Last night, my son came into my room and said, “Dad, I want to run the Han River with you starting tomorrow.” For years I’d been the one suggesting we work out together, and every time he’d brush it off with “I’ll handle it myself.” So that one sentence landed harder than usual. This morning, we ran along the Han River together for the first time.
He Picked Basketball Back Up, But Something Was Different
A while back, I wrote about my son returning to basketball after a year and a half away. I was glad to see it, but watching him actually play, something felt off. He’d grown taller in the meantime, yet his movements were more sluggish than before, and he kept mentioning that his calves and knees hurt. I didn’t think it was an injury or overuse. My read was that his stamina simply hadn’t caught up with how fast his body was growing.
Last Night, He Came to Me First
That’s the son who came to me last night and asked to run the Han River together. He wanted to lose a bit of weight and move his body lightly. Honestly, I’d brought up working out together many times over the years. Every time, he’d say “I’ll handle it myself” or “maybe later, when I feel like it,” and that would be the end of it. The moment I heard him say it last night, I felt like the time had finally come. I said yes without a second thought.
Our First Run, 7.17km
So this morning at 6:23am, we headed to the Han River. Nike Run Club logged 7.17km, an average pace of 9’36 per km, a total time of 1:08:50, 508 calories burned, and an average heart rate of 124. It had been a while since I’d run any real distance, so we mixed in some walking, but my son kept up better than I expected.
From Jump Rope to Running: A New Morning Routine
In an earlier post, I mentioned that part of why I chose jump rope over running was the willpower it takes to actually get out the door. Back then, running alone felt like too much of a hurdle, so I stuck with jump rope. Having my son next to me changes that entirely. Just having someone say “let’s go” closed that intention-action gap almost overnight, and I felt it after just one day. I’m keeping jump rope in the mix, and setting aside morning runs as time I spend with my son specifically.
A Few Photos From the Run
Wrapping Up
7.17km.
But what stuck with me more than the number is that I finally heard, in person, the sentence I’d been waiting years for. I’m planning to record our Han River runs here day by day from now on.