I ran today.

Before I was big into biking, I was a runner. Then I fell in love with being on two wheels and started spending more time riding and less time running, until it basically petered out of my life altogether. I attempted to get back into it, but knee pain stopped me, as I didn’t want to do any irreparable damage to myself. The ability to be active and stay active is paramount.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about running again. I love to ride my bike, and I will always have more fun riding my bike, but there’s something different that running gives me that’s slightly different from anything that pedaling gives me. I can’t really explain it. It’s something more raw, pure, and simply empowering.

Maybe it’s because I can achieve that feeling, that athlete’s high, in a shorter time span. A half hour of running can leave me feeling like I did something, whereas I need to spend at least twice that time on a bicycle to feel the same way.

Or maybe not. I’m not sure why I’ve been feeling compelled to run again lately, but today I did, for the first time in at least a year.

I ran a little over 3 miles. My legs felt fine, but I struggled to find a good breathing rhythm at times. I’m not surprised, considering how long it’s been. I’m in the best physical shape of my life, but getting used to a particular activity still takes some time. I’m going to ease back into it, for the sake of my knees.

I’m looking forward to mixing up the activities again, and I hope that running will provide good cross-training for biking. I’m pretty intrigued by endurance riding right now and am excited to work toward some more long rides in the coming year (and maybe some long runs too!).