I’ve blogged about this before, but I recently committed to bringing running, on a personal/wellness/fitness-level, back into my life. This has not been a drastic difference to my day-to-day life, but for the last two months I have run three times a week, in addition to skiing, climbing, the occasional row in place, and generally being an active person with little kids. One of the tools in my toolbox that I’m using to make this my new normal for Vermont running is Runna (disclosure, I was given a six-month subscription and I will share more thoughts in a future blog post). 

Committing to Consistency

Leveraging Tools for a Flexible Running Schedule 

For me, Runna assigns three runs a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and there is the ability to reschedule them, do them in a different order, do them earlier, etc. This flexibility is key for how to fit running into a busy schedule. Runna links to Strava (what doesn’t these days?) and then you can assign the Strava activity to the workout identified in Runna.

The Impact of Scheduling Your Runs 

One of the features that I’m not using (yet), is the calendar feature, which allows you to port Runna workouts to your calendar. I say, yet, because of the experience that I had a few weeks ago. I stayed up way too late working the night before I was trying to fit in a 3.5 mile run. I just couldn’t get out the door before heading to the dentist, so I, very uncharacteristically, found the only gap in my schedule and added “GO FOR A RUN!” for 3 pm. Less than an hour later I was texted by a RunVermont employee: “I see that you’re going for a run today at 3 PM.”

Prioritizing Wellness Over Meetings 

That was followed by an update on plans about a meeting that was going to be scheduled for 3:15 PM that day and then the text message concluded with “I can let you know what your designated activity is later, but otherwise you don’t need to attend.” It was perfect. If I hadn’t put that run on my calendar, it would have been a gap in my schedule and I would have ended up filling it with a meeting. Probably that one. Instead, I prioritized what I knew would make my soul happy and be best for my own wellness and everything worked out fine. I did end up cutting things way too close on the run and ended up running faster than Runna wanted me to, still only getting back to the office five minutes before my next meeting started. But I did ask everyone in attendance for recommendations on a new watch (went with the Garmin Forerunner 265S), so hopefully there are more calendared runs in my future.

Your Calendar as Your Best Advocate

Ultimately, the lesson from my "GO FOR A RUN!" calendar entry was about the mental shift that happens when you treat your personal wellness with the same respect as a professional obligation. In this busy world we’re all living in, where we often squeeze training between work and family life, your calendar becomes your most effective advocate. By literally carving out that space, you give yourself permission to focus on the run—even if it means sprinting back to the office five minutes before your next call. Whether you’re using an app like Runna to auto-sync your workouts or manually blocking out time, making your fitness visible is one way to fit running into a busy schedule.

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