Scott McVey runs east on College Boulevard along with morning traffic on Wednesday. McVey was celebrating his last commute to Lenexa by doing it on foot — all 28.2 miles of it. He left his home on Massachusetts Street at 4:35 a.m. Wednesday and hit the finish line at his Lenexa office soon after 9 a.m.

Scott McVey is greeted after his marathon commute by co-workers and his wife, Molly.

Having already logged more than 58,000 miles behind the wheel while commuting to work, Lawrence resident Scott McVey actually couldn’t wait to make his all-too-familiar trip yet again.

This time on foot.

“It takes a lot more time, and it takes a lot more out of you, but it’s really nice being up real early like that,” said McVey, who left him home on Massachusetts Street at 4:35 a.m. Wednesday and never looked back. “I was running out on old K-10 before 5 a.m., and it was pitch dark. I saw shooting stars. It was really beautiful — real scenic. Much more scenic than the highway.”

McVey, a six-time marathoner, hit the finish line at his Lenexa office soon after 9 a.m., celebrating a 28.21-mile “last commute” that signifies the next big milestone in his career. Next week, McVey starts work in Lawrence, as energy conservation manager at Kansas University.

The way McVey figures it, lacing up his Asics Nimbus running shoes sure beat “driving mindlessly” in his old Isuzu Hombre pickup for the same monotonous trip he’d been making for more than eight years.

He certainly doesn’t envy the other 6,611 Lawrence-area residents — that’s according to data from the Mid-America Regional Council — who commute to work each day in metro Kansas City.

“Really, the main thing is I feel it’s completely unproductive,” McVey said, after enjoying a glazed doughnut at his office at TAC, an energy-efficiency consulting and construction firm. “I’ve got over an hour a day that doesn’t do anything, to benefit myself, my body or anything. I mean, I burn a lot of fossil fuels to get over here.

“Running, I was physically benefiting myself. It’s almost a spiritual experience, with all the scenery. And I got to enjoy nature.”

He also had a chance to share the morning with his wife, Molly, and friend Rob Gill. They’d both caught up with McVey in Eudora, and kept him company into Johnson County; another friend, Kurt Schueler, also tagged along for a while.

McVey finished the run with a brief swim in a retention pond outside his office in the Southlake Business Park, southwest of College Boulevard and Lackman Road, before grabbing a shower at a neighboring business.

“I’m feeling all right,” he said. “It went real well.”

McVey, 31, certainly has the drive to run long distances. He competed in track at Johnson County Community College, and has completed the Boston, New York, Chicago, Twin Cities, Las Vegas and Kansas City marathons.

Then again, he’s counting on his lengthy run-to-work commute being a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“It was a good experience, but not one you can do too much,” said McVey, who’s ready to return to morning workouts at Red Dog’s Dog Days. “It’ll be nice having a shorter commute, no doubt.”