Ryminate

33 Things to Remember When Raising Kids, From Coach Hawk

Dan Hawkins, head football coach of the University of Colorado Buffaloes, just posted a great list of things to remember when raising kids. Coach Hawkins has two boys and two girls, the last of which just left for college, and has worked with hundreds of young men through his football programs, so I respect his opinions.

Here is a taste of what's on his list. The full version can be found here.

1. Treat every event like it’s the last one, because soon it will be.
2. Make memories, DO things rather than HAVE things.
3. Get them to play a musical instrument- it will be a great developer of the mind and a way to express themselves
4. Encourage them to get a job (have a chore list).  Let them learn how to earn the things they want.
5. Less is more.
6. Boy/Girl Scouts is an awesome program – most Eagle scouts are remarkable people.
7. Hug your kids often/everyday-tell them you love them often/everyday.
8. Leave your coaching hat at the office, if they have questions they will ask.  They need a dad, not another coach.
9. After the kids’ games, be concerned about “did you learn something”? And “did you have positive experience” (then go eat some pizza and ice cream)?
10. Teach them to solve their own problems- and let them do it. 
11. Keep the computer out where you can see it and monitor it.
12. Teach your kids to love each other.  Make them hold hands when they fight, make them say ten nice things to each other when they are mean to each other.
13. Siblings in the same bedroom are better than separate rooms.
14. Your kids will follow more what you do, and less what you say.
15. Allow your family be around and involved in your work.
16. Dad’s talk to your girls early about sex and boys early- and keep doing it regularly.
17. Avoid the sock basket!
18. Talk to your kids regularly about sex, drugs, and alcohol use and abuse – regularly.
19. Use every example in life to point out to your children the consequences of behavior (good and bad) – use the paper, TV or your own.  Like spaghetti, keep throwin’ it against the wall until it sticks.
20. Eat dinner together as a family (regularly).

Running My First Marathon

 For the past four or five months I have been training for the my first marathon. Last Thursday I actually ran the thing, and now that I can walk again (more later) I wanted to share the experience.

 I decided to run a marathon at the beginning of 2007 for a number of reasons, including the fact that my life is perhaps as busy as it's ever been. Between growing law firm (and a family) the long days tend to blur together. This is dangerous in that you can get so caught up in "doing, doing, doing" that you fail to reflect on whether you are "doing" the right things or merely running like a hamster on its wheel. Training for a marathon has allowed me to regularly "check out" from the grind to both gain perspective and recharge.

I ran the Deseret News Marathon in Salt Lake City, Utah. It's a smaller marathon with just over 500 runners. The course is mostly downhill beginning at about 7,500' above sea level and ends about 4,250', which I thought would be great for a first marathon.

I felt great for the first 18 miles, running at just over a 9:00/mile pace, but from then on each subsequent mile seemed to increase geometrically in difficulty. I guess I should have expected the last few miles to be tough, but frankly I was a bit surprised at how quickly my body went from "feeling good" to "what are doing?! stop now!" The last mile seemed to go on forever, but finally I made the final turn and somehow found the energy to pick up the pace crossing the finish line in 4:29.

My first thoughts after finishing were, "Wow, that was LONG; I am so glad it's over." (Profound, I know). But after 6 cups of Gatorade, a bagel, and a Fat Boy, the runner's high kicked in and it was amazing.

After spending some time with my fans (you know who you are--THANKS!!!), I took a seat along side the finish line and watched some of the other runners come in. There were runners from all walks of life--moms, retirees, soldiers, cancer survivors, couples, teens. It was very inspiring and I couldn't help but to wonder about their stories. (I shoud've setup a Facebook group).

I was wholly unprepared for how sore I would be. I'm not sure if it was because this marathon had some serious downhill action or if this is just how it is. The day after the race, I hobbled around all day somewhat amused at my uselessness.

There are certainly many things I will do differently next time, including eating and drinking more during the race, getting a hotel room the night before without the kids (I slept 2.5 hours), getting a hotel room with working air conditioning, choosing a marathon that doesn't occur during the hottest month of the year, avoiding chaffage, not eating a large meal the night before, meeting more of the other runners, and running a negative split.

Despite all of this, I had a GREAT experience and look forward to running another 26.2.