Danger's First Running Shoes... A Guest Post...

So Sarah has asked me to do a guest post and I thought today would be a good day to start.  She took Danger to get his first pair of running shoes this week. It made me feel proud like the time we took him to get his first baseball glove or the time he scored his first homerun. It's exciting being a distance runner myself and that his mom is as well and I am excited to share that with him. As a parent, I am so glad to be instilling the importance of taking care of yourself and staying active early on.   I really wish my family had passed that down to me.

What I wanted!

Closer to what I came home with

As they headed out for their shopping experience, I couldn't help but think of my first 'gym' shoe shopping experience with my Mom.  It was the late 1980's and we went to the local Kmart in our town.  I looked around a bit for the perfect pair.  It was a big decision as this would be THE pair of shoes for the school year.  Color was all the rage and I remember the moment I found the perfect pair...until the saleslady pulled my mom aside and quietly explained that though I could surely have the shoes I had chosen, they were in fact made for girls!  Thankfully, Danger narrowed it down to a couple of pair all made for boys.

He came home with both pair as nobody could choose between these two pairs!

I'm really excited for him to start running.  He is registered for a kids marathon that our local YMCA sponsors in the month of August.  The kids have an entire month to add up their mileage to a total of 26.2 miles, with the last miles being at out town's annual 5k race. More importantly,  I hope he learns from running. I hope he learns that being active makes you feel great.  I hope it teaches him to become goal oriented.  Deep down inside, I hope when he has a bad day or wants to get away for a while he will throw on his running shoes and clear his head like I do.  Most of all I hope that every once in awhile he wants to go out for a run with his old man and catch up or ask a bit of advice.  I hope he is able to slow down, find peace and the passion for other things in life like I have on the running path so many times before.

 Question:  What was your first running shoe experience?  What was your first run in them like?

Who am I? Well I'm a father of a 8 year old boy, Danger,  and for the past year and half I have been a firefighter for the village of Victor, NY.  I am a multi-unit manager for a retail company as well.  I run to stay fit, remain goal oriented and to be a role model to my son so he will learn to lead an active, healthy lifestyle while giving back to his community and taking care of his family.  In the next 4 months I will race in  The Rugged Run for Respect, The 11th annual Victor 5k in our village, The Wineglass Half Marathon, The Reach the Beach Relay, and The Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon.  Although Rob does not have a blog of his own, you can follow him on Twitter @ROBERTWBRIGGS.