There is something magical about running; after a certain distance, it transcends the body. Then a bit farther, it transcends the mind.
~Kristin Armstrong
They did it! Hunter and Palmer ran their first 30K. It was not easy for them, but they did it. Nine months earlier, neither of them was in any condition to run five miles, let alone 18.6 miles (the distance of a 30K). But they had just accomplished something that neither of them had ever done before, and now they were on track to complete their first marathon, too.
Months earlier, my wife Lisa had woken up at 4:45 a.m. to go to her Camp Gladiator class. She heard voices coming from the upstairs game room and decided to investigate. She discovered that our older son, Hunter, had been playing the video game Fortnite since he got home from school the previous day. What she found angered both of us.
We were sick and tired of the amount of time Hunter spent playing video games. He would often sleep until 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. on Saturdays because he stayed up playing games until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.
Driven to break this habit, we tried several different approaches, like limiting the amount of time he was allowed to play each day, but we couldn’t find anything that worked consistently. He always seemed to gravitate back to the game, especially when we were not there to monitor him.
I’m not a big fan of video games. Yes, I played my fair share of Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Frogger in the 1980s, but times were different. In the summer, my parents would lock the door behind us in the morning as we left to play sandlot baseball, street football or driveway hoops. We were okay with that. If we got thirsty, we drank out of the hose. After all, we didn’t know any different.
In the early 1990s, I was a summer camp counselor at our local church and responsible for the field sports program. My job consisted of organizing games like kickball and capture the flag. Quickly, it became apparent to me that this new generation of kids was entirely different from mine.
“Mr. Andrew, Mr. Andrew, can we go inside now?” asked one of the campers.
“No, we’ve only been out here 10 minutes. This session lasts an hour,” I replied.
“It’s so hot! We need air conditioning,” he pleaded.
“You’ll be fine,” I promised.
I couldn’t figure out why kids had changed so much in just one decade. Then it hit me. I noticed many of the campers playing video games on little portable devices. It seemed to be all they talked about, and it was hard getting their attention. Nintendo had created legal crack for preteens, and it was called Game Boy. I began referring to kids who spent more time playing video games than playing sports as the Nintendo Generation.
It’s not that I’m against video games; I am just against playing them every waking moment at the expense of exercise. In an attempt to ensure that our kids did not become members of the Nintendo Generation, I came up with an idea and pitched it to Lisa.
Effective immediately, video-game time in our house would have to be earned, just like money. I set the exchange rate: Each mile run equals 30 minutes of video-game play. I put no limit on the number of miles our son could run in a day, so technically the only limit to the amount of time he played was based on how far he decided to run.
The first couple of days didn’t go very well. Hunter got frustrated and refused to run at all. He started experiencing heavy withdrawal symptoms that included anxiety, sweating, vomiting, depression, hallucinations, and a nasty attitude. Okay, so maybe I made up some of those symptoms — but he definitely had a bad attitude.
Instead of choosing to run so he could play games, he decided to boycott the new program and instead chose to spend that time sleeping. Although that wasn’t what I wanted, it was still better than playing video games.
Eventually, Hunter came around, and the temptation of playing games was just too much. He decided he would give running a shot. A born negotiator, his first question for me was how much credit he would get for his soccer practices and games.
Since the overall goal of the new program was to get him exercising, I thought about his concern and decided it was valid. I gave him a one-hour credit each day that he had a practice or a game. I also added another incentive that on Fridays, weekends or holidays, he would earn double time (one hour) for each mile he ran.
It wasn’t too long after we started this program that we decided to enroll Hunter’s younger brother, Palmer, as well. Although he didn’t binge on Fortnite as much as his older brother, he would watch hours of basketball videos on YouTube.
Although I’ll never be excited about our sons playing 10 hours of video games or watching YouTube, you can rest assured that I am super happy about them running the 10 miles it took them to earn that screen time.
Hunter was even excited when he finished second in his age group in his first 10K, finished third in his first 10-mile race, and finished second in his first half marathon. Recently, he took first place in his age group in the 25K in downtown Houston. Palmer finished second in the same run.
Hunter’s goal now is to have the fastest marathon time in our family, and Palmer’s goal is to become the youngest family member to complete one. Their older sister, Allyssa, ran her first marathon at age 16.
Why did I choose to make them run instead of any other activity? I decided on running because I am an avid runner and ran in high school. I was a member of our cross-country team and ran my first marathon when I was 17 years old. I am still very proud of that accomplishment and want my kids to share a similar experience. I want to give them something they can be proud of doing.
It is my hope that running teaches my sons to invest their time in worthwhile endeavors, to do hard things, and then to enjoy a reward. I never want them to stop challenging themselves.
— Andrew Todd Smith —