Funny things parents yell to their kids in a meet

My favorite was a runner's father started yelling at his son to start kicking with 100 meters to go of the SEVENTH LAP of the 3200!

Needless to say, the son listens to his dad, kicks like hell, then realizes he has a mere 400 meters to go. Sigh.

mullethead326 wrote:

There aren't a whole lot of truly constructive things to say to runners competing. Splits only matter at predetermined points, place should be apparent and knowledge thereof doesn't help, and course features should already be known. "Dig deep," "keep going," and "you're doing great" are all pretty generic. So outside of those things, what are practical things for parents to yell to their kids?

Most of what you wrote is true. However, the underlined part I will answer with this:

At a large invitational in high school, I was in 11th. I had no idea I was in 11th. I usually didn't finish that high. But this meet was notorious for its mud pits and hay bales and ditches that had been filled over night. It was also just a nasty hot morning and had rained the past two days, so the entire course was a slop fest. All the above conditions at races are the races in which I finished highest. I guess I'm a mudder.

Well, my dad standing about 1/2 mile from the finish, just after the last big mud-filled ditch and telling me I was in 11th was a HUGE boost. I finished 9th and hoisted my MASSIVE trophy after the race.

At the Midwest Div. 3 regional last year Al Carius was running all over the course yelling "FIVE!". I must've seen him six or seven times and that was all he said, just "five! five! five!"

Actually it might've been at Oshkosh, I can't remember.

My dad never yelled anything at me...because he never came to a meet.

mullethead326 wrote:

There aren't a whole lot of truly constructive things to say to runners competing. Splits only matter at predetermined points, place should be apparent and knowledge thereof doesn't help, and course features should already be known. "Dig deep," "keep going," and "you're doing great" are all pretty generic. So outside of those things, what are practical things for parents to yell to their kids?

Well, I think most of us have seen races in which a kid, when informed that he's fifth man for the team, takes off like crazy. (Joe Newton has won a State meet or two in that situation, IIRC.) And the kid can't always know his/her team place, because sometimes teammates are well ahead, one dropped out, etc.

I recently witnessed a college conference championship meet in which a woman, who was already running "well up" (somewhere in the top third), was informed with about a mile to go that she was #5 for her team. She took off and ran a killer last mile, passed eight people (in a field of fewer than a hundred), and was the key factor in her team's two-point win.

"Use your arms"

"Breathe"

The Gray Zone wrote:

My dad never yelled anything at me...because he never came to a meet.

same lol

My Mom used to tell me to "run angry, get pissed!"

LOL. Thanks for that. I haven't laughed at a post in a long time.

I'm 13 years removed from when this happened, but I have to share it.

The whole story makes this so much more complete but here we go....

Turning the corner in an open field cross country race where you can see me from at least a mile away, and given I was in the top 3 of a duel meet....

My dad sees me and runs over and says "kid what are you doing?!.....you can get him! I might have a heart attack here, run him down I'll go up to the finish now!" (Kid what are you doing was said because he didn't think I'd be anywhere close to the top finnishers, heart attack reference was because he had heart conditions prior, but still sprinted top speed cutting the course to see my finish).

It was a weird moment for my dad to finally realize I was a decent runner but I started my trade-made ferocious kick that day that stayed with me for another five years. I still got 3rd, but I've alway been happy with that.

One of my friends used to think that people ran better when they were angry, so during races that he wasn't running, he would go over to someone with a mean look on his face and go, "Hey, _____, f*ck you! You suck!" in an effort to make them angry. He did it to me once in some low-key dual meet, and I laughed so hard I almost had to stop running.

I was once watching a low-key high school cross country meet, where one athlete was significantly better than the rest of the field. For whatever reason, this athlete decided to stay with the pack for the first mile, and was rather obviously not working very hard.

After the mile, the athlete picked it up noticeably, and only 1 other runner covered the move. About a half mile later, the star athlete still barely breathing, the hanger-on was in dire straights, gasping for air, face contorted, etc. The two ran past myself and the hurting runner's coach, who screamed with more intensity than I personally have ever witnessed, "WHO WANTS IT MORE?!?!? WHO WANTS IT MORE?!?!?!"

I could only feel sorry for the coach's runner, who was very clearly about to eat sh*t and die, regardless of how bad he wanted it, or how little the far superior runner wanted it. That kid probably finished the day thinking he was a wuss for not "wanting it" badly enough, when really he was fairly ballsy for covering a 9:10 two miler's move at a rinky dink meet.

I am constantly amazed and appalled at what people - parents and some coaches yell at their kids (high school and younger). I still run college races and can't believe the coaches who tell their runners to PICK IT UP and RUN HARDER -- I feel like turning to them, mid-race, and swearing at them -- What the heck do they think those women are doing? Jogging? They should shut up and try it themselves. Geez.

But the worst are the middle school and high school parents. Watching a middle school race, for pete's sake, and parents are yelling "SUCK IT UP!!!!) and "DO IT FOR GRANDPA!" etc. These are pretty young kids -- suck it up?? That's a bit harsh for a 12 year old. These people have no clue.

Sarah Porter, a recent Div 3 college champion, relates that during her first ever race at Hayward Field, she heard her granny yelling at the top of the last turn. (Granny was an ultra runner and still does things like leg press 145 lbs a 100 times! She weighs 100 lbs herself). Anyway, Sarah is heading for home when she hears Granny screeching -- "FLIRT WITH DEATH, SARAH!!!" I love that one - partly because I think Granny knew what she was talking about. ;-)

As a competitive runner still, I feel like I get a constant reminder of how much racing hurts and thus am not tempted to yell things like "400m to go!" or "Pick it up!" Nothing like feeling like death with towards the end of a race to teach you that the last part of the race is a long way.

I know we've had similar threads. But I feel that epicness is going to flow through this one.

"Run faster! Jerry Sandusky is after you!"

You have absolutely no idea which runner "wants it more". Some people race gutsy, some intelligently. Some people wear their emotions on their shoulders, while others are more reserved. You have no idea what a runner is doing in practice everyday, which would be a better indicator of who wants is more.

PDXTrack wrote:

"Use your arms"

"Breathe"

I think "use your arms" may be useful for some people. I've been told to use my arms more. But the way this ought to work is the coach goes over this with you in training - you work on it in strides, you try to do it in your sessions. Ideally it becomes automatic, but if it doesn't probably a more succint "ARMS" should do the trick.

si y que pedo?? wrote:

my mom would yell "correle mijo, correle" and I would!!

Millet correlation?

More than once i've seen coaches going red in the face from yelling "YOU'VE GOT TO GO NOW!!!" with like a half mile left in a 10k. So many veins popping out.

So now I like to yell this within the first half mile of a 10k when i'm watching friends race.