How Video Games Enabled Our Son to Run a 5:52 Mile

He did it! Hunter ran his first sub-6-minute mile. As I witnessed it - it was not easy for him, but he did it. Three months ago he was not in a condition to run an eight-minute mile, but he just accomplished something he’s never done before. It all started about three months ago…

It was the spring of 2018 and my wife, and I were sick and tired of the amount of time our oldest son was spending playing video games. He would often sleep until 1 or 2 PM on Saturdays because he stayed up playing games until 2 or 3 in the morning.

Driven to break this habit we tried several different approaches like limiting the amount of time he was allowed to play each day as well as other things but couldn’t find one that consistently worked. He always seemed to gravitate back to the game especially when we were not there to monitor him.

Growing up in the 80’s, I’m not a big fan of video games. Yes, I played my fair share of Pac-man, Space Invaders, and Frogger, but times were different. In the summer my parents would lock the door behind us in the morning as we left to play sandlot baseball, street football or driveway hoops, but we were okay with that, and if we got thirsty we drank out of the hose. After all, we didn’t know any different.

In the early 90’s, I was a summer camp counselor at our local church and was responsible for the field sports program. This was when I first became aware of what I refer to as the Nintendo Generation.

As my job consisted of organizing field sports like kickball, capture the flag and other outside games, it quickly became aware to me that the generation of kids that I was leading was entirely different than my age.

“Mr. Andrew, Mr. Andrew, can we go inside now?” asked one of the campers.

“No, we’ve only been out here 10 minutes, this session lasts an hour,” I replied.

“It’s so hot! We need air-conditioning,” he pleaded.

“You’ll be fine,” I promised.

I couldn’t figure out, in the ten years that separated our generations, how our views on exercise and outside being so different.

Then it hit me. I noticed that many of the campers were carrying around these little handheld video game devices called Game Boy by Nintendo. It seemed to be all they talked about, and it was hard getting their attention while they were playing on it. Nintendo had created a legal crack for preteens, and it was called Game Boy.

I began referring to kids that spent more time playing video games than playing sports as the Nintendo generation.

It’s not that I’m against video games, I am just against playing them every waking moment at the expense of exercise.

In an attempt to ensure that our kids did not become members of the Nintendo generation, I came up with an idea and decided to pitch it to my wife, Lisa.

I proposed that in our house, effective immediately, video game time (just like money) would have to be earned. I set the exchange rate for each mile run = 30 minutes of video game time. I put no limit on the number of miles our son could run in a day, so I technically the only limit to the amount of time he played was based on his decision of how far he choose to run that day.

The first couple of days that we implemented the new household legislation, it didn’t go over very well. Hunter got frustrated and refused to run at all. He started experiencing heavy withdrawal symptoms that included anxiety, sweating, vomiting, depression, hallucinations, and a nasty attitude. Ok, so maybe I made up some of those withdrawn symptoms, but he definitely had a bad attitude.

Instead of choosing to run so he could play games, he decided to boycott the new program and instead choose to spend that time sleeping. Although that wasn’t what I wanted, it was still probably better than him spending time playing video games. I honestly believe he thought that we would eventually cave or forget about the new rules, but that didn’t happen, and we strictly enforced the new rules.

Eventually, Hunter came around, and the temptation of playing games was just too much. He decided he would give running a shot. A born negotiator, his first question for me was how much credit would he get for his soccer practices and games that he participated each week.

Since the overall goal of the new program was to get him exercising, I thought about his concern and decided that it was valid. I decided to give him one hour credit each day he had a practice or a game.

I also decided to add another incentive so on Fridays, weekends or holidays he would earn double time (1 hour) for each mile he ran.

Although I’ll never be excited about our son playing 10 hours of video games, you can rest assured that I am super excited about him running the 10 miles it took him to earn it.

I don’t think I would go as far as to say that Hunter is excited to run, but he was excited when he finished second in his first 10K back in the spring and when he finished 3rd in his first 10-mile race.

Hunter’s goal now is to become the youngest in our family to complete a marathon. His sister, Allyssa, ran her first last year at age 16. He is now registered and training for The Houston-Chevron Marathon, his first, in January 2019. He will be 15 years old at the time of the run. He often runs with our running club, Volte Endurance, on Saturday mornings in The Woodlands.

You may wonder why I choose running. I decided running because I am an avid runner and was one in high school. I was a member of our cross country team and ran my first marathon (26.2 miles) when I was 17 years old. I see the same similar frame and natural gifts that I had at his age, so I wanted to encourage him in something that he could excel. Also, you can’t cheat when running. In a race, everyone has to go the same distance. A six-minute mile is just as far as a ten-minute mile. If you choose to run fast, then you will finish sooner, but if you decide to run slower, then it won’t be as uncomfortable.