Family Fun Running

Triathalons seem to be all the rage these days.

Maybe it's my age, maybe it the demographic, maybe it's just all the rage. But everyone knows someone who's doing a triathalon. The most famous is of course the Ironman, which includes a marathon as the last of three grueling legs. Seriously? A marathon? After you've already been swimming and biking?! I couldn't finish five miles, much less 26... and to run 26 miles following the swimming and bike riding? Forget it.

But I can change the messy diaper of a male child while talking on a cell phone and avoid getting "shot", and traipse across a busy parking lot with four-to-five small children and the husband's 200 pounds of clean shirts while weaving around the curbside-parked cars of those "busy executives". So I guess it's just a matter of how you train.

I wish I could do that swim-bike-run thing. I'd sure like my body in a bathing suit better if I did. The key for me is to make it a family affair-- you know, get the kids involved. I wish I could say the idea of family exercise is original with me (a family that jogs together, uh, what rhymes with "jogs"?), but I'll confess I come by this genetically.

When I was growing up my father used to wake the three of us older kids up at five in the morning before school to run two timed miles. No stopping, no walking, and you had to make it home in the allotted time (16 minutes or something). Well, you could break the rules, but if you got caught you had to run it twice.

I'll never forget when Dad first "pitched" the idea to us kids:

"You kids are just in terrible shape! You need more discipline! Starting tomorrow we're going running every morning." I don't think the dropped jaws and round eyes even registered with him.

"How are we going to do that? We have school tomorrow!"

"We're going to go before school."

"But... but that would mean we have to get up at like 6 am or something!"

"We'll need to get up at 5. Set your alarms!"

"But Dad! None of the other kids have to run before school!"

It was useless. That first morning it was freezing cold, worse since our warm beds were only a few minute's memory away. Bleary-eyed and still in shock we all started out, trying to run in time with Dad's nifty little Casio watch with beeping-pace-setter. After five minutes we were all sobbing and protesting. Dad ran stoically on, alternating between encouraging us that this was just the first day and berating us for being out of shape. It took us 25 minutes to run that course the first day. I thought I'd never get home.

But after three months we were all running the two miles in under 16 minutes, and somehow my dad was always there at the finish line ahead of us with his handy-dandy stop watch, having run it even faster than we had.

Yes, it was an insane upbringing (that's a story for another day), but now, looking back I can see my father's flawed approach. We only had to run. It was such a one-dimensional approach... so... unimaginative. It was probably very physically limiting not to have more cross-training.

My kids are not going to suffer like that. They're going to swim, and bike, AND run. Before school. No stopping, no slowing down, and they'd better make it home in the assigned amount of time-- or else!

Now if I can just get myself out of bed at 5 am, maybe I can go with them.

Copyright © Elizabeth Hertz Puglise 2009. All rights reserved.