I ran errands during part of one of my runs last week. I ran with friend who needed to pick up tickets to the Cork City football match (soccer, for those of you in the States) and she had to pick up stamps and mail some postcards. We made this part of our journey as we went out for 3 or 4 miles around the city.
It's insignificant really, but I couldn't get over how much I enjoyed the practice. I wasn't getting in a car and driving 10 minutes down the road. I was doing my errands on foot and as part of a workout. Back in Concord, I'm 6 miles away from downtown and further away from other errands (including a highway), so it's difficult to do it then. But it does make sense and it's incredibly fun to do.
I like the fact that it gives me purpose in my runs--more than just running in a circle or back-and-forth to get mileage in. What does create a problem is the amount of sweat that I create and the nastiness in how I look when I get there. That means that if I do start this practice back home that I'll either need to make the errands short, the deodorant stronger or my shirts darker, or a combination thereof.
Plus, I get the benefit of hugging a tree as I go because I'm not using a car. There's nothing more reassuring than bark, I always say.
So, what kinds of errands do you do while you run, if any?
5 comments:
I ran a DVD back to the video store once... and that's about it.
Now that I moved, there really isn't anywhere that I can go safely on foot, errand-wise. Bummer!
I'm a big fan of the new "clinical strength" deoderants out there!
The other prob is that you can't carry a bunch of crap with you if you run. But I would LOVE to literally "run" my errands instead of drive.
This is going to sound really lazy but... there is a grocery store around the block from my building. I often try to coordinate so that when I go downstairs (I live on the 20th floor of a high rise, so it takes some time to get an elevator and get out of the building), I'm doing a couple things down there: mail, gym, groceries, etc. One thing I often did was do a 2 mile run, and bring my credit card and pick up a few groceries for dinner after. I always got some weird looks, but never thought too much about it. I felt bad being all sweaty though...
you will recall I ran from my son's hospital to Gap on Oxford Street - fighting the crowds in their assorted finery let me tell you! - to buy some knickers, as we call them...
I often try to add a run onto an errand and will park at the grocery store and then run to work and back from there. By the time I do my shopping in the evening I smell but I can't smell me so I don't mind...
I used to do some errands on foot (like return DVDs, go to the post office to send things) but, unfortunately, it's just not safe to do so anymore in my area, even in broad daylight :-(
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