happiness. Typically I listen to an audio book while I am run commuting, but if my mind is wandering that day music or a podcast replaces the book.

 

 

For those of you who believe that one cannot multi-task I can tell you from regular experience that it is most certainly possible. Currently 3 days a week I do 3 very important and healthy things at the same time. I run, commute (to or from work) and read.

 

Another interesting discovery about run commuting is that I get much more out of an audio book when listening while running. When focused on my run an audio book is almost as tapped into my subconscious as actually reading words on a page. It is as if running heightens my senses and ability to focus on the text as it fills my ears. I used to dismiss audio books, as in the car my mind would so easily drift and be distracted that I would miss out on more than half of the book, but not anymore.

 

If you are an experienced runner who is within 8 miles of your workplace I urge you to consider running to or from work. You can always walk the first and last mile or more to get your distance dialed in to your running ability. After that all other rules of running apply. You may end up discovering that you indeed can multi-task, and end up doing 3 very healthy things at once.

 

Please feel free to share your running commute stories, pictures and thoughts with other runners here at RJH.

 

Here are some pictures from my commute:

 

Walt Hundley Playfield on an early foggy October morning.

Seattle fall foliage in the High Point neighborhood .5 miles from Walt Hundley play field.

View of the underside of West Seattle Bridge.

Train Bridge as seen through the West Seattle bridge.

Port of Seattle.

Head of a seal at the end of Elliot Bay.

There is a lot of pavement on my commute, but it beats driving on it. 

Foggy downtown Seattle from Sodo. Century Link field to the left of the picture.

Foggy downtown Seattle. My pace is slow but steady and as you can see I am almost there.

I commute with my smaller Macbook air and it’s accessories. My running clothes are shorts, an athletic undershirt and a t-shirt. I also have my running shoes in their too. It usually weighs between 4.5 to 8 pounds. Which is not so bad commuting to work where I lose 580 feet of elevation. Going home it makes for a nicer workout.

If this inspires you to try run commuting please share some pictures of your commute with RJB.