Five ways that distance running has helped me as a UPS driver

If you’ve been following this blog since the beginning, you’ll know that I used to run regularly. When I lost my dream job I’d been running outdoors year-round for more than ten years.

Runner isn’t one of my identities. I picked up running in my 30s as a reasonably convenient and inexpensive way to try to manage my mental and physical health.

I’ve never really enjoyed running all that much, but I do enjoy what it does for me. I love that achy feeling I get from pushing myself past my perceived limits. I love setting goals and achieving them. I love exploring my environs on foot.

Still, it doesn’t take much at all for me to fall off the wagon. The only thing that I found to keep me focused and motivated was training for road races. And the shortest distance race that I found I couldn’t cheat my way out of training for was the marathon.

For several years I ran four or five marathons per year. I was always in training for my next 26.2-mile race. To keep things interesting, I decided to try to run a marathon in all 50 U.S. states. So far I’ve explored some amazing places at races in 24 states.

I kept up the running after I started working in the UPS warehouse. I even completed a marathon I was already signed up for. But between the pandemic-related shutdowns and my starting as a full-time package car driver, I felt like I had to let go of my running, at least for the time being.

But I’m convinced that I’d have never been able to start, let alone maintain, such a demanding job at my advanced age, without that sustained investment of effort.

Aside from the fact that it has kept me in good physical shape, here are the top five ways my experience as a distance runner has helped me in my new career:

1. I know how to use my feet. This might sound a bit (*ahem*) pedestrian, but since I’m in constant motion I need to be able to plant my feet in such a way as to not get hurt. It’s not unusual for me to take anywhere from 20 to 30 thousand steps each day while also handling one or more packages and my DIAD. As a runner I developed a conservative stride as a preemptive measure against injury. I watch where (and how) I put my feet down to maximize stability and safety.
2. I know how to listen to my body. My job involves a lot of physical movement, much of which is repetitive and can tend to aggravate a particular area of my body. At various times I’ve developed soreness in certain muscles and stiffness in certain joints. As a runner I’ve learned when I just need to work through an ache or pain, and when I need to ease off – or rest altogether. Even though I often work a lot of hours, I know my limits. I recently called in sick after a particularly grueling pair of back-to-back shifts.
3. I know how to run my race, my way. I was never a fast runner – I’ll never qualify for Boston. I’m not a fast UPS driver either. I don’t focus on speed; I focus on quality deliveries and representing the brand well, all while completing my route in a reasonable amount of time. As a runner I always have two goals: to finish and to not be last. I have the same two goals as a driver. I can’t compare myself directly with any other driver. Every route is different; all of us has her/his own race to run.
4. I know how to be patient and pace myself. Whether I go fast or slow, I’m still looking at a shift that’s at least eight hours long. And those shifts keep coming, day in and day out, week in and week out. Endurance, not speed, is the key to making this job sustainable over the long haul. I’ve managed to stay illness- and injury-free in almost eighteen months of driving, and my goal is to keep at it as long as my health holds up – best-case-scenario is until I’m ready to retire.
5. I know how to enjoy solitude. Some of my fellow drivers have confided to me that they don’t prefer the more rural extended routes because of all the ‘windshield time’ on the open road. Bad weather conditions aside, these are precisely the routes where I’ve excelled. All those miles of training and racing by myself have prepared me well for all that alone time.

An interesting thing has happened. By the end of this past January, my work schedule had become predictable and manageable enough for me to pick running (and racing) back up again. And guess what? I’m running stronger and faster than ever before. Just this morning – I actually have Mondays off now – I ran an eighteen-mile training run, and I beat my best time by more than thirteen minutes!

A fellow driver, also a marathoner, once told me: ‘running has helped me be a better driver, and driving has helped me be a better runner.’ I can definitely see that in my own experience.