One of the things I struggle most with in the winter is the lack of day light hours for running. I'm in the office at 7 a.m. and leave at 4:30 p.m. It's dark in the morning when I wake up and by the time I get home from work.

That leaves me two basic options, running in the dark or running on the treadmill.

Since I hate the treadmill, I try to avoid it at all costs.

I don't mind running in the dark, in fact, I have a whole post coming up on overcoming my fear of running in the dark, but sometimes I just really miss the sunshine.

Not only does my lack of exposure to sunshine make it hard to run, it also gives me a case of the winter blues.

To combat that, my coworker and I have been experimenting with lunch-time runs. Our new office has a nicely paved rail trail a block from the building. We both bring running clothes to the office, change in the bathrooms and then go out for an easy 30- to 40-minute run.

Running over lunch has some great advantages:

• I get to see the sun.
• It gets me out of the office and away from my desk, clearing my head.
• I feel refreshed and more alert to tackle my afternoon to-do list when I get back.
• Running with my coworker is just plain fun.

The one big drawback -- lack of showers -- isn't a huge issue in the winter since it's cold and we don't really sweat much on such a short run. We can clean up just fine by slicking on some deodorant and splashing some water on our faces. Sure, I have to wear my hair in a ponytail the rest of the afternoon, but I rock my ponytail a lot anyway.

If it's something you can fit in your schedule I highly encourage you to give the lunch time run a try. It's nice to get the blood flowing and get away from your desk.

Have you ever tried running on your lunch break? Does your office provide showers to make it easy for you to freshen up after a mid-day workout?