Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

Ultrarunning and Life’s Lessons

Continuing on in this series of lessons learned by my daddy when he was a triathlete and ultrarunner, this next lesson made me giggle out loud.

But I get it.

The lesson is:

“Apply Vaseline to your armpits and thighs,” and other sensitive places.

Triathletes and ultrarunners probably think they are tough. And they probably are tougher than the average bear.

But there is no reason to be tough when you don’t have to be.

I think rubbing your armpits and thighs till they get super red probably hurts a lot.

And putting on some Vaseline gooey BEFORE the event can prevent that.

Makes sense.

I think the lesson here is to think ahead. Take care of the details before so that the details don’t ruin you or your race.

Us girls have other places that might need Vaseline, too! I wanted to tell Daddy this but he doesn’t do these super runs anymore.

And besides, I don’t think he is teaching me how to run. He is teaching me to learn lessons about living a long life from running these long events.

Vaseline – this one makes sense.

I wonder what other details might be overlooked.

Wait – that’s it. It’s not about Vaseline. It’s about paying attention to details. And this is just one of them.

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.