Team AllEars Training: Making it a Family Event

by Chris Mushrush

One of the things that “comes with the territory” of training for longer distance events is the time involved pounding the pavement. For many, this ends up being a time for yourself – a chance to get away from the constant stresses of life. As the distances get longer, however, you may find yourself trying to fit in a workout at the expense of spending time with your family.

Family and workouts do not have to be mutually exclusive, however. I was faced with a dilemma one day where I wanted to get a run in but was also watching my two boys, ages 8 and 6. As usual, they seemed to have a lot of extra energy, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone: get some running in while burning off some of the boys’ energy. I asked them if they wanted to go out with me, fully expecting them to beg to play the Wii instead. I was pleasantly surprised when they agreed to see what it was like!

We went out, doing a really short run/walk interval, and, though they felt like they were going to die doing the 100 yard run / 100 yard walk, they were amazed to hear that they completed 5K in that workout. Immediately, they started bragging to their friends and family that they “ran a 5K.”

You all know what the next question was going to be…

I asked them if they wanted to try running a “real” 5K event and got a chorus of “YES!!!” answers from them. After sitting them down and explaining that it would involve quite a few more runs, they still were eager to try it. I immediately knew that the race to have them do was our local one done on the Fourth of July weekend. It gave us a couple of months to train, and it was small enough and included a walker’s category so that there wouldn’t be a ton of pressure to finish with a sub-30 minute time.

It was a win-win situation for all: I was able to get in more training; I got to spend time with the kids; the kids were willingly outside doing things and exercising; etc.

I decided to try a 1/1 run walk ratio with the boys to see if they could handle it. The first time out had us around 53:00, so I made my internal goal for the boys to shoot for around a 15:00 pace, which would have us finish in around 46-47 minutes. The next practice run with the boys yielded little improvement, with a finish around 52:00. We got out a week or so later with a change of scenery”¦I also let the boys alternate taking the lead on the pace during the run segments. That must have done the trick because they dropped more than five minutes off of their time and finished under 48 minutes (15:20 pace). We had one more practice session before the race, so I had them run the actual route of the 5K. Again letting them alternate the lead runner, they broke through the 15:00 pace and finished with a 14:36. It took a couple of hours for the smiles to finally fade from all of our faces.

Race day was upon us, and it was going to be a little hotter than we had trained in. I internally had a goal for the boys to finish below 45:00 but, with the heat, was expecting to be slower.

We started:

We did the first mile in 13:48, which was our fastest pace to date. They were hot”¦hotter than they’ve been in any of the training runs, so keeping them hydrated and cool was the priority over the time. We completed the second mile in 15:03, and mile three at 15:34. With about 300 yards to the finish (on the high school track), I asked the boys if they want to run the rest of the way. Aaron, my 8 year old, left Eric and me in the dust. He finished to the applause of the crowd assembled in the bleachers. His time: 44:13! Eric and I continued around the track, and somehow, Eric had just enough energy to finish a couple of steps ahead of me ☺ . His time: 44:54! Were we the last ones to cross the finish line? Yes. Does it matter at all? Nope! They did it!!!

Eric apparently had more energy, because he turned right around and ran a 400 yard kids fun run”¦and he ran the whole thing.

Of course they now think that they can do the half-marathon with me at Walt Disney World. While that may be several years down the road, the proverbial seed has been planted. Aaron has also asked me about what Team AllEars is and why I’m a part of that.

“¦and another seed has been planted.