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Running Half Marathon Almost Like Bonding

Mar 10, 2016 10:01AM ● By Bryan Scott

By Greg James | [email protected]

South Valley - In what started as an accident, a 10-year-old Herriman boy and his father developed a love for something they can do together. 

“We are not hard-core runners. We run for fun. I was joking with my wife that if he would sign up it would force me to train with a purpose. He was listening in the other room and came running in and said OK. In mid-December we started training,” Brad Millet said.

Canon, a fifth-grader at Foothills Elementary, began his training in the coldest month of the year. After a couple of weeks of hard work, Brad signed them up to run the St. George Half Marathon and 5K on Jan. 16. 

It was Canon’s first organized racing event. He finished first in his age group and fourth amongst boys 14 and under. 

“We just wanted to log the distance and a good pace. His last three miles were his fastest. We had been talking the entire time and I had not paid attention to our pace. I enjoyed talking to him. At the 10-mile mark I mentioned this was his personal best in distance and time and he asked if we could go faster. I think we could have gone faster all along,” Millet said.

Canon finished the 13.1 mile course in 1 hour 57 minutes and 49 seconds. His father came in less than two seconds faster.

“It is hard to relate to your kids sometimes. When we are running together we have a captive audience on both sides and we can talk about things. One time he told me it was almost like ‘bonding.’ We had some fun experiences together,” Millett said. “During the half, we were coming up on a group of middle-aged women and Canon said to me, ‘I have been reading about hormones and I was wondering all about that.’ In my social awkwardness we made it through talking about that for a half mile or so.”

Canon’s sisters, Addie, 9, and Kate, 6, ran the 5K with their mother Joanne. Brad said he thinks it has started a sibling rivalry and Addie may want to try her hand at a half marathon soon.

Training three times a week, sometimes in very cold temperatures, was difficult, but Canon never seemed to be discouraged.

“He liked the idea of being tough. The hardest part was the cold and wind. One time he told me it was hard and we talked about how training is learning to put up with the hard stuff and getting over it. He really did not complain,” Millett said.

They plan to train and schedule another half marathon this year.

“I would like to run a marathon in the fall and I am sure he could handle it, but I do not want to spoil it. We were told he could win his age group, but that was never our goal. We just wanted to do it together and have an adventure,” Millett said.