It RUNS in the Family

My running club asked me to write an article for their August newsletter, which featured stories about running with children and parents.  I'm fortunate to have experiences with both to share!  Below is what was published, and in case the text isn't clear I've included it below the screenshots.

It Runs in the Family

Children typically view their families as “normal”, so I grew up thinking that distance running was normal (“You don’t know crazy if you grew up in an asylum” - right?).  I saw my dad come in from training runs every morning and watched him compete in road races.  I grew up traveling to watch my sister, who is 14 years older, compete in high school and college meets.  I just thought distance running was something people did!

From an early age, I participated in kids’ runs at events my dad competed in.  Usually these were half mile fun runs, but I was pretty motivated to earn some bling (this was before the era of finishers’ medals), so I’d beg my dad to help me train beforehand.  This training typically consisted of him tacking on a half mile with me at the end of his runs, but I quickly learned the most valuable strategy in distance running by age 6:  don’t start out too fast!

As I grew older, my running increased while my dad’s decreased (you can do the math that he was an older parent based on my sister being so much older than me).  Our family’s Saturdays morphed from going to his road races to going to mine.  Running a half mile with my dad at the end of his runs transitioned into him riding his bike with me while I ran 3-4 miles.  We combined summer vacations with AAU and Youth USAT&F track meets.  My dad came to every high school cross-country and track meet I ever ran in, while working full-time, which is something I am now very awed by as a working mother.  We share countless memories related to running events, and today we continue to combine vacations with race trips.  He and my mom have recently traveled as far as Sacramento and Duluth to watch me run marathons.

Because of my lifelong bond with my dad over running, in addition to my love for the sport, I was thrilled when my daughter Albani became interested in racing.  I love finding events that she and I can both participate in, and I enjoy seeing her determination and joy for the sport.  She hasn’t started begging me to train yet, but just like me at age 10, she’s pretty motivated by the bling (but now we are in an era of finishers’ medals).  She has also effectively learned to not start out too fast!

While I hope Albani embraces running as a lifelong fitness pursuit, I believe a big part of the reason I came to feel that way was because my parents never pushed me, so I don’t pressure her.  I hope she finds the passion that I have for running in some pursuit in her future, running or otherwise, and I will be on the sidelines of whatever that is.

My dad not only supports me in all I do in running, but in all I do in life, and I would have never made it to where I am today without him.  He is there for me when I'm victorious and when I'm defeated.  If I can be even half the parent to Albani that he’s been to me, I’ve succeeded.