The Boy loves running. And Jesus (more on that in another post), but even more so, running. His school keeps track of the laps the kids run around their school building, which he does at recess basically every day. He chooses to do this rather than playing ball or on the climbing structure. He ran 2 miles during his school’s jogathon. As a kindergartner.

I don’t think I am adequately expressing how “WHAT THE FUCK” I feel about him being a runner. Just, so much confusion. I am not a runner. The Hubs is not a runner. None of our parents are runners–in fact, when my dad tried to take up running recently, he kept falling and injuring himself, so my mom made him switch to an exercise bike. If, when he was born, I had to guess what athletic activity The Boy would take up, running would probably have been way down on the list.

And yet, this is his thing. It’s yet another reminder to me that kids are their own people, and we have practically no control over what they kinds of things they will like or dislike. I am not running this show, I am just along for the ride. And honestly, as much as I dislike running myself, I know that running is a great healthy activity and I want to support him in this thing he loves.

Now, the thing with him running is, he is still young, which means if he wants to run in an event like the Seattle Children’s Marathon, or a 5K, I am going to have to go with him. Which means, I need to be able to run 5K without dying. Which means, I have to start running. I am a couple weeks into a couch to 5K right now. Am I enjoying it? I am not.

One of the things I have leaned about being a parent is, I have very little control over the things that will excite my child’s imagination, but it’s still my job to support them in the things they are excited about. Sometimes it’s something super fun, like discovering my kids love to have dance parties in the living room in their underpants, and helping them discover awesomely bad pop music to dance to. And sometimes…it’s running.

I know a lot of runners who really love to run. My local BFF is one of them and she even has her own blog, which is super inspirational and you should all go read it. Girl is a badass (who the hell runs a 5K and 10K back to back one day, and a half marathon the next?!?! WHILE PREGNANT?!?! A badass, that’s who) and even more than that, she has found something she loves. And that is a powerful thing, finding a thing you love. I have learned from running that I am not that person. But, I can pretend to be that person for a while, because helping my kid find something he loves, is the something I love.