How Fortnite & YouTube Transformed Our Sons into Marathon Runners

They did it! Hunter, age 15, and his younger brother, Palmer, ran their first marathon. It was not easy for them, but they did it in 2019. Nine months ago neither of them were in a condition to run a 5K without stopping, let alone 26.2 miles (the distance of a full marathon), but they just accomplished something that neither of them has ever done before.

It all started about nine months ago… It was the spring of 2018 and my wife, Lisa, woke up at 4:45 AM to go to her Camp Gladiator class. She heard voices coming from the upstairs game room and believing that the TV was left on from the night before, she decided to go upstairs to investigate.

What she discovered angered both of us. She found our oldest son, Hunter, had been bingeing on Fortnite since he got home from school the previous day. We estimated that he had been on it for over 12 hours straight!

We 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 anything that worked consistently. He always seemed to gravitate back to the game especially when we were not there to monitor him.

Growing up in the ’80s, 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. We were okay with that; and, if thirsty we drank out of the hose. After all, we didn’t know any different.

In the early ’90s, I was a summer camp counselor at our local church and responsible for the field sports program. This experience introduced me to what I refer to as the "Nintendo Generation." My job consisted of organizing field sports like kickball, capture the flag and other outside games. It quickly became apparent to me that this new generation of kids was entirely different than mine.

“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 how a decade had severely separated our views on exercise and outdoor sports.

Then it hit me. I noticed many of the campers playing video games on little portable devices. It seemed to be all they talked about, and it was hard getting their attention while they held it.

Nintendo had created 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 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: Each mile run = 30 minutes of video game play. 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 chose 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 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 chose 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 we would eventually cave or forget about the new rules, but that didn’t happen, and we strictly enforced them.

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 he played each week.

Since the overall goal of the new program was to get him exercising, I thought about his concern and decided it was valid.

I gave him one hour credit each day he had a practice or a game. I also added another incentive so on Fridays, weekends or holidays he would earn double time (1 hour) for each mile he ran.

It wasn't too much after we started this program that we decided to enroll Hunter's younger brother, Palmer, as well. Although he didn't binge on Fortnight to the same level as his older brother, he would watch hours of basketball videos on YouTube.

Although I’ll never be excited about our sons playing 10 hours of video games or watching YouTube, you can rest assured that I am super happy about them running the 10 miles it took them to earn it.

I don’t think I would go as far as to say that either of our sons is excited to run, but Hunter was excited when he finished second in his age group in his first 10K back in the spring and when he finished 3rd in his first 10-mile race, and second in his first half-marathon. More recently he took first place in his age group in the 25K in downtown Houston. His brother, Palmer, finished second in the same run.

Hunter completed his first marathon, the Houston Marathon in January 2019 in 4 hours and 7 minutes. He was on track for about a 3:40 finish, but cramped up and had to walk some between miles 18-22. Hunter still managed to finish first in his age group. He also earned the title of the fastest marathoner by one of our kids by beating his older sister, Allyssa's Houston Marathon time, of 4 hours and 24 minutes from January 2018.

Unfortunately, he only held the title for a brief period, until his younger brother, Palmer, age 13, completed The Woodlands marathon six weeks later with a sub-four hour finish. Shocking myself and a few of my running buddies, he finished it in 3 hours and 57 minutes and took first place in his age group.

You may wonder why I choose to make them run instead of any other activity. I decided on 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 when I was 17 years old. I chose to do it at the time because I wanted to be part of the elite crowd that has actually finished a marathon (approximately 1 out of 200). I am still very proud of that accomplishment to this day and wanted my kids to share a similar experience. I want to give them something they can be proud of doing.

My boys possess similar frames and natural gifts that I had at their age. I want to encourage them to do something in which they can both naturally excel. Also, you can’t cheat when running. A six-minute mile is just as far as a ten-minute mile. If you choose to run fast, you will finish sooner. If you decide to run slower, you may be more comfortable during the race, but it will take longer to complete it.

In a race, everyone has to go the same distance.

I hope that running teaches my sons to invest their time in worthwhile endeavors, to do hard things and then enjoy a reward and never to stop challenging themselves beyond what they think they can accomplish.