Choosing to become a run commuter can be a life-altering decision. As we outline in our Become a Run Commuter series, one must first tell themselves that they will do it, and then begin the planning and logistics necessary to ensure success. If you already have a challenging life as it is, then throwing a run commute into the mix can be difficult – You may have to wear suits every day; your route may lack adequate public transportation; your office may lack shower facilities; you may live 20+ miles from the office, and so on. In this series, we will address some of these issues individually. First up, parenting.
Note: We realize that everyone has unique circumstances that may not fit the solutions provided in this article. We offer these only as examples of how to overcome some more common challenges.

Scenario
Our family consists of two adults and three children, ages 3, 8, and 15 (that’s daycare, elementary, and high school – three places to be, possibly at different times). We are a one-car family and public transportation is available. The adults work in, or near, downtown. All kids can be dropped off at the same time, and (mostly) picked up at the same time. Both my wife and I want to use active transportation to get to and from work.
Before school started in late-July, we sat down and planned out our days to see what would work in our given situation. I would do drop-offs and she would do pick-ups. My wife has meetings a night or two a week after work, so she wouldn’t be able to get them every day. I work criminal trials occasionally, and have to go in early and stay late on court days, so those days we would need to adjust accordingly (and possibly ask for outside help). But for the most part, we have a fairly predictable day. In order to help us create a schedule, we first mapped out all the places we might need to be during a typical day.

Planning
Once we had that in front of us, not only did we realize that everything was within a reasonable running and biking distance, but we were able to create a schedule and plan that works for everyone. Here is what a typical, active commuting day looks like for our family:
-
5:30 am – Dad wakes up, showers, makes lunches, packs bags
-
6:30 am – Wake the kids up. Start feeding them, getting them dressed
-
6:40 am – Mom comes downstairs with little kids
-
6:40 am – 7:15 am - Chaos, which sometimes includes breakfast, hopefully involves brushed teeth, and possibly involves clothes worn the day before
-
7:15 am – 15-year-old bikes or walks to school; Dad loads little ones in car, heads to their school/daycare (these are both within the same block)
-
7:25 am – Dad arrives at school, parks car for the day at school (note: car has bike rack on back)
-
7:30 am – Both little ones are in place; Dad’s run to work begins; Mom bikes to work
-
8:00 am – School starts; Mom arrives at work and cools down
-
8:10 am – Dad arrives at work, cools down, then cleans up; Mom begins work
-
8:30 am – Dad starts working
-
8:30 am – 3:45 pm – Parents working; kids in school
-
3:45 pm – School ends/afterschool program begins
-
4:30 pm – Teenager bikes home
-
5:00/5:30 pm – Work ends, Mom bikes to school, puts bike on car, picks little ones up. Dad leaves work, takes the train, and runs home from nearest station.
-
5:40 pm - Everyone is home. Begin to prepare dinner.
Results
Following our schedule, here is what our daily mileage looks like:
Dad (dropoff)
Morning
-
1 mile of driving
-
5 miles of run commuting
Afternoon
-
0 – 5 miles of train (depends on available time)
-
1 – 5.3 miles of running
Daily Total: 6 – 10.3 miles run commuting, 0 – 5 miles on the train, and 1 mile driving.
Mom (pickup)
Morning
-
3.5 miles bike commuting
-
0 miles of driving
Afternoon
-
3.5 miles bike commuting
-
1 mile of driving
Inspiring, and yes, it is possible. I used to pick my daughter at daycare after my afternoon run commute. After I got over the smily “dad, you stink” welcome package from a 3 years old, it was perfect!
I identified myself a lot in the text. I wish I could run commuting more frequently!
What a timely article! I just found your website researching “running to work” and this is a great article. My biggest challenge is that I’m a single parent of a 3 year old. These are great suggestions, especially driving to school and leaving the car there (I was wondering how I’d get all my son’s “stuff” to school and back home, or what I’d do with the jogging stroller once I got him to daycare).
Honestly I don’t find this any more complicated than trying to figure out how to deal with being stuck in traffic congestion for an hour and still get my kid on time. I’d rather spend 40 or so minutes running the 4 miles from work to school rather than sitting in traffic for an hour while all the smart people ran and biked past me. Just have to figure out how to “clean up” enough without a shower available to me now and then I’m set.
You are totally right – it is not any more complicated than planning it out when you have a car (even though it may seem that way at first). We still use the car some days for everything, and it is only a few minutes quicker…unless there is a accident slowing/stopping traffic.
I’m glad you mentioned cleaning up without a shower. That’s going to be the subject of the next Run Commuter Challenges! It will be much more detailed than our original one, and hopefully will help you and others out. Watch for it in the next few weeks.
Work is now 8 miles away – BUT… it’s only 3 miles from my daughter’s school. So I can park there for the day. Sometimes I drop her off and pick her up, other times I just pick her up. And when it’s lightening outside, my office gets put on the pickup list for my husband along with the kids’ schools!