How do you run during your lunch break?

Boomer Simpson wrote:

Mojo Jerkin wrote:

I've done it for 25+ years.

First, I come into work an hour early - by 7am when most of the office gets in at 8. Then, at 11 or so I take off to the fitness center, and am out running by 11:15. Back at noon, showered and back at my desk by 12:30. Eat at my desk.

So, I take 90 mins in the middle of the day, but come in an hour early to make up for it. Works with my job.

Remember you're talking to many Millennials here. Getting up by 7am, working hard, and working a job for 25 years are all foreign concepts to them.

Good one. Equally good is the idea of coming in 60 minutes early to earn 30 minutes at lunch. That seems like a really smart return on investment. That guy should be a financial advisor. And, maybe he could just run 30 minutes further in the morning. Or use the wasted 30 net minutes for an after work run.

dang it must suck to work a job where you're always looking over your shoulder worried about if other people think you are working "hard" or not. or you are constantly imagining they have a stopwatch and are timing you to see if you are taking "longer-than-allowed" breaks.

are you guys adults? or are you in day care?

wow that must suck wrote:

dang it must suck to work a job where you're always looking over your shoulder worried about if other people think you are working "hard" or not. or you are constantly imagining they have a stopwatch and are timing you to see if you are taking "longer-than-allowed" breaks.

are you guys adults? or are you in day care?

I worked for a company for 12 years and always felt a bit guilty about taking longer lunch runs. I had a very flexible schedule, but it's just hard to avoid feeling odd about being regularly out, unconnected, for over an hour in the heart of the day.

I've had my own company for 8 years now and still feel bad about leaving for too long. I'm a good boss and let my employees have freedom, but I don't want them out for hours on end at lunch, so I try to set a good example. I pay salaries, so it's not like people are on a clock, but they have clients and clients want access.

I'll take it back to the sweating thing. It was always SOOO hard in the summer. There were days when I would get it wrong and sit down in a meeting after my run and just get that feeling of dread because I knew the sweat was not going to stop. And if you're in DC, VA, NC, SC, etc., the post-run/post-shower sweating is not just a light glistening. It's an all-out drench. Worse than when you're actually running.

One time I had a boss who liked to have outdoor meetings in an office building garden mezzanine. I get done running, quick shower, clothes on and back in time for meeting. I'd have been fine had we stayed inside, but once we hit the humidity, I was like a damn disgusting animal. So embarrassing. I had to apologize to the entire group and explain the issue.

When it gets too warm, you switch your runs to nighttime because of DST and the longer days. Now is the best time to run at lunch.

Good suggestions above. You have to be organized.

stay low wrote:

Try not to become the oddball who never eats lunch with his colleagues. Run three times a week at maximum. And don't talk about running unless someone asks you directly.

When I started my career, I ate lunch every day with co-workers. Sucked. Now that I'm wiser, I do what I want on the lunch break, every lunch break. Ironically, so does everyone else that is older. Eating out at lunch with colleagues is for people in their 20s.

I hope the race performances justified the difficulty of doing a simple lunch run.

Cubicle guys must have bigger dreams of still making the Olympics.

hope you're good wrote:

Cubicle guys must have bigger dreams of still making the Olympics.

Us cubicle guys take what they can get...

With all respect and love, is corporate America really this strict? I ask out of ignorance, and seek only to understand, not to ridicule.

I have been self-employed since college, so have never operated under a larger institutional regime.

Are you hourly employees punching a clock? Or salaried employees of large companies working in an office building?

Who is watching and timing these lunch breaks? Are there managers, a la "Office Space" roaming the cubicle aisles and keeping tabs??

How would your career be affected by this? Would you be fired? Disciplined? Passed over for promotions because peers and superiors take note of your longer lunches and disapprove?

it's pretty bad out there.

BTW, how are you self employed? I've always wanted to get more time flexibilty. The hours are still pretty rigid at most companies.

I run at lunch everyday..I'm lucky in that 3 days I have an hour and a half, but the other days I only have an hour. I see patients on a schedule, so can't really make up for running by clocking in early or staying late. I have to make sure I sneak small snacks and water during the morning and afternoon. Don't really eat a real lunch. On my hour days, I go for ~40 min, come back and clean off with a towel and quick switch back into my work clothes (which luckily can be tennis shoes/scrubs/lab coat). If I have an extra 2-3 min will stretch/foam roll. Sure I do feel rushed, but honestly it works best for me on 10 + hour days. my coworkers don't care, they know that's what I do and are used to it by now.

You are blessed to be able to just wipe off with a towel. Where do you live? Would never work for me in SC. I'm a sweaty mess after runs at least 5 months a year. I suppose if I shaved my head it might work (as long as I had ~10 minutes to cool down).

I'm also self employed, so it isn't much of an issue for me. It's 9:30 and I'm about to go run now after my conference call at 9:45. I'm in my PJs drinking coffee. 😊

I have worked in the corporate world, though. It's hard to explain. There was never anyone watching over me, but I just had the feeling that it was irresponsible to be gone for too long.

I have banking buddies who make upwards of $250K who still feel like they can take only an hour if it's not client related.

I began doing this in 1977. Wore my running shorts under my work clothes. I didn't make a big deal about it. At the appointed time I just went to my car and drove to a local running spot. You're lucky. We didn't have shower access. I got on with the run keeping it to 45 to 60 minutes. Wet towled down, put on dry clothes and was back at work right around 1 pm. Ate lunch at my desk. Generally my lunch run was my second run of the day,

Got my boss to agree to a slightly longer lunch hour. I stayed late to make it up. After a time my boss didn't even track this. Once they could see that I could do the job, they just didn't care whether I was gone 60 or 90 minutes.

Made sure that others didn't pave over my lunch hour with meetings.

Every now and then I went out for lunch with others. Ran after work on those days.

BUMP