It runs in the family

It has recently come to my attention that not all families are running families.  In fact, some families are not sports families at all.  I know this may be hard to believe, but not everyone plans their weekends around their training/racing schedule.  Some people have other things to discuss when they get together besides their latest PRs and goal race times. Some people don't count mileage obsessively and take days off from running once in a while.  None of these "other people" are in my family, of course, but I do hear that they exist.

I have actually begun to worry lately about what would happen if my kids decide they don't like to run when they grow up.  What would we talk about? Around what would we plan our family vacations? And I can't even begin to think how we would start every holiday if we didn't have a fun run to attend.  Almost as far back as I can remember, my family has been runners.  We ran on teams when we were younger, and run socially as adults. Naturally we have other interests as well, but we have bonded over running.  We grew up spending summers at track meets, falls at cross-country, and winters training.  Several of us ran in college, and have then worked as high school track coaches.  We have persuaded my dad, who tried to convince us that he was non-competitive, to compete in road races and run relays with us.  Even my mom, who probably doesn't consider herself a runner, is such a fixture cheering on the sidelines that she is cemented firmly in most of my running memories, and can probably talk about running more knowledgeably than a lot of runners.  We cheer for each other, we compare training logs, we get together to run races, and even try to beat each other.  Talk about quality family time.  I try to imagine growing up without running and I imagine a lot of sitting around staring at each other.  What do non-runners do?

Should my kids decide to pursue other activities besides running,  I will love and support them anyway. I just can't imagine why they would want to do anything else.