About five months ago, my family and I moved from the suburbs back to the city. One of the deciding factors was that the move would make home very close to work (about 3.6km to be exact), and the thought of running to the office instead of driving on the highway got me very excited. My old commute was on average about 30min with moderate traffic. I knew I wouldn’t be running to the office every day, but I’d be able to run my new commute in about 10min less than it used to take me to drive. Running to work… how awesome is that!

Getting Ready for Running to Work

The first thing I needed was a running backpack. Nothing too large, just big enough to carry a change of clothes, lunch/snacks and wallet, keys, etc. My lovely wife knew what I was planning and got me one for my birthday (the Marmot Ultra Kompressor pictured above.) This pack is actually meant for climbing but it definitely does the trick. It even has a spot to insert a water pack if you want to turn it into a camel back. I usually bring coffee with me in the morning so I decided I would just make coffee at the office and bring a Clif Bar or something for breakfast (I actually ended up getting a box of them and leaving it in my desk.)

The First Run to Work

It was a cool May morning. Slightly overcast. In other words, the perfect day day to begin my dream of running to work. I think the hardest part was getting used to running with the pack on. It was moving around a lot and I think I may have packed the bag a little too heavy the first time out. It took me about 22min to run the first time, including stopping at a few red lights. I was in such a great mood the whole day, plus I felt totally energized and super productive. By the time I got home later I had totalled over 7km for the day, and my evening was free to do what I wanted. As the summer went on, I started extending my runs to 8km total, and running in more than once a week.

Living the Dream

It’s October now and I’m still running to work once or twice a week. These easy runs to work are now adding up to 10km total and they give me a nice break from all of the track workouts I’ve been doing lately. I’ve learned to pack the bag properly and keep it steady, figured out a few alternate routes to extend the run and expanded my breakfast selection to include scrambled egg burritos. Besides feeling physically great, I love keeping pace with or passing traffic on the way home. I’m sure the same people keep seeing me running past them and it must drive them totally insane. It always puts a huge smile on my face whenever I can help people have an “Office Space” moment. I see quite a few people out running at lunch time which is great, but its a shame that not many people have the opportunity to leave their car at home and run to work. I wouldn’t give it up for anything.