I’ve been walking the same short loop over my lunch hour for seven years. I enter Central Park from Sixth Avenue, drift up and around Sheep Meadow, trawl down West Drive, exit at Seventh and march back to reality. It’s one of my favorite routines — something I missed terribly during the remote-work years — and my foremost barometer for the changing of the seasons, which are infamously extreme in this city.
Right now I’m kicking slush, but at other points I’m detouring for leaves, blossoms or the profane chatter of daytime slow-toss. It’s always firefighters versus comedians, nurses versus retirees. Anyone with a strange amount of free time on a Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.
Which, lately, seems to describe a lot of people. I’ve never seen so many runners along the Central Park loop, pounding pavement at an hour you’d otherwise expect them to be sitting in meetings or eating slop bowls. It’s a pleasant sight and a confusing one. But I did some Googling, and of course, there is a ridiculous little word for this development. It’s called “runching.”
We ran through the Holy City, chasing bridge views, salted-lime lagers and lowcountry calm
Where Did “Runching” Come From?
The rise of the lunchtime run (the runch!) can likely be attributed to two factors: A) hybrid workflows in the post-pandemic era, and B) the running boom of the last few years.
Of course, one result of the run-club craze is you’re more likely to see more people running at any time, in any weather. I was flabbergasted to see so many runners braving the cold last winter; and it looks like they’re still going strong in 2026, too, sidewalk snow tunnels be damned.
But there does seem to be a specific preference, among some runners, for the hours of 12 to 2 p.m. Years before anyone had heard of COVID, hundreds of Redditors delighted in the convenience and excitement of their runches. This thread’s OP said that as a parent with sole custody of their kid, they found it difficult to fit runs into the week. Runching helped — and maybe even gave them a speed boost, thanks to the carrot (and stick) dangling at the end of the effort: “I find that I’m running my fastest mile splits during my lunch break because I’m looking forward to having lunch and need to get back into work on time.”
Others said they can’t run in the morning because they need the sleep, or look to avoid night running because it’s unsafe. Their runch mileage varied from two all the way up to 10 miles. All agreed that runching was a game changer, which allowed them to log the training needed to run a marathon (or just plug a mental reset into the workday).
According to my research, the runch trail went cold for a while — just blogs here and there of triathlete-types singing its praises (they’re always looking to fit in another workout). Until recently, when coaching app Runna announced that within their company’s Slack channel, it’s common for colleagues to announce they’ll be offline for a little while. Gone runchin’.
How to Pull Off a Runch Routine
Obviously, not everyone works at a company where a runch is feasible (let alone celebrated). But if you can find a way to integrate running — or frankly any daytime exercise — into your daily routine, you definitely should.
This is especially relevant for adults who’ve never been able to establish a morning workout routine. “Late chronotypes” are often forced to exercise at night, and those sessions could negatively impact your sleep, if they’re too intense or close to bedtime.
When you stop to think about it, a lunchtime workout is ideally placed: you’ve digested breakfast, your caffeine has had the right amount of time to settle in, lunch is waiting when you’re through. (Why not have it outside of your designated “lunch hour”? You were probably going to eat it by the computer, anyway.) Plus: aside from summer, the weather’s generally better at at noon, and there are fewer cars on the road.
One commenter wrote: “If this is an option for anyone reading, I can’t recommend it highly enough. There is a certain awkwardness in starting out and getting all ‘PE Class’ during a workday, but once you get past that, it’s really great.” I’m glad they said that last bit, because I was thinking it: how do you possibly sit back down at your desk after a runch? I’m remembering sitting for math tests, absolutely soaked with sweat, right after recess battles on the basketball court.
In-office runchers better take a shower, in other words. Or be prepared to use lots of antibacterial wipes. Try to find out if your office has any sort of shower access (even if it isn’t on your floor), or consider paying the membership at a nearby gym. If you can pull it off, it’s worth the effort. This commenter said: “[I] return to the desk with my gym bag, feeling fitter, happier…more productive.”
Absolutely. I don’t runch, I just go for long walks. But midday exercise has been my not-so-secret weapon over the last seven years. For one, my disappearing act always reminds me that the workday is also a day — one that belongs to me. And then, go figure, catalyzing bloodflow catalyzes creativity, so I return and get a bunch done anyway. I don’t think any one of us truly knows what work-life balance looks like. But I’d start right there.
Meet your guide
Tanner Garrity
Tanner Garrity is a senior editor at InsideHook, where he’s covered wellness, travel, sports and pop culture since 2017. He also authors The Charge, InsideHook’s weekly wellness newsletter. Beyond the newsroom, he can usually be found running, skating, reading, writing fiction or playing tennis. He lives in Brooklyn.
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