A couple of weekends ago my two ‘middle kids’ did the Brighton marathon. It was one of the first times I have been a spectator and supporter for them, in an event like this. Neither of them had completed a full marathon before, so this was a venture into the unknown, physically and mentally, so they were going to be challenged.
I don’t think either had prepared well enough (They would agree) and they were both nervous about completing the distance. I had given them some advice, based on my experience but knew that was about all I could do, as I couldn’t run it for them! As a parent, you spend your time protecting your children from pain and, sometimes, failure when, in fact, as they grow up, their biggest lessons come from exactly that, pain and failure!
As they both got in the queue to walk towards the start line, we planned our positions where we could see them to shout encouraging, stupid statements like “Keep going”. We did our planning after seeing them both pass the 3 mile marker (at different times), in a cafe having breakfast. Oh, how the other half live. I remember thinking about that scenario when I was doing some of my events. Me, working hard to achieve something, and my support team sitting down, eating and drinking, chatting and having a nice time. Not a productive thing to do when you’ve got 20 miles to go.
The marathon had 20,000 runners, all ages, shapes and sizes. Some wearing crazy costumes, a lot running for a cause, close to their hearts, there were athletes trying for a PB and there were ‘normal’ people just running for the challenge. It was an inclusive event and a beautiful day with the sun shining and blue skys – I really enjoyed being a spectator 😎
Next weekend it is the London marathon (4th largest in the world) with over 36,000 runners attending and there will be more extreme costumes, thousands of spectators and it will be a fantastic experience for everyone involved. I look forward to watching the TV coverage.
I have to say “I am so proud of Cloe and Jack for completing their first marathon, without any influence from me. Actually, my kids have inspired me to get running again, so we have all signed up for the Bournemouth half marathon, in October. I’d better start running again!
I am under no illusions that I will beat either of them but I am going to dust off the running trainers and get going soon (Summer time) and, hopefully, inspire Sandra to run with me as well.
It’s nice to have some common things to do together but, as Eddie is not into his running, I need to arrange going for a beer with him so we can spend time catching up. The things we have to do to connect with our kids eh! 🤣
How do you connect and engage your family, friends and colleagues? Can you build better relationships by arranging a joint focus or sharing a common passion?