- April 19, 2024
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Sometimes the bond between a father and son can lead to extraordinary feats.
Jim and Asher Ravede started running together when Asher was just about 5 years old, and a month ago Asher competed against just under 200 other runners and won Freedom Elementary’s Falcon 5K event in DeLand. It was just one of more than 80 5Ks Asher has competed in.
Jim Ravede says he has followed the advice of a cross country coach at an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University summer camp. “He said just let him run the 5ks when he wants too," Jim Ravede recalled, "and at his age just don’t train him because you’ll burn him out.”
Still, Asher chooses to eat healthy foods to stay prepared. He once refused to eat pretzels at a class party because of the salt.
Asher's motivation started with small goals. "At first, it was to beat dad," Jim Ravede said. "Soon enough we were on our last 10th of our mile, and I’m completely done, but he finishes on a wild sprint.”
Now, Asher has personal goals to reach certain times. On race day, the family encourages him.
“Even my wife is panicking and screaming her lungs out because she knows that there’s a clock, and she knows the time he’s aiming for because that’s what Asher takes his pride in during the race," Jim Ravede said. "If he reaches a time he was aiming for but finishes second or third, he’s happy. If he doesn’t get that time he was aiming for, no matter what he finishes, he’s not satisfied.”
Running has united Jim Ravede with his son, and that was part of the goal of running in the first place.
“This is something we wanted; we wanted that strong bond with our kids,” Ravede added. “I couldn’t ask for a better son. Sometimes I even feel like I want to be more like him, rather than him wanting to be more like me. I love the relationship I have with him.”
Asher is going to be competing next in the Fish stock 5k in New Smyrna on May 24, where over a thousand people have already entered to compete.
