How Your Family Can Run the Race With Perseverance

You may think running a 5K would be easy for me since I’m a former college athlete. Think again. I ran my first 5K a few years ago and I have to admit it was difficult. Truthfully, I may have backed out prior to race day if my family weren’t aware and had I not agreed to run with my neighbor. The fact that I had someone going through it with me and my family’s support were huge reasons I was able to persevere and finish my race.

And the lessons I learned in the process were not just specific to running. Whatever race you’re running, you can take what I’ve learned and use it to run the race with perseverance. Here’s what I learned.

Short-term pain means long-term gain.

I was 10+ years removed from playing college basketball, and running was hard for me—not as much physically, but mentally. When you play basketball and you run, it is either punishment or preseason conditioning. Neither is fun. However, both bring some pretty good results in the long term. That is what I was faced with when I decided to run the 5K and told my family about it. I mentally had to get over associating pain with running. In addition, I didn’t have time to train. I had to work and I had to make money to provide for my family, among other things.

Is your mind focused on short-term pain but not on long-term gain? Changing your mindset to the pleasure and accomplishment of completing your race will help you get through it.

Don’t stop until you finish.

If you don’t grow weary in doing something good, you will receive what you are striving for.

In order to complete it, I had to get rid of anything that was going to prevent me from finishing my race. I remember running in the cold, running in the heat, and running in light rain, things that easily would have stopped me before. On race day, I remember waking up really early and it being very cold—colder than any of the days I trained. But what I most remember is my family cheering me on, holding signs, taking pictures, and hugging me when I finished my race.

Are you tempted to quit? Remember, that’s the only way you can lose in fatherhood or anything else. If you don’t grow weary in doing something good, you will receive what you are striving for. Just simply keep going.

Now, running is one of my favorite things to do! By not allowing anything to keep me from reaching my goal, by persevering through all kinds of things, I ran my race and ran it well. You are going to face difficult times, but remember what you will gain in the long run, and don’t stop.

Sound off: Have you had a similar experience? What race are you running that you must persevere and finish?