Lunch Hour Run

I've run on work days during the lunch hour before, but only when I was working from home. Today I planned to escalate the lunch hour run to a whole new level. That's right, I would leave the office at midday, run, and return to work without my colleagues raising an eyebrow.
Could it be done? Would I be mocked by my colleagues? Abused by my boss? I was ready to find out.

The office has no gym or shower, so I had joined a local gym. This cost good money, but there is no way I could maintain my running/fitness plans over the summer without getting in some lunch time workouts.

I was just gearing up to go when a colleague asked me to step in at the last minute to do a phone interview of a perspective new hire. Drat! Foiled before I even got started! I immediately started working on plans to ask the candidate impossible questions and cut the interview short. "We can't hire this imbecile! I'm going for a run!" Fortunately for me (and the candidate), the interview didn't happen due to a scheduling screw up.

As soon as it was clear that the interview wasn't happening, I was out the door - 11:50. I went to the gym, changed and hit the road. It was only three blocks down Houston from the gym to the running/bike path on the Hudson. It was my first time running this path, and it was really nice. The sun was beating down, but there was a strong wind to keep me cool. I ran north, passing piers, parks and a heliport (extra wind!). There were plenty of bikers and runners out, but not so many that it felt at all crowded.

I pushed the pace, and it felt great. I had lots of pent up energy from a full morning, and exercise, sun and scenery were just what I needed. At 40th street, I turned back. I grabbed a quick shower at the gym, picked up a sandwich and was back at my desk at 1:15. A little long for lunch, but not too bad.

I used MapMyRun to get the distance on my route -- just over 5 miles. Not a long run, but enough to keep the momentum going. No one at work looked at me sideways, so I judged the experiment a success.

Next experiment: running home from work.