I’ve often thought that running could be a good way to commute to and from the office, if I could figure out a way to make it practical. I ran to UMBC once in 2024, but didn’t bring much of anything with me, and got a ride home. Today, I decided to see if I could run both ways, and the answer was… yes, sort of. It was a perfect day for a run, with sunny skies and low humidity. It was also the last work day before school starts and traffic increases on the back roads, so I wanted to take advantage.

My original intent was to run in the morning and walk/hike a more direct route home. Yesterday, I stopped at the office and dropped off clothes, hiking shoes, and the non-perishable portion of my lunch (nuts, granola bar, dark chocolate, and apple). For the run, I used my Osprey vest with the rest of my lunch stored in the compartment where the hydration reservoir usually goes. My other small items (Airpods, prescription drugs, Correct Toes, etc) went into the zipper pocket. For water, I used my hand-carry soft water bottle. The route I chose was 7.8 miles. It’s much hillier than my usual route through Elkridge, which makes it more challenging, but I did fairly well. At the office, I put compression socks on to help recover.

Around midday, I got to thinking that maybe I could also run home. I had never taken two 5+ mile runs in a single day, but the combined round-trip distance (around 13.5 miles) was still shorter than my longest single-outing run (15 miles), so I figured I could do it. I took a more direct route of 5.5 miles, which was faster, but the downhill portion along Gun Rd was much steeper than I’d like. While I had no problem completing the run, I feel like I overdid things a little bit, and I didn’t feel the greatest when I got home. Several hours later, though, I’ve recovered and seem to be fine. I suspect that I need a little more time to re-condition myself to running longer distances, which is fairly common for me this time of year.

The verdict here is that I think I can do this more often, but I’m probably going to need to limit it to cooler weather. Also, on the way home, I’ll likely avoid Gun Rd and run through Relay, which will add a mile or so to the total, but is a much more enjoyable route.