7th grade girl runs 16:43 5K

I bet an money, and no I am not a hater, that this girl will suffer later in life. Doing 50 mpw at age 13 is sick. Not to mention she is probably wrecking her body and will never grow or develop. If I were her, I would take a year off, and focus on high school. No one cares what a middle schooler runs! She should go put on some glitter makeup and play truth or dare or some crap like that, not peak at age 13!

You just hit the nail right on the head. Is she fast right now? Yes. But she won't continue to be for much longer.

Everyone is making comments as to how she will break all kinds of records in high school. I would simply be suprised if she runs in high school, especially her junior and senior year.

Sad thoughts, but my money is that she'll burn out in the next year or two.

i wouldnt be so quick to say that. its not like she is overly developed......as was Webb, who many thought would burn out because of his adult body as a high schooler. she looks like she can stand to mature more physically, and will be just fine.

First, 50mpw at 13 is fine. Remember the movie with Geb running 70+mpw when he was 8? And James Kwalia (Renato's sub13 junior) ran 100+ mpw in his preteen years.

50mpw is fine so long as 1.) she didn't get up there too quickly, 2.) she keeps the overall intensity low and 3.) she stays off of hard surfaces as much she can.

That being said, it's likely that rule #2 is being violated, but let's hope otherwise.

Pretty damn impressive. Wanna bet she doesn't have blisters on her fingers from her SP and PS2?

Did they count the laps right?????????

the article says she was doing 50 miles per week as an 11 year old, what is she doing now at 13?

Like every girl who runs fast in middle school, she'll grow hips and boobs by the time high school is over and run just as fast as every other girl.

In case you didn't click on the link and read the caption, the girl who held the record previously was Cathy Schiro, otherwise known as Cathy O'Brien. Maybe some of you might have heard of her. She did a fair amount of running when she was younger, and she turned out to be ok later on as well.

A lot of people find 50 mpw astonishing for a girl this young because they are running the same or no much more.

Come on people, that's 7 miles a day. You don't think a 16:45 runner can hack 7 a day?

I ran 55 mpw for awhile in 7th grade (age 12), and yes I am male, but I also had a paper route, and swim practice at night.

Days went like this:

6AM: Wake, walk 1 mile to school

7AM: Run 2-4 miles w/running club (thrice a week)

8-3PM: School

3:30-4:30: Paper Route (3 miles of walking)

4:30: 4-8 miles running (most days- 14 on Sunday)

6:00-7:30 swim practice (thrice a week)

8:00 eat

I was 5'0" and 76 pounds at my lightest that year. Got down to 39 for 10k and 1:45 for 25km, had planned to run RevCo Cleveland Marathon, but it fell through for some reason. I think I lost my ride or something.

It was very hard and I have to say that I didn't keep this schedule for longer than 6 months, but the point is that I did keep it. 50 mpw is not damaging.

I'd be more concerned if she actually did 2:15 in that 800m.

How much were you running when you first could do 16:45 on the track? I was running 60-70 for certain.

I forgot to mention that I was running or walking at least 15 miles a day on M, W, Fri.

1 to school

3-4 at running club

1 to home

3 on paper route

4-8 on PM run

I definitely don't reccomend it, as i was tired all the time, but it is not child abuse ....

Dead Rabbit wrote:

Like every girl who runs fast in middle school, she'll grow hips and boobs by the time high school is over and run just as fast as every other girl.

Just like Nicole Blood right? Oh wait, she's still fast... Briana has been running and racing for YEARS and from the very beginning, people have been saying she'll slow down soon. I really really admire the girl. She actually runs for fun and enjoys every moment of it out there. She was quoted as saying she ran her Millrose 800m for fun, and she ran a mile or 1500m either the day before or two days before. It's pretty obvious a 2:27 was a nice easy race for her since her first 800m today was in 2:30. I think her father really knows what he's doing and in all honesty is probably limiting her (so she doesn't get hurt), rather than pushing her as so many of you think. Until she gets hurt (and I hope she never does), you should all keep your mouths shut about this "too much too soon" stuff.

There was another young 5k sensation in that race. Stepahnie Smith is an 8th grader, who won Canadian Junior Nationals last year (grade 7) and bronze at these same championships the year before (grade 6). Anybody know what she ran in that race.

I don't think 50mpw is too much as long as she isn't injured and she wants to do it. But the idea that she will be smashing records in high school might be premature until we get to see how puberty works out for her. It seems to me that you can't judge how good a girl will be until she has some hips. I've seen a lot of very good young girls slow down a lot once they are fully grown. This girl sounds like a stud though, it's pretty humbling to know a 7th grade girl isn't far off my 5k outdoor pr!

There was another young 5k sensation in that race. Stepahnie Smith is an 8th grader, who won Canadian Junior Nationals last year (grade 7) and bronze at these same championships the year before (grade 6). Anybody know what she ran in that race.

For me, there is the story behind the story. I have witnessed this dad, when the girls were much younger(I believe she was 5 at this time), yell and scream at his daughters while he was about 10 yards ahead, in 3 summer x-country races, which were run in extremely hot and humid conditions. In the first 2 races, one of the girls was crying on the second loop. It was the younger of the 2, Briana.

As a dad, I found this action to be somewhat unusual, and certainly not a traditional supportive role for a parent.

Unfortunately, this incident esclated to a degree that resulted in legal action, and a changing of the age requirements for these races. I won't bore you with all of the other details, but I learned so much from my involvement, especially how to approach my daughters about running, and sport in general.

I have no idea whether this girl is running for fun now. I can only tell you what I experienced back then. I just hope she is truly happy with her running and is able to continue to excel.

Rick

Check her picture out on Dyestat. Sounds like you're the only one crying Rick.

he's just toughening her up, teaching her the value of hard work and excellence.

im not sure what to think about this now. his older daughter had two surgeries for running related injuries.