Yesterday morning, early, Jude left for her daily walk on the beach. JP and I put on our running gear and began to stretch, getting prepared for a 4-mile run on the Longleaf Pine trail near our house. Joe - yes, Joe! - put on his running gear and waited for JP and I to finish our four miles, so he could join us for a final mile. I told Joe what time we would be back and to wait on the front porch for us, so he could jump in and we wouldn't have to stop our run.
Initially, I thought I would drop JP off after four miles and pick Joe up for a fifth mile but JP said he wanted to run with us. Oh, man, I thought, today is the day. And it was.
As a longtime, avid runner and as a father, I've dreamed of the day I might go on a run with both of my sons. In my mind, it was a bit of a long shot, because there was no guarantee JP and Joe would have any desire to run as an avocation. I've always been careful not to force running on either one of them and I'm sure that's helped to pique their interest to a certain extent.
My philosophy - stated in this space before on more than one occasion - has been that I wanted JP (and Joe) to come to running rather than me try to take running to him.
When JP started running with me during the beginning of the pandemic, it became clear to me pretty quickly that he had an affinity for running and that he had real ability. Now, what he would do with that would be another story. What he did, of course, over the next few years was train himself into an absolute beast of a cross country runner, winning all six of his races as an 8th grader last fall.
Joe was at all of JP's races and because he's Joe, took a great deal of pride in JP's running accomplishments. He's nothing if not a dedicated little brother and is, in fact, JP's biggest fan. Joe also has seen how hard JP trains to excel on the cross country course. He's also seen his old man go out for runs, again and again, for as long as he can remember.
When Joe began playing club soccer last fall, he began running a lot more than he ever had before because there was a real emphasis on conditioning. The boys did track work at Harding Academy's upper fields at almost every practice. Soon enough, Joe was running one or two miles at practice fairly easily. He began asking me when he could go for a run with me, just as JP did about the same age. He also mentioned that he wanted to run cross country next year at USN, as a 5th grader.
This might actually happen, I thought.
My goal, of course, is not that I can raise one, or two, successful cross country runners. That's not the point of all of this. Rather, my goal is for the boys to see running as I do, as a path to lifetime fitness and to taking price in their body and what it is capable of doing. I want them to realize the benefits of hard work. When you run more, you get better at running. It really is that simple. I want them to learn the value of dedication to something and to prioritizing something that is important to them. I want them to make time to run and, by default, to take care of themselves. I want them to feel the pride I feel, at age 56, after a 5-mile run.
To close the circle, JP and I had a nice run on one of my favorite trails, out and back, four miles. As we ran back into Old Florida Village, and to our rental house, Joe popped out onto the front deck, hopped down the steps, and off we went.
JP, Joe, and I ran up the bike path on 30A toward the main intersection in Santa Rosa Beach, between Shunk's Gulley and Sunrise Coffee. Just the three of us. I smiled widely at walkers and a few runners as we passed them going the other direction.
It wasn't a long run that the three of us shared. It was only a mile. However, out of all of the thousands of miles I have logged over a 30 + year running career - a lifetime, really - it was probably my favorite mile I have ever run. And that's saying something.
What it was - I hope - is the beginning of something between the three of us. God willing and health permitting, I'm dreaming of the day when the three of us run four or five miles together.
And maybe, just maybe, that day is closer than I think.
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