For anyone who’s ever sat on a bus, on the tube or in a car, frustrated, hot and losing the will to live, rejoice, there are other options and some of them don’t even have two wheels.
I live in South London and so suffer one of the capital’s paradoxes – it’s just a 10k trip to my office in the West End but because there are no tubes down south, it takes the better part of an hour to get to work, crawling along the Old Kent Road on a bus. This can’t be right, can it? I can run 10k in less than an hour, can’t I? Well, I tried it, and the answer is yes!! And I found out a lot of other things at the same time.
1. The obvious bonus of running home is that you avoid the bus/car/tube/train commute. Whether your reasons are green or simply pure frustration, the joy of avoiding shoehorning yourself onto the number 63 is too much to be able to put into words.
2. Freedom…. You can take my public transport but you will never take my freedom! Free your life from the tyranny of timetables by running. You don’t even have to stop for red lights.
3. Reclaim total and absolute control over your time – a by-product of running on your way home is that you don’t need to find the time to exercise at other times, suddenly you’ve got more free time to do whatever you want, including sitting on the sofa in your underpants – hey, it’s ok, you’ve already done your exercise for the day.
4. Be a tourist in your own city. Bus beats tube and bike beats bus for slowing down and really taking in your surroundings, but to really stop and look at the city you live in, start running.
5. Variety. I can run via the Houses of Parliament, either (or both) Tates, the South Bank and through endless parks. Running makes it easy to avoid the monotony of an endlessly familiar journey home.
6. Save money. In these frugal times, what better way of sticking it to the man than not using overpriced public transport.
7. Me time. Listen to music, be at peace with your own thoughts. When you find the right pace and step into the zone, a good run gives you the space to really think about things, and…
8. Take out the frustrations of the day on the tarmac. Running is a hugely cathartic stressbuster.
9. Earn that beer. Have a guilt-free beer when you get home, and then why not treat yourself to a carbohydrate jamboree with none of the associated self-loathing.
10. You get fit, and loose weight… apparently.
