How young is TOO young?

They are never too young to start training. Look at my boy. I was stretching his hamstrings at six months.

Hi, I'm James Garritson and I just saw this post and thought I would write something in response to all of the people who criticize my family. I am still running and enjoy it very much. If it wasn't for a lower back problem, I would be running harder than I am now. All of my family members still enjoy to run. While most of the older kids, including myself, don't compete in running today, we have fond memories of our younger racing days. Was running tough? Indeed, it was very grueling. Did it make us better kids and adults? Of course. In America, there are many parents and kids who have become very lazy and don't do anything. Some people just slothfully sit on a couch and watch tv all day. Is that good? Of course not. People need to stop judging my father and my family. All of the older kids in the family have good jobs and have stayed out of drugs and trouble. While a lot of parents have problems with their kids, my father made sure he kept a good eye on all of us. There are fourteen kids in my family and I am the oldest. I am almost 31 and am thankful God placed running in my path as a child. I did run a 9:52 two mile in high school, a 15:15 5K in college, and a 31:35 10K in college. While these aren't the greatest times, these are respectable times for any runner. Did I improve as much as I would have liked? No, but God has other plans for me. I would encourage any parent to have their children run. The sport doesn't cost a lot, teaches hard work ethics, and gives the mind and body a great workout. My family still is very close and we all choose to run together when we get the chance. Running is a hard sport; life is just as hard!

God bless everybody,

James Garritson

Hi, I'm James Garritson and I just saw this post and thought I would write something in response to all of the people who criticize my family. I am still running and enjoy it very much. If it wasn't for a lower back problem, I would be running harder than I am now. All of my family members still enjoy to run. While most of the older kids, including myself, don't compete in running today, we have fond memories of our younger racing days. Was running tough? Indeed, it was very grueling. Did it make us better kids and adults? Of course. In America, there are many parents and kids who have become very lazy and don't do anything. Some people just slothfully sit on a couch and watch tv all day. Is that good? Of course not. People need to stop judging my father and my family. All of the older kids in the family have good jobs and have stayed out of drugs and trouble. While a lot of parents have problems with their kids, my father made sure he kept a good eye on all of us. There are fourteen kids in my family and I am the oldest. I am almost 31 and am thankful God placed running in my path as a child. I did run a 9:52 two mile in high school, a 15:15 5K in college, and a 31:35 10K in college. While these aren't the greatest times, these are respectable times for any runner. Did I improve as much as I would have liked? No, but God has other plans for me. I would encourage any parent to have their children run. The sport doesn't cost a lot, teaches hard work ethics, and gives the mind and body a great workout. My family still is very close and we all choose to run together when we get the chance. Running is a hard sport; life is just as hard!

God bless everybody,

James Garritson

Two posts, making up for the 3 years that this has lain fallow,

It's so sad, but it keeps happening everywhere. A friend of mine from high school cross country was a TALENTED runner during her freshman year of high school, clocking 36 minute 10Ks, sub-11 minute 3200m races, etc. She had been running since kindergarten!!!

And now, she's burnt out and suffering from osteoporosis and a broken femur.

Congratulations James.

That is the fastest I have ever seen a debate silenced on Letsrun.com

i started racing when I was 9 years old, just for fun and i wuldnt train. I just enjoyed going to the trakc an racing other kids my age. I started out runnning 100 meters and 200 meters. 15.0 and 30.1 at age 9. Than I discoveryed that as the distance went up I won more. SO i went to the 400 at the end of the summer and ran 69 seconds for it off of no training at age 9. I probally raced 4 times that summer. Than when I was 10 and going to be a 6th grader I still didnt train and ran a 1500 in 5:55. Than as I entered 6th graADE i WAS THE MANAGER OF MY SCHOOL team and started training with them about 10 mpw and had a lot of fun. I think that running when I was little taught me to have fun and helped me enjoy racing and the experience of going to a track meet. If kids choose to take interedt than they will enjoy it more.

I believe the deity references speak volumes to the dysfunctionality of your family.

Studies have shown that you can't increase VO2 max in prepubescent children. So running a lot of miles is a waste of time and has potential adverse effects. At the same time, there is a window of opportunity which closes at about age 20 to increase speed. And speed is everything. It doesn't matter if you end up running marathons later in life, speed will always help you. So if a parent did have aspirations of developing his child to their full potential, they should have him/her in short sprint events and let the child move up in distance later in high school. I suspect that we don't hear much about these young phenoms in high school because their ability to run fast, ie pure speed, has been robbed from them by all those endless miles that they put in when they were young.

I'm a dad of three girls. 6 (1st grade), 10 (5th grade), and 11 (6th grade). The older two compete regularly in the 5k (mid 23 range) and are 1 and 2 on their middle school cross country team (middle school goes to 8th grade and so they should be tops for a few more years) and among the best in most inviationals (Finish in the top 5, often win). mid to low 6 for the mile.

The six year old is restricted to no more than a mile at time without stopping. See can rn about 7 1/2 for the mile. 78 for the quarter.

They love running and are very competitive, especially with each other. I'm 43 and in the 19 minute 5k range. So, I take them running seperately, can chew up 2 hours of an evening at times.

If you don't have kids, one thing you have to understand the unbelivable drive they can have. At times it's like restraining wild horses. They want to run 10 miles (we will not allow until until a year after their first period). We are part of a track work-out once a week. They love running 400 repeats (even the 6 year old). If you don't know the kids personally, do ASSUME the parents are tyrants living out some fanatasy of their own youth. Yes, even a 6 year old can decide they want to run and compete hard at it.

That said, I agree that the national youth records are held by a bunch of unknowns as they burnout early or get injured. That is why we are pulling back on their running. We are also very keen to their injuries. When they have any injury, we sit them until it passes. Now they keep it from us if they think they can fight through it. So you have to be preceptive.

I write this because a tone I picked up from this thread is its inhuman to have young kids run hard and compete hard. That is not true.

You are wrong to think you should call DCFS the next time you see a 6 year old running in the park with a parent.

Running is good for kids - even young kids.

Impact is what injures and damages. Teach kids to run well and the impact is minimal. Fast running on poor technique will cause more trouble than easy miles with a light, easy stride.

For a kid (say 7 or 8) to be able to go out and run a very easy 5M daily and enjoy it is a good thing. It is a completely different thing from a kid of the same age running fast 400s to hit target times in races. Equally, distinctions should be made with regards to running background, technique, footwear, intensity, emotional condition/situation, pressure, and much, much more.

Blanket judgements tend to be ignorant.

the other day i was out running in insane heat and saw this dad and his kid (the kid could have only been 10 at the oldest) the kid was begging to stop running but his dad made him go further. The kid was practically crying. The dad looked scary so i did nothing but i just thought it was sick.

I started at 7 competitively and was one of those Michigan wonder kids. I knew the Guntsches very well and they were never abused or forced to anything. Its never to young to start running

I remember in 6th and 7ht grade our coach would take us to Clas B and C high school CC invitationals and wed sweeep it not to mention all the AAU and TAC meets and the constant road races. I wouldnt change any of it for the world

Way to go James Garritson. I remember reading about you and your family in Runner\'s world when I was a teenager (back in the 80s). You are right. Those who would criticize your family would rather kids be on the streets, doing drugs, and who knows what else?!?!

You and your family are awesome!!!!

Blessings from the Holy Land,

Mitch

burnp

"You have a long time to live yet, what you want is to always remember, and not to have to try and forget."

Joe Newton, York HS, Elmhurst, IL...about 24 state championships in CC and T&F!

Living in California you probably knew how to train. I had a sprint coach.

In addition I had a hearing problem that was undiagnosed and missed most of what my teammates may have said about running.

These things matter! You also should consider that at 37 your are extremely YOUNG. I was still at my peak at that age.

"You live, you learn, you live, you learn."

Rodney Dangerfield

Doesn't Raevyn Rogers hold age group records?

I think the general rule of thumb is that for girls they should have already had their first period

For boys, anything goes