Jogging during work

A lot of people exercise during their workday, right? Lunchtime walks are probably the most common. But I always felt inclined to stay in shape, and jogging was half my workout routine. One summer I was assigned to one of the rural northwest Texas routes in the western parts of Bowie and Red River counties. There were naturally fewer deliveries in the summer as schools were out and many businesses shifted outside.

While there may have been fewer deliveries, there was more ground to cover throughout the day. Out there, I could make up small amounts of time by driving like a bat out of hell! I was paid by the hour and many days I could be be back at the UPS terminal by 5p if I skipped lunch and rushed all day. But who in their right mind sets out to limit their pay when they have the American dream to pay for? Wife, kids, mortgage, unnecessary luxury items you don't need don't come cheap. Being in no hurry to get back to the terminal, I came up with a novel idea to kill time and help myself — jog!

There was a long, fairly straight, blacktop road that had very little traffic on it at 4p every day. I was done for the day anyway, so I'd take off my UPS shirt, and in my brown pants and black shoes would jog up and down this 3/4 mile stretch of country road for about 30-45 minutes.

A few days later a man from a business I delivered to in the area came upon me jogging down the road and he stopped, thinking the truck had broken down and perhaps I'd lost it and went crazy. A quick explanation and he was off. I got my exercise in and had people wondering about my sanity.

That summer was the only time I ever exercised on the job, and it didn't last for long. Funny how you get into odd and quirky moods that motivate you to step outside all normal activity. Any other time, I would hole up in an air-conditioned convenience store with a good magazine rack and read up on the latest, courtesy of UPS!