Fast Running Blog

came home last week, having run the second fastest time in her class for the mile (8:15).  Of course some 9-year-old boy blew the field away with like a 6:45.  I'd love to hear what some of your children or nephews/nieces have accomplished...not that we parents get proud or anything. 

I took my 3 year old niece for a 1/3 mile run. She finished in a little over 3 minutes, no stopping and talking completely normal the whole way. The topic of conversation, which she yelled most of the way: "You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man".

Not much compared to Sasha's kids though...

Wow that is awesome :)!

I don't have any nieces/nephews yet :( but soon I will! And I am intent on making them world class runners and living vicariously through them.


As far as youngsters go, I watched a 3rd grader (boy) run a 6:18 mile in gym class (though it was 4 laps of the track and arguably 9 meters short. SO it was probably more like 6:20 or 6:21. Best thing was he didn't even look tired afterwards. And he said he just runs because he loves it. Man I wish I had his gift!

Benjamin - 9 years old:

100 m - 17.7
half mile - 2:57
mile - 6:32
5 K - 21:12
10 K - 45:36

Jenny - just turned 8:

mile - 7:09
5 K - 24:01
10 K - 53:06

Julia - just turned 6

1 mile - 8:17
5 K - 31:12

Joseph - will be 4 in January

100 m - 34
0.34 - 3:46

Jacob - turned 2 in July

100 m - 50

Hey Sasha, just wondering how you get your kids to enjoy running so much? Do you let them come to you, or do you introduce them to it and try to make it a daily activity? Just curious, because I know that I want my kids to be into running too. Maybe just lead by example and one day they'll want to try to see what the big hooplah is about? Your kids are already amazing runners! phew!

My wife and I really didn't get into running until about a year ago.  Once a week or so we go down to the high school track together with the entire family.  It's our only opportunity to run together unless we get a babysitter.  There is a jungle gym next to the track, yet over time we've noticed our girls just wanting to join in...some of them more than others.  Last Spring our 2-year-old angrily ran her first lap, furious that nobody would wait up for her.  By her fifth lap (done without stopping once), she was proud of the attention being received.  Every individual's different, yet for our family, example is the most powerful influence.  Also, I have a friend who played TE in the NFL.  He has 4 girls and a boy.  None of them played organized sports until high school (although all of our peers said it would be a terrible strike against them...they'll be so far behind...if you're not playing organized t-ball by age four you'll never catch up, etc.).  His girls all dominated h.s. tennis and 2 of them received college scholarships. 

Great to see active kids!  My 9-year old son recently ran a couple of 1M races and finished them in around 8:15 pace as well!  Pretty cool to see kids running this distance.  My 6-year old ran a 0.75M race about a month ago and finished 5th with a time of about  minutes.  Both kids ran the whole time while most the kids around them did the "go out hard, then fade and walk, then repeat" approach. 

My 11-year son old just announced that he wants to run a 5K race with me. I better get him doing some training. My 6-year old daughter then said that she wanted to do it too. I better get them both outside and see what they can do. But they both seem to want to race but not train. I better disabuse them of that notion.

Enjoy is perhaps the wrong word. Other than Benjamin, everybody complains here and there. Benjamin is more competitive than others and knows that if he does not run he does not win. He used to complain as well when he was younger, but after a couple of races where he was beating adults running almost in between their legs he came to a realization that the drudgery of training was worth the prize.

We set an expectation of a daily run for all kids once they reach the age of 4. The same way we expect them to do their school work, practice the piano, or clean their room. We do not go out of our way to make it fun, or at least do not reduce the expectations when meeting them stops being fun. We do, however, offer elaborate incentives for running performances.

Work does not have to be a daily flow of fun. We work regardless, try to make it fun as we go, but if we cannot, we still do the same amount of work. Let the fun come at payday when it is time to race.

Now we'll see how all these kids react when they become teenagers...  ;)

I think it helped me get into running more as a teenager. Now, my parents didn't have us go out and run everyday, but everyday we knew our mom was out exercising and our dad was out doing Army PT, so if we weren't doing something during the day too, we were behind. Sometimes we would get to go to the track with them, and they would also display their patches on the wall at home (there was a system going on at the time where we were living that gave out patches for every 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 miles of training). We thought that was so amazing and we were encouraged to get our own. We were encouraged to go out and run/bike to the store, or to a friends house instead of getting a ride. I hardly ever got a ride to school (which I hated at the time). Years later when I started running XC in high school, I would go to the same track I went to as a 5 year old and feel grateful that I wasn't completely oblivious to running.

I think anything parents can get their kids involved in is wonderful. I always joke that our kids are growing up on a running farm. We don't have a farm to teach them to work but we can take them out for a jog every day. It was really overwhelming to me at first when Sasha wanted the kids to do it everyday. I came from a family where we were taught to work with household things like vacuuming and dishes (which are children help out with too). I don't think our kids will rebel when they are older. I think when they are old enough to be on the track team at school they will love that they have already developed a talent and will enjoy the social aspect of running with a team.

I bet they'll start giving dad a run for his money during those teen years (running wise).  They may need some time to approach his marathon accomplishments, but look out for those 5k pr's.   :)

Yeah, felt good to throw down one of those "smileys".  ;D

Yeah, Sasha will have a real eye-opener when Benjamin beats him at a 5k...  I still remember how hard it was on my dad when I first beat him.  ;D

If I do not do something to fix the neural drive, he will beat me in 5 years in a 5 K.

It is my goal to be beaten by as few kids as possible.  Benjamin can already do it and at the Heart of Holladay 5K I was really worried Jennifer just might. ;)

Oh..we hope so..doesn't every parent hope that their child will be better than them, more patient, smarter, kinder..and yes....faster...it would be our fondest dream to see them accomplish much more than we have been able to. I think that is what parenting is all about..giving your kids more..of everything..not just material but building on the talents you have and accomplishing better things. I throw down a smily too :D

Alexander is my son, he is 11 years old, he runs under the blog name of "Falcon". He started running semi-seriously when he turned 9. He runs everything from the 100 meter to half marathon. He mainly runs 3K's in kid races, quite a few 5K's, has run 3 or 4 10K's and the one half marathon. He has done different events at track, but likes cross-country and road races more. He isnt too fast sprinting although his best in the 100 is 14.49, 400 is 1:10, 800 is 2:35, mile is 6:02, 3K is 11:17, 5K is 19:45, 10K is 43:37, 1/2 marathon is 1:37:00. The half marathon was in Salt Lake last April. I will only let him run one half marathon a year. He loves running on trails. Has good running skills but battles with any pain, tiredness and mental stuff in running. Just starting to become more competitive now. He mainly just loves to run for fun. He likes to improve. He likes to beat older kids at times. He loves to train with other kids at times. The only time I beat him since then in a 5K was when he was sick. He does alot of other sports which I think at this age provides good balance. Sports is dependant on school first which he is currently an "A" student.

Wow...Alexander has a bright running future in front of him.  Seems like you're taking a very healthy approach.  How does he compare with dad?

I was a decent 2 miler in high school, but didnt run much after that, I did more long distance hiking after that. I really started running again because my son liked it and realizing I needed the health benefits. Being 44 years older than him Ill never be able to compete with him although I hope to improve for myself. Its just a fun father and son thing, we really like the trail running together

Great to see such a healthy father/son outlet!

Felt the need to brag again.  My 4-year-old just ran a 3k (1.9 miles, I think) in 24 minutes.  Awfully cute, definitely proud!