Racing My Son—and beating him—every day
📖 “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.” — 1 Corinthians 9:24
My wife Sarah came up with the idea of encouraging our son to run a mile everyday. He’s preparing for a Taekwondo sparing team tryout and the cardio training would help him. On day 1, it poured rain as we ran around the track.
But I’m not just interested in fitness, but fatherhood.
I am interested in setting an example of health, discipline, and consistency. But I’m also planning to beat him everyday. After the first two days, I’ve won twice and I’m confident that I can keep it up. I run about two miles 4-5 times each week on the treadmill and I’ve been doing that for a few years now. Today, I jogged at a slow 9:00 pace and still beat him by almost an entire quarter mile lap on the track.
But soon he will catch up. As he gets older and trains more, I’m sure he will run faster than his flat footed father with achey knees. But he will have to struggle to get there and have to fail to beat me day after day.
He will learn to endure failing and that long term effort is the only path to real growth.
Dads Need to Be Strong for Their Families
There’s a dad I follow on Instagram called Ben Barker and he posts about being the “Neighborhood Alpha Dad.”
I appreciate his humor and his emphasis on being strong and capable, but I don’t take myself so seriously. Behind the “joke” is the more simple idea leadership in fatherhood comes from consistency, resilience, and the ability to push through challenges—whether in training or in life.
I could tell him this, but this is how I show him.
As Epictetus said,
“Do not explain your philosophy. Embody it.”
The Power of Routine and Resistance
The mile race is a daily discipline. I’m sure we will miss a day this year, but if we do even two-thirds of the days in the year that will be more than 200 runs. We will have real data on how we’ve improved in minutes and seconds.
To grow strong in body and spirit requires resistance. No one reaches great fitness without struggle, just as no one matures in faith without trials.
Growth in Christ demands perseverance—carrying our cross daily, pushing through spiritual dryness, and resisting temptation.
The same is true for a career, marriage, and fatherhood. Nothing worthwhile comes without challenges. Fitness trains us in this truth—every rep, every mile, every drop of sweat reminds us that through struggle comes strength. And if we embrace that struggle, in the gym and in life, we will be stronger men, better husbands, and more faithful servants of God.
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