Back in 2016, I decided to lace up my running shoes and start running again. I had taken a long break due to heavy workloads that dragged on from 2013. Starting again wasn't easy, but year after year, I kept pushing and slowly built up my annual mileage.
Then, in 2023, I added a bicycle to the mix, and the numbers really started to compound.
I don't do this to win races. My main goals are straightforward: keep my body active, clear my head, and keep my stress levels down—plus, I genuinely enjoy both activities.
Looking back at my tracking logs, the raw progression tells the whole story:
- 2017-2018 — 245.6 km
- 2018-2019 — 139.0 km
- 2019-2020 — 238.1 km
- 2020-2021 — 602.6 km
- 2021-2022 — 535.2 km
- 2022-2023 — 876.5 km
- 2023-2024 — 1,728.1 km
- 2024-2025 — 1,778.1 km
- 2025-2026 — 2,349.1 km
Going from barely cracking 140 km a year to hitting a 2,349 km peak shows what showing up every day can do. The bike definitely acted as a force multiplier for the total distance, but maintaining the discipline to log those miles is the real metric that matters to me.
At the end of the day, data doesn't lie. I just hope I can keep this exact same consistency and willpower to stay active and healthy until I am well into my old age.