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Post by james on Sept 9, 2009 14:34:30 GMT -5
My wife & I are considering having a child. Can I be an ultrarunner (50 & 100 mile runs) as a parent? Specifically, I'm wondering about having the time. I'm afraid I'd have to give up ultras until the child is 10 or 12 or something like that. Is it realistic to think I'll have the time to train for 50s or 100s when I have a young child at home?
I'm sure some of you out there have experience with this. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Take care.
-James
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Post by alistairadams on Sept 21, 2009 22:53:22 GMT -5
I was going to say "no way in hell" but it all depends on your wife and your job. An understanding wife and an easy no pressure job and you might just do it. What I can say is that once you've had children your life will never be the same again. I used to be a fairly decent bike racer but gave that up when I couldn't put in the time in the saddle. So I took up trail running and can just about pull out a 20K.
Now don't let that put you off having children. The are other rewards for it, just consider it a different phase of your life. Now, given the demographics of the pctrail runners, maybe there should be a 5k race for the kids? My boys certainly love the goodies on the refreshment table at the end. Maybe not such a good idea after all....
-Alistair
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jhulka
Junior Member
Posts: 53
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Post by jhulka on Sept 21, 2009 23:19:13 GMT -5
Heck yes! Not to sound corny, but if you truly want to be an ultrarunner and a parent, you can. How competitive you are is another matter. But you can be good at both if you are set on it. Yes, an understanding wife is vital, but that's the case no matter what you're doing. Right? ; ) And heck, maybe she'll hop on board too and start running if she doesn't already.
You'll simply need to be creative with your training. Find alternatives, be willing to give up other, less important things, and you can do it. It will be difficult, but nothing worthwhile is easy.
I was a competitive triathlete when my wife told me we were (unexpectedly) having a baby (found out two days before Mrs. T's in Chicago). She already knew what my life was about, and we had that understanding. That made it easier for me to continue endurance sports, though I became less competitive. But that was my choice. The unexpected benefit was that I found strength from crafting the fine balance between family and athletic pursuit.
If you both want kids and can have them, then do so. It's awesome. My daughter is 13 and has accompanied me on countless races to cheer me on. It's been great to share it with her and she's proud of her Daddy.
Good luck!
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Post by sdunlap on Sept 23, 2009 13:54:26 GMT -5
My ultrarunning actually got better after having a baby (she's now 3 yrs old). You certainly will have a few months at first where your only ultra training is going to be sleep deprivation (ha, ha), but as soon as your baby is sleeping through the night it's quite doable.
I concur with the others here that a supportive spouse/family is key. And I'm sure your spouse has a passion that needs some solo time. For my wife, it's photography. So we got used to scheduling some time to make sure we each can indulge in our individual passions. Honestly, it doesn't seem like much of a chore at all - you're just have to get used to putting it on the calendar. It helps that my wife says "you're kind of an not a very nice person when you don't run regularly". Sometimes she schedules it for me. ;-)
One thing I found helpful was switching the bulk of my training to the early AM. I do my long runs at 5-7:30am before any of them wake up, and go until 10am on Sat. I was NOT a morning person before, but it came easy after a few months of having a newborn around. Plus there's nothing quite like watching the sun come up halfway through a run, and hearing the forest creatures come out. I honestly don't feel like I've had to sacrifice at all, and my night running is considerably better!
Second suggestion is get a Tivo if you don't already have one. TV is a lot of wasted time, but being able to watch your show whenever adds hours to your week.
It's hard not to sound like one of those obnoxious new parents when talking about how much more fulfilling everything in your life is when you can share it with a child. But it's absolutely true! My daughter loves coming to the races to run around the park and hand me water bottles, and we find ourselves doing more destination races than ever to show her our favorite places (even when she was 1). On my off days, we hike trails with her on my shoulders (good weight training) and sing songs. She collects finisher medals and puts them on her teddy bears. Her passion for the outdoors is already as deep as mine, and she's only three. It's amazing!
Last proof points for you. Some of my favorite 50- and 100-mile race mates (and folks considerably faster than I will ever be) include Graham Cooper (two kids), Andy Jones-Wilkins (three kids, just got 4th at Hardrock two weeks after getting 10th at States), Mark Tanaka (three kids), Jean Pommier (two kids), Kami Semick (one kid and still the 100k world champion), Anita Ortiz (three kids, just won Western States), and countless others. When I run with them, they have all kinds of little pieces of advice on how to juggle it all, and all of them have full-time careers as well. The guy who just cleaned my clock at the XTerra Natl's in Bend, OR, crossed the finish line with a 1:06 half marathon, drank some water, then made a bottle for his 5-week old and sat down for his interviews with the baby in his arms. If it's important to you, you will find the time to train and be a great parent.
And maybe, just maybe, you'll end up with a phenom like PCTR's Aaron who already eats 50k's for lunch.
You have no worries, mate. Seek adventure in all parts of your life, and you will be rewarded 10 times over.
SD
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Post by willgotthardt on Sept 23, 2009 19:15:06 GMT -5
Excellent replies, not surprised.
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Post by Pacific Coast Trail Runs on Sept 23, 2009 22:21:53 GMT -5
Excellent replies, not surprised. Ditto, Will. Thanks for the kind words about Aaron, Scott. And thanks for these lines, as well: "You have no worries, mate. Seek adventure in all parts of your life, and you will be rewarded 10 times over." Sarah, who can't believe that she is the shorter one when running with Aaron now |
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jhulka
Junior Member
Posts: 53
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Post by jhulka on Sept 28, 2009 22:06:42 GMT -5
"You have no worries, mate. Seek adventure in all parts of your life, and you will be rewarded 10 times over." Wow. Well put. I totally agree. |
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Post by thegriz on Sept 30, 2009 16:11:24 GMT -5
great replies, very inspirational.
i am a new father with a 3 month old daughter. pre-baby my wife and i were casual trail runners together - we would go on a few city runs during the week and tackle a longer trail run on the weekends. and we have entered a few 20k races.
the biggest challenge for us is finding a way to go on trail runs together. we have not figured this out yet. i just put up a new post (http://pctrailruns.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=803) asking if anyone knows any stroller friendly trail runs on the peninsula.
that's the only option i can think of for now.
having kids is awesome! but make no mistake about it that it is the ultimate sacrifice, and your life will be totally different. and of course you get the ultimate reward as well!
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