21 Days of Inspiration & Motivation - Day 2 with Giovanni Guevarra

It's a Family Affair

  

 Running was part of my life when I enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 1988 after serving 4 years in the Air Force. I run 3 miles, do some pull-ups and sit-ups every day during lunch not just to stay fit but to make sure I was always ready for the Physical Fitness Test.  In 1997 after deployment, I ran the Honolulu Marathon without training and finished it in 3 hours and 42 minutes. My long training run back then was just 3 miles. It was my first and only race in 14 years. I was not entirely fit as I was a smoker then too.  In fact, I quit smoking after 21 years when I started to have a hard time breathing and my speed started to decline around 2001.

 Fast forward to 2006 when I retired from the Corps.  I stopped running, I had an easy job and most of the time I just sit around, play with my son, watch TV and eat.  From a lean mean fighting machine weighing 185 pounds I slowly turned my 6-pack into a beer belly.  Instead of going back to running I just started buying larger size clothes.  Around 2011 my family and I were out shopping and my son wondered why the Under Armour mannequin had little bumps in its abs, to which my wife responded, “your dad had those before it’s called a 6-pack”. That was the moment of truth, yes, I am a retiree with a wife and kid but it does not mean I should just let my body go.  My son started telling me that I am fat and that was every time he sees my belly. “Daddy you’re getting fat.”

 I started running again and trained for the San Francisco Marathon in 2012 which I dedicated to my high school friend who two years ago, passed away from cancer.  I haven’t stopped running since then and in 2013 I finished seven 100-mile races in one year.  I would spend all of my weekends running in the mountains.  If I am home early, I would run at 3 in the morning and come home only around the time my wife is ready to leave for work.  Vacations are around my races, which I rationalized as “we are on vacation” but in fact I am not there to spend it with the 2 of them. I rarely see both of them and looking back I missed a lot of activities because when they both reminisce about certain activities, I was not part of it. 

 
 My goal moving forward is more family time than training.  I have cut my workout time to one hour every day and weekends are quality time for my wife and son.  No more long runs that take up all of Saturday and Sunday and then missing all the activities that they both have planned. I will still run 100 mile races but it should not be a burden to my family.  In the last several years my family gave up a lot more for this hobby than I gave back to them

By Giovanni Guevarra