Running at Work

Like many people, my job can be a bit stressful sometimes. Eight or so hours a day completely focused can be enough to make me go crazy. This has made me appreciate running even more. Going for a run during my lunch hour is a great opportunity to let my mind relax and get the blood flowing. It makes for a much more productive last-half-of-the-day.

My work is located in Park City, Utah. For those who don't know, this is a mountainous area. There are endless beautiful trails, at least when they're not covered in snow. A few trails are accessible by just running directly from my office. Others are just a short drive. I couldn't be more lucky. I don't live in Park City. It's about a 40 minute commute to get there and I used to dread it. But over the years I have come to appreciate working in such a beautiful place.

I went on a run last week that was a fantastic example. I generally like to keep my running gear at work because I don't always know when I'll get a chance to go. When my schedule is open for a run, I can be on the trail in just a few minutes. I chose to run the Glen Wild loop. It's a beautiful single track on fairly dry terrain that is graciously maintained by the private neighborhood which contains it (called Glen Wild, in case you couldn't guess). Only, on this day it wasn't so dry. I was slipping a sliding in places, but managed to keep my feet under me. I like to run in this area because there is a whole spiderweb of trails there, providing lots of different distance options, plus it's close to work. You can just head out with no idea how far you want to go and just figure out a route as you go.

After going on a run like this, I come back to work and I literally have to think for a second to remember what I was working on. Just another reason to love running.