Run With My Son

On Sunday, my son and I are running our respective races in San Francisco. He is doing a progressive marathon which is basically completing 23.1 miles before the race then running the final 3.1 miles in the 5k race on Sunday. While I am running the full marathon.

My son has been training on his own the whole time. We pretty much go to the gym at the same time but he follows his own training program. I gave him a few pointers but I thought he was old and experienced enough to train as he pleases. Besides he also has other sports to do like basketball. He also takes up folk dancing. So his fitness schedule is pretty full yet diverse while I focus mainly on one thing, running. Hence I make sure I don't impose on him my training regimen for my running goal.

This boils down to having very few running times together, my son and I. But today, we ran together. We started out quiet and slowly together running at the same pace, as we originally planned. I took the opportunity from the silence between us to start praying. We remained silent through the first half of the run. As we made our turn about, he started to pick up his pace. Being the slower runner, I trailed behind him. As I followed him, I focused on his physicality. He had broad shoulders, ran with an efficient form, and seemed to glide effortlessly. I kept looking at him from the back when I thought was a grace of wisdom was given to me. My son has taken up running because he loves me. We used to "argue" about doing runs, but today it dawned on me that he listens to me and ponders on the little input I can give him about the sport. As I saw him run, he has imbibed the value(s) that came with running and the intention I had for offering this sport to him. As I watched him from the back, I became very thankful. The grace of gratitude...and humility,...that God's plan is at work in our lives.

The last quarter mile, my son turned around and gave me a faint wave. I waved back. Then he took off to finish this run strong. I receive a lot of feeling of satisfaction from this run when I finished a few minutes behind him. I knew he was proud of himself for what he can do now and what he is capable of doing if he continues to persist in training. But that I leave to him. However, I will remain his number one fan and always the first to encourage him to give his best in whatever he does. I feel that running would always be choice up there for him because today is one of those days that he will remember when I am long gone. A run with his father.