Last May, my son came to me and said, “Dad, we need to do something ‘athletic’ together.”  After some discussion (and against my better judgment) we agreed on running, set a goal to run the Cooper River Bridge 10k Run this year and started running together about 3-4 times each week.

Well, April 2nd was the big day.  It was crazy, but great.  We finished in about 62 minutes (for the record, I finished 6 seconds ahead of him), which put us in the top 38% of about 35,000 finishers, and although our goal was to finish in under an hour, we were pretty happy with how we did.

Looking back, there are several things I have learned from this experience:

  1. 6.2 miles is longer than I thought it would be.
  2. MotrinIB is good.
  3. Aleve is better.
  4. I am slightly OCD about tracking my workouts.
  5. Good running shoes don’t last as long as I think they should.
  6. Good running shoes cost more than I think they should.
  7. Jeff Galloway is a genius.
  8. My son is a pretty cool kid.
  9. I don’t drink enough water.
  10. Music is better to run to than podcasts (sorry Matt & Erwin…Thanks Toby).
  11. I am more proud than I should be that I can outrun a 12-year-old.
  12. I will probably not be able to outrun my son much longer.
  13. Public parking in Charleston cannot adequately handle an additional 40,000 people on a Saturday morning.
  14. It feels good to be in shape, and “in shape” is a relative term.
  15. I can do more than I think I can do.

All in all, it was a great experience for both of us.  Now, my son has talked me into training for a 1/2 marathon in October.  I think he’s trying to kill me.

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