Anyone think it's crazy these HSers are flying to meet after meet. Oregon Relays, Florida Relays, Arcadia, etc.

Im a dad to a very good runner. We can't afford to travel to any of these out of town meets. They get such widespread attention that it's easy to feel like we are missing out. However, im really proud of how level headed my daughter is. She reminds ME that a 400 meter track is a 400 meter regardless of what state it is in and that the hardest competition is the clock and herself and not the person in the lane next to her. It is a good mindset - these meets are fun...Do a couple a season if you are able but I don't think they make or break a top runner. The post season ones seem to be most worth it in our eyes.

No need since college coaches are in L.A. from Mar to May anyways and you can run each weekend at some huge meet always in good LA. weather.

It's kind of wild to me.

If you told the kids, hey, "You can go to Oregon or you can have $1,000" which do you think they'd take.

How much is it per kid, per race? A minimum of $500, right?

How about a compromise - one travel trip per year?

How about if your son had already been in the Olympics? Would you really just buy him an iPad instead of taking him to some meets?

Parents: Your child doesn't need to go to any of these events. Your kid's time in Delaware still is valid on milesplit. What you need to do is just have the coach host an arcadia-style regional meet in your own location. Get pace setters, maybe even get those pacer lights setup (still cheaper than flying all around to big meets).

With the price of gas,.plane tickets are probably cheaper than a a road trip..Besides, virtual participation through online meets will never be popular. Speaking of the environment, if US government spent the money they wasted on a war and a trip to the moon, every athlete in every country could fly to every meet for years to come. This is why we can't have nice things.

Competition is important for developing athletes. When my daughter was first starting out, the game was to get fast enough seed times to get into local invitationals. It took about a month for her to improve to the point where there was no competition in the weekday meets. The good kids don't run them. It took a full year to get to the point where local invitationals were only good sometimes. The good local kids only run them selectively and are out of town when they can get a better meet. Now, another year later, my daughter is #2 in the city and the #1 girl is 15 seconds faster than everyone else. In order to get a competitive meet locally, my daughter calls her friends in the city to find out what event they are running and tries to lobby everyone to get in the same event so it is stacked. That would have been great a year ago but now it would be just her setting the pace for everyone else. It's also quite difficult to get everyone to agree to do the same event because each of their coaches has a different plan for their athletes so you end up with everyone diluted across the 800, 1600, 3200, or just skipping the meet and training through for something out of town.

Now imagine that except you are a kid who is top 20 in the nation. We have one of the top milers in the country at our school and the kid hasn't had any local competition in at least two years. He only races a couple times a year locally because it's just him way out front doing a solo time trial.

The other issue here is that we rarely have good weather conditions, in the early part of the season it is super windy and in the later part of the season it is super hot. Try finding a good 3200m opportunity in that case. Last year on this weekend my daughter was running a 3200m in 100 degree heat against her teammate and lapping the rest of the field while missing her PR by 30 seconds. Meanwhile the people who traveled out of town are ripping 30 second PRs. Imagine if Colorado kids didn't have altitude converted times so everyone thought they were just much slower than they really are. That's what it is like running here. When people go outside (usually CA) they are 10 seconds faster in the 1600m.

I think the people who don't understand this issue never expired their local competition or they lived somewhere where the weather was usually mostly perfect.

I think it is a bit much but as a former fast Colorado High Schooler a sea level time is a big deal.

Granted, I am old but the fall of my junior year another runners parents explained recruiting, times, lists to us. The running internet was young but he made a good argument for a sea level time. I did one California meet junior year and my recruiting exploded over night (I ran a 17 second PR and ended up on some national lists).

Senior year Nike Outdoor told my coach no altitude adjustments would be accepted at the national meet and I needed to go run at sea level and get a time.

It is expensive but for these kids a 4:05 at sea level is a big deal for their recruitment.

You just described US middle and long distance running perfectly - Peak in HS, down hill from there

Yep, one of my daughters played in the ECNL soccer league. Games in South Carolina, San Diego, Texas, Seattle - and that was just in one spring season. She ended up playing at a mid-major D1 school and got significant money for athletics & academics. Once she was a senior in high school and secured her scholarship, she asked the coach that would be coaching her in college if she minded if she switched clubs to one that she didn't need to travel as much but still faced a high level of competition. He didn't care. Many coaches won't allow and may even rescind the offer.

She didn't play in the league in the hopes of a scholarship though that is the mindset of many parents and their kids. She did it to get the competition at the highest level. We also got to see a lot of the country.

I'm always looking for ways to spend quality time with my kids. Taking a few running vacations a year for a thousand or two thousand dollars sounds like heaven to me.

Wow. When I was in high school the only trip I went on was a biology field trip down the road.

Why are Americans so wealthy and glutenous?

Spoiled rotten? No, privileged yes.

You don't understand how it is at a school like Niwot with NIL now. Nike and the others basically backed up a Brinks truck there and unloaded money for all of them. And these aleady kids at one of the wealthiest suburbs in the country. Most of these families are millionaires. On top of that Rich Gonzo pays them all to come. Cash hand over fist here. Even 10:15 2-milers at a school like this are getting six figures. I mean, WTAF??

The bigger sports do it all the time.

Basketball equivalent is travel teams that send players all over and play them into the ground.

The top football teams are going to play other top teams in Texas/Hawaii/East Coast/California etc for a few weeks in the year.

Just got back from Oregon. Large public school in CA. Neither we (nor the school or district) had to pay anything for my daughter to go to the Relays other than footing the bill for some of her meals. The team does fundraising all year: things like working our cities marathon aid stations, hosting big track meets at home, donation drive once year, etc.

What they get out of it is positive team bonding experience and a memorable opportunity to race on an iconic track in front of big crowds against great competition.

As a runner myself, watching my daughter nail a huge PR at Hayward Field is pretty damn special. I’d happily make some financial sacrifices and pay out of pocket for her to go every year if I had to.

Good post...most people forget how much a team can fundraise. Some teams can fundraise up to $20,000 each year. I agree high schoolers shouldn't be traveling across the country for multiple meets, but one big trip to the Oregon relays, then to Arcadia? no big deal for them. Boosters, team fundraising can do great things for kids. I don't think most kids should be traveling frequently, but one big team trip can be really good for the team once a season, or once a year.

I think as long as they like it. Especially teams/relays as opposed to solo athlete. Let me tell you...do you remember being 16 y/o? My kids love getting on a plane together to fly somewhere to run as relay and stay in a hotel together etc... Its a great experience and certainly something that was far from my HS experience. The kids bunk up in rooms together, keep the parents at arms length. From what I see first hand, its a very memorable time.

I suspect for the super elite, solitary athlete that is flying all over to national meets its at least exhausting a bit. But as long as its their idea?

That sounds totally made up. You got any evidence to support that crazy claim that even very slow high school runners are being paid $100,000?