Life is good . . . No . . Life is great! My son, Ethan has been begging me to go for a run. He wants to get "strong" like me. Father's Day seemed like an obvious choice for a father-son outing. If it weren't for the rain it would have been perfect.
My plan was to take him for as far as he wanted to then run back and then I'd go out afterward for my long run. So as usual I get my shorts and shoes on. I fill up my water bottle and go check on my son.
He's got on jeans, a cotton long sleeve and his winter coat. (I see great potential for passing down some running gear knowledge through the ages). Well without completely re-dressing him I put him in some nylon pants and we head for the door. His shoes have no laces and no tread. In fact, I though we threw these things out two pairs ago. Alas he's a chip off the old block.
Okay we're ready to go when from the back of the hallway we hear. "Wait for me! I'm coming too." Four year old Owen also has a winter coat and rubber frog boots on. Great! We're almost there.
Ready guys? Why's Koda crying? Okay,grab the leash. Almost good to go. What now? Ruth! Get back inside Miniature Schnauzers weren't meant to run. At least not today.
We're off. My four year old bails out at the half a block. Those boots weren't made for running. We run back drop him off and were off again. We round the corner and head down hill toward the park.
"How much farther to the park, Dad? " He says looking up at me. His hair matting down from the unrelenting drizzle and his glasses completely fogged up.
"We're almost there. Are you tired?"
"Let's walk okay?"
"Sure, you ready to turnaround?"
He made it a lot farther then I thought he would and didn't complain too much. It's probably my most memorable Father's Day to date. You know the whole episode lasted less then your average sitcom but I really enjoyed it probably because I got to share my passion (running) with another one of my passions (my boys). I think I'll ask him to go for another run soon. If he says no that okay too. Deep down inside I hope he'll grow to love running like I do (but he is only six). I've never pushed any of my kids to pursue my passions past or present I want them to discover their own. Maybe we'll do it again real soon but if we don't I've got the memory of Father's Day 2007.
i have that same dream. one day, i hope to stand at the starting line of my son's first 50K. i can't imagine what it would be like to share that joy with him and to learn from each other on the trails.
ReplyDeletegreat post!