Thanks to a powerful cocktail of ignorance and refusal to accept my own physical decline, I am locked in a race that 100% end up having to give my son $1,000.
Here’s the short version: Four years ago, I told my son that I would give him this amount if he beat me in a running race. Since then we have been running.
I did this because I thought it was funny. I did this because I’m an idiot. It was a journey, and I learned a lot. To be a dad. About what it feels like to realize your body is crumbling into a pile of ash and dust.
Now for the long version.
The year was 2019. My then 6 year old son, obsessed with Pokémon cards, was desperately trying to earn money to buy packs at the local Kmart. Clearly this presented some sort of learning opportunity, but my wife and I had no idea how to proceed. Was he too young for an allowance? Is an allowance even a good idea for kids these days? We weren’t sure.
I had a “moment of clarity”. How about, I suggested, our two sons “winning” money if they set bold goals, fight for them, and eventually achieve them? Any type of objective was eligible: academic, sporting, artistic. As long as the pursuit pushed the boundaries, it was worth a reward. It was a system designed to teach resilience, the importance of goal setting, hard work – all of those good things.
Great idea, my wife agreed. Let’s do it.
We have built a crude reward system that works on a large scale. If the task was easily achievable, the reward was less. At age 6, he earned $5, for example, for learning to spell his favorite word, “dragon.” A month later, after weeks of training, he won $20 for performing a backflip on a trampoline. Very impressive, I thought. Wonderful parenting. I’m very well, my darling.
But very quickly, my son asked me a question that has haunted me ever since.
“How much if I beat you in a race, dad?” »
A bit of context here. My son is fast. He was always fast. He learned to walk at 10 months and a month later he could run. Properly run. Friends, neighbours, strangers to the park commented: “He’s fast, isn’t he? “He’s really coordinated.”
Me, beaming with pride: “He got that from his dad.
More context. I’m also fast. At least I was fast. In a childhood filled with impromptu races, I don’t remember losing a sprint once. In high school I became a sports champion after winning the 100 meters, 200 meters, high jump And Long jump.
It was a very long time ago. I’m 40 now, still in decent shape – although less explosive with a swollen right knee. But in my imagination, I’m still that 15-year-old kid, leaping past competitors like a pasty Scottish gazelle.
“Dad, how much?”
“$1,000,” I replied. “I’ll give you a thousand dollars if you ever beat me in a race. You’ll never beat me. Never. I’ll come out of my deathbed to beat you.”
But there is no way. No fucking way. This motherfucker will have to kill me before he beats me in a running race.
1998, Lesmahagow high school sports champion. Look at this shit.
Winner of the 100 AND 200 meter sprint.
— Mark Serrels (@Serrels) June 27, 2019
His eyes lit up.
“$1,000? he muttered, almost to himself, trying to parse that impossible number with childlike wonder. Or calculate how many Pokémon boosters it would earn him.
“It’s true,” I said again.
“One thousand dollars.”
you are next
I thought – I hoped, I dreamed – that he might forget about our little deal. He has not forgotten.
In the meantime, my son has also negotiated a race with my wife, his mother. One with slightly lower stakes, $20.
And thank God for that. About a month later, just before bath time, my son challenged my wife to an official race. She’s not really a sprinter, but she fought. In the last 10 meters, my son dropped the hammer. He sailed to victory. At 6 years old, he was the second fastest person in our house.
I will never forget what happened next. He took my wife’s $20 bill and folded it neatly into his little dinosaur wallet. He turned and pointed at me with a determined little finger.
“You are next.”
let’s race
We fought steadily over the years, by a loosely understood set of rules. First, the distance had to be agreed in advance. Second, everyone had to understand that this was a real race for $1,000. He couldn’t use trickery or rush out without warning and claim he beat me. Third, it had to be a sprint. It couldn’t be like a half marathon or something — we’re talking 50 to 100 meters here.
I was 37 when I accepted this deal, still full of juice in the buttocks. For years I crushed it. I ran right ahead, making him feel like he was closer than he thought. I wanted him to have something to aim for, a reason to keep pushing himself.
He’s not my son. My son would smoke this kid.
Javier Pascual/EyeEm
And it worked. My son is lean and tanned, with leg pistons. It is absolutely fast. He lives every second of his life like he’s on Ninja Warrior, his flowing brown hair flapping as he moves from the kitchen to the garden and back again. In a way, I think, that challenge played a part in his development. I remember one day I was coaching his football team and he challenged me to a race after practice. His teammates joined me. I won, but my son was second by a considerable distance. No one else could follow him.
A little over a year ago, when my son turned 9, he made progress. We took a 5 kilometer (3 mile) jog on one of the trails near our house and noticed a difference. His steps were more determined, more coordinated. He seemed able to effortlessly maintain a pace he hadn’t been able to before.
I didn’t think of it. We hadn’t raced for over six months. I couldn’t even remember the last time he mention the $1,000. I was safe. Nothing to worry about.
Then, after a kick on the soccer field, he dropped the bomb.
“Let’s race,” he said.
I took a break.
“For the $1,000? »
“Yeah, for the $1,000.”
“I’m going to smoke you. You know that, don’t you?
“Maybe. But I want to try.”
Were out
We set it up. Serious business. His buddy counted down. I decided I wanted to teach him a lesson. I would go full power, full speed. Show him how far he was from defeating his old man.
Click. We were gone.
I sprinted as fast as I could. Normally, that meant breaking away from my son with relative ease. Not this time. Halfway through the race, I looked back to see how far ahead I was. This time my son was not behind me he was just next to me.
Literal nightmare scenario.
When the hell did he get so fast? I tried to accelerate but couldn’t – I was already blowing a joint, there was nothing left in the tank. I went into total panic mode. That little bastard might actually beat me.
In the end, I did. Barely. In what amounted to a 70 meter sprint, I beat him maybe half a meter? It was me running at full speed, without mercy.
I looked at my own son in disbelief. How did it happen? He was just a child. A 9-year-old kid who almost beat me in a running race. What the hell happened to me? Was he getting much faster or was I getting slower? It had to be a combination of the two.
That’s when I looked down and noticed: He wasn’t wearing shoes. He had been running barefoot all the time. My son had almost beaten me in a race without shoes.
What would have happened if he had put his sneakers back on? I don’t know. I do not want to know.
Mortality
On some level, I knew it was inevitable. I knew my son would go faster as I got slower. That the lines drawn on this graph would one day intersect, but this race – this hellish race – was shooting at twin blind spots in my parental psyche.
First, the refusal to accept the ravages of age. There’s a difference between knowing that your body is slowly breaking down and Really understand it. That’s why punch-drunk boxers come out of retirement for “one last fight.” In our minds, we are always at the peak of our powers. In our absolute peak.
Second part of this paradox: it is almost impossible to Really imagine our children growing up, aging like everyone else. In my head, I’m still the same teenager, galloping ahead of everyone at high speed. My son is also frozen in my imagination. He will always be my little boy, the 6-year-old boy spending entire weekends learning to do backflips on a trampoline.
Everyone ages all the time. This race is a physical manifestation of this great truth. Yesterday I was rocking my son to sleep in the middle of the night, today he almost beat me in the 70 meter sprint. Children are a living, breathing reminder of time passing. And our own mortality.
But today my inevitable defeat feels even more inevitable. I thought I had a few more years. I’m probably a few months old. Tops.
I thought I was two more years old. At this rate I would have maybe 2 months.
— Mark Serrels (@Serrels) February 3, 2022
Now my thoughts are focused on what I’m gonna do When he wins.
I have to give him the money, don’t I? It seems clear. But do I give him $100 in cash and put the remaining $900 into some sort of fund that he will receive when he turns 16? It was my first instinct, but it’s lame. Too much of a “dad move”.
My second instinct is “just give him the money”. Flat out give her every penny. Let him stuff $1,000 in his little dinosaur wallet and let the chips fall where they may. Whether he donates it to charity or blows it on Minecraft skins, it will be his choice. Maybe it will be a story he tells his own children, another one of those “teaching moments”.
Because at the end of the day, all I want is for my son – my wild, fast grandson – to learn to live with the consequences of his own choices.
Just like his dear old dad.
Create a Facebook account 2022
Anyone can Create a new Facebook account. if you want Create a Facebook account
or configure it, see this guide. Here you will find step-by-step
instructions on how to set up a Facebook account in different ways, how
to get a Facebook page for your business.
Advantages of creating a Facebook account
It’s
no secret that Facebook is one of the biggest social media platforms
today, it is dominating the social media market where you can find all
your friends, relatives and colleagues, follow the content you want and
reach the celebrities who know you. . , in short, Facebook offers the
following features:
Meet new people on social media.
Share photos, videos and moments.
Find local events.
Perfect game collection to spend your free time.
Watch live and important videos.
Buying and selling from within the Facebook app.
Good notification system for all updates.
Create a new Facebook account without a phone number
naturally, How to create a Facebook account
Very simple, almost all users know, simple and not at all
complicated, but one of the requirements to create your personal
Facebook account is that you have a phone number to confirm it. account
when you create it, but to the delight of some users, you can Create Facebook account without a phone number easily through your android phone.
How to Create a New Facebook Account Without a Phone Number
Facebook
It is a social and business website for some users, but when you have a
personal Facebook account and you have some business and you want
customers to connect with you on Facebook, you should not provide your
personal account to protect privacy and not . frequently throughout the
day, so you will have to Create a Facebook account another to
receive your orders. And some people want another Facebook account just
to hang out with friends. Let’s learn together How to Create a Facebook Account Without a Phone Number in the next paragraph.
How to Create a New Facebook Account Without a Phone Number
necessary process Create a Facebook account
Not tied to a phone number You have an Android phone and it just needs
to be an Android phone. Then follow these steps to create an account on
your phone without the help of a laptop:
Access the Google Play Store.
Find Facebook Lite Facebook.
Then download and install the app on your phone.
Open the app and choose the language that suits you best.
Click Create New Account.
Then fill in your first and last name.
When you reach the phone number step, you will find the registration via email at the bottom of the screen.
Click to register via email.
Type your e-mail.
Then click next and wait for the activation code to be sent to your email.
Then add the activation code.
Fill in the registration information.
The second way to create a new Facebook account without a phone number
There are many ways To create a Facebook account
No need for a phone number to sign up for an account. One of the ways
is to use a number that is different from your personal number, like
using a fake number from the Internet, and you can find many
applications in the Google Play Store that provide this service, and it
is a service that creates Americans, for example, or numbers that Brits
must activate social media accounts like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram
and other social media sites. With these apps you can create an account
on any app and get a fake number with which you can easily create an
account on the Facebook social networking platform and associate the
fake phone number with that account.
imperfections Create a new Facebook account without a phone number
Activating a Facebook account with a fake number has disadvantages and
harms, mainly losing your account in an application that provides a
service to create fake numbers. You are from Facebook on your phone
number, in this case you cannot receive the code because you do not have
a dummy account. Or because Facebook has received many complaints
about your personal Facebook account and wants to verify the credibility
of the account holder by sending a code on your phone or on the number
you linked to the account, here in this case we are talking about fake
numbers.
Configure your Facebook profile
If you are new to this social networking platform then… Create a Facebook profile It can be stressful for you. So here are some tips to help you get started with Facebook:
Add
a Profile Photo – You should add your photo first so your friends and
acquaintances can easily identify you and send you friend requests.
ADD
SOME FRIENDS – Start looking for your friends and send them friend
requests, but make sure not to overdo it, as this can block your FB
account or get Facebook arrested.
Privacy settings – Create a new Facebook account
one thing and managing it is another; Understand your privacy settings
before posting too much personal information on Facebook. It’s
important to know how you share your personal information with others
and with the Facebook app so you don’t run into privacy issues.
Important
tip – If you are using a Facebook account on a public network, never
share your password with anyone. Also, do not enter the wrong password
multiple times as this will deactivate your Facebook account.
Are you having trouble logging into your Facebook account?
If you are unable to log in to your Facebook account, you can recover it by following these steps:
Try to recover your Facebook account
If you find that your password is invalid or missing, try resetting it.
If
you’re having problems with your email, username or phone number, try
logging into your account with an alternate email or phone number.
If
you signed up for a Facebook account via email, you’ll need to contact
your email service provider to access your Facebook account email to
sign in.
Reasons why Facebook account fails
You
will only see a message that your account is disabled when you try to
log in. If you don’t see this message, you have another problem logging
in. Your Facebook account can be disabled for many reasons. some
examples:
Posting content that doesn’t follow Facebook’s terms.
Using a fake name.
Personify someone.
Continue to engage in behavior that isn’t allowed on Facebook and that violates our Community Guidelines.
Contact others for promotional, advertising, abusive or harassing purposes.
How to create a new Facebook account
if you want it now Create a new Facebook account Using your phone number instead of your email address, you need to follow these steps:
Go to facebook.com and click Create New Account.
Enter your telephone number and other personal information requested in the “Registration” form; Click “Login” when finished.
Enter
the verification code you received on your mobile number and click
Continue. That’s all you need to do to set up a new Facebook account
with your phone number.
distance Create a Facebook account newYou
can manage your account settings and keep it private or open to the
public. For further use, just enter your email address/phone number and
password when creating your account to login your Facebook account.
How to Create a New Facebook Account on Your Computer
Here we will learn how to create a new Facebook gmail account on computer, and here are the necessary steps:
Click Create New Account.
After that, a window will appear where you need to enter:
Your first and middle name.
Your gmail (which we created earlier).
Account password.
After completing these steps, you have to click on Create a Facebook account.
After that, a window will appear asking you to confirm the email as follows:
All
you have to do is go to your email inbox and you will find a message
from Facebook, you have two options, click on the blue confirmation
option or copy the confirmation code and add it to the previous window.
Facebook account verification without number
After entering the code, click Confirm below.
so you did Create a new Facebook account on Gmail.
Create a Facebook account on your phone
When using your phone to create a new Facebook Gmail account, you must first Download the Facebook app from Google Play
If you are using a phone with limited specs, not enough storage space
or don’t want to consume your internet package quickly. Facebook Lite
is the right app. Now, let’s start explaining:
Open the Facebook app.
Click Create a new account and grant it to Facebook Permissions to complete account creation.
In the next window, click on the Next option to start creating a new email account on your phone.
Enter your name and tap Next, select your date of birth by month, day and year and tap Next again to go to the next step.
Select your gender and click Next.
In
the next step you will be asked to enter a phone number but we are
creating a new facebook gmail account without phone number or email so
you should choose email login option. Then enter your email and click
next.
After
that, you must enter your password, then a window will appear to
confirm the registration process, just click on the “Register” option.
In the Save Login Information window, you can save the information in an application Facebook So that you can access your account easily next time.
After that you will be ready Create a new Facebook account.