Hearst Owned

The weekend starts as always: wake up at 6:30 a.m., put on shoes , and knock out the same six-mile loop I’ve been doing for years, before anyone else is up. Lately, though, by the time I get back, my wife is already awake with the dogs and halfway through her first cup of coffee. Not only isn’t my pace quite what it used to be, but I’m forced to spend time stretching and warming up —something I didn’t need to do when I was younger.

Running hasn’t always been my go-to form of exercise. In my youth, it was more of a primer—something to build a baseline before the real demands of high school and college wrestling kicked in. For the last 20-plus years, I’ve really thought of myself as a cyclist. But between being a father, husband, homeowner, and coach, carving out time for a three-hour group ride isn’t always realistic.…