I’ve finally managed to wangle a work placement within a civilised radius of my home, so that means the running commute is back! I’ve been looking forward to this for ages, at last I can enjoy some scenic running routes rather than suffocating myself on fumes as I run along the edge of the A4. Not that scenery counts for much at 5.30 on a wintery UK night but it still feels good to know the river is just a wrong foot and a slip to the right of you even if you can’t see it.
Turns out it’s a piddling little route, only 4.3 km but it will make a huge impact on my training mileage if I start running both ways. Until I sort out the gym (and therefore shower) membership, I’ll settle for a walk in and run back.
I’d forgotten the faff involved in planning a running commute. I used the first day to plant essentials at work, like smart shoes and a jacket and then tried to walk in today with the lightest clothing possible without risking hypothermia. In previous RC’s I’ve been able to leave a lot of clobber behind at work knowing that I’d be able to cram it in my bike bag the next day, but as my plan is for daily running I need to carry everything home. I couldn’t cram everything in the asics barrios bag, so had to attach a load of my clothes to the outside, knotting them around the shoulder straps.
I ended up bounding along the streets with my bra and trousers flapping out behind me in the slipstream.
You’ll probably not be surprised to hear that I’ve already been on to wiggle and ordered the slightly enlarged Inov8 Race Pro 18 – review will follow.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
You’re lucky to live so close to where you work. I live 32 km away from work, so a running commute is definitely out of the question. We’re fortunate enough to have decent showers at work so generally I arrange my runs straight after work returning to the office, shower, and then drive or train-it home.
You’re going to run both ways every day? That is impressive. I am toying with the idea of a running commute next week, although it will involve running up Murder Mile in the dark, so it may be a one-off.
Have to giggle at the idea of your bra floating along behind you. Hope you enjoy your running commute.
“bounding along the streets with my bra and trousers flapping out behind me in the slipstream” now THAT’S a visual I would have liked to have seen. Well at least it doesn’t sound like you’ll have to use the buses mid-run commute anymore!
Hey I’m hearing you. I’m only about 6km from work and I’d love to run it both ways. At the moment I’m cycling which is kind of a cop out but at least it gets me on the bike. Same problem with the backpack and carrying everything. I mean, come on, who can run properly with all that stuff???
Awwwww, you deleted it! I say you should have left it up. Why post something you don’t want people to read?
I rode my bike into work once but it wasn’t much of a workout only a mile and a half ( roughly 2k) granted with the darkeness, ice, and paniced hoilday shoppers night running for me has become at best a little hairy.
also thank you for supporting my fund raiser
R.D.