Yesterday, I had the privilege or watching my 14 year old son run his first marathon.  I love running, and I love using running to teach my kids life lessons.  Here are five of the things Drew learned along the way:

1. Dedication – When the alarm blared at 3:45 yesterday morning I seriously questioned our sanity.  Why exactly were we getting up at 3:45 on a Tuesday morning to drive 2 hours so Drew could run 26.2 miles and then drive back 2 hours?  And then I heard his “groggy” footsteps across the hall.  Getting up early to train and run is teaching him dedication.
2. Commitment – In a world where instant gratification is glorified (think fast food, credit cards, and movies on demand), it’s hard to teach kids about sticking to something for the long haul.  Training to run a marathon takes commitment.  For months I’ve watched Drew get up to do a training run when he’d rather stay in bed.  I’ve watched him cross- train when he’d rather hang out with his friends.  I’ve watched him eat broccoli when he’d rather eat pizza.  Through this training process he learned to make a commitment and stick with it day in and day out.
3. Determination – Running long distances takes some serious determination.  When his legs got tired, his feet got sore, and it seemed like he couldn’t take another step, he kept going anyway because that’s when his heart and sheer determination took over.
4. Sacrifice – There were at least 500 other things Drew could have been doing during all the training.  He chose to sacrifice those things to train for a marathon.
5. Selflessness – Drew and I run together occasionally.  I run at a slightly slower pace than he does.  (Okay, that’s a huge understatement, but hang with me for a minute).  He’s learned to be gracious and understanding about my slow pace.  He doesn’t try to hurry me along or out run me.  He just slows down and lets me set the pace.

More than any course I’ve seen this one was a mental battle.  It was 12 out and back repetitive legs.  This race was physically challenging like any other marathon, but this one also required the mental fortitude to keep going on a repetitive and monotonous course.  Not once did Drew even mention giving up.

I can’t even put into words how proud I am of him for running this race.  But, I’m not proud of him because he ran 26.2 miles.  I’m proud of the incredible young man of character he’s become.  Over the last several months he’s developed dedication, commitment, determination, sacrifice, selflessness, and so much more.

Just six short months ago he asked me how in the world I could ever run a marathon.  He told me he could never do it because it was impossible.  Today he looked impossible in the face and said, “Watch Me!”