My 11 year-old son wants to run a half-marathon: Good idea or not?

He could become injured and never run again on the way to the refrigerator.

Idiot wrote:

Well lets see....

He could become injured and never run again. He could hate it and never run again.

Young kids that run road races do so because there is no competition....none of their sensible peers are running those inane distances. Instead they are doing the 400 & 800 at Junior Olympic meets LIKE THEY SHOULD BE DOING.

The 1/2 marathon isn't going anywhere; it will still be there when he is 27.

How many collegians do you see running 1/2 marathons....none, because they are busy working on their 1500 SPEED.

I would say it would be ok after some training. Brad Hudson did it young. But yeah, let him train for it.

I'm a father which doesn't necessarily make me qualified to answer this question. But my vote is "no". It's too far. Distance running takes physical maturity, and I think it's a physically and mentally unreasonable distance for anyone 17 or under. I'm serious.

I am a collegiate runner and I ran my first half marathon when I was 14. I had no problem with the race. I say if your son is in good shape then there is no problem with it.In fact, the youngest marathoner ever was 12years old. However, I would not recommend that your son runs a marathon. He is not ready for that yet.

Let him run it. Make sure he gets real amped and takes the first 400 out in 60.

But seriously I dont see how it would be a problem. Kids hike, bike, and play soccer all day, whats wrong with plodding along for 13.1? I'd run it with him and have fun with it.

It's a bad idea. It is impossible to train at the age of 11. VO2 max cannot be improved in the prepubescent so says the research. In addition, you work against any ability to develop speed which is the name of the game. The speed window is closed by age 16-18 for the most part. So if he has decided already that he never wants to run to his full potential, I suppose he could go run it but I don't see how he can make that decision at age 11.

I would suggest getting him involved in some sprint competitions. He can always move up in the teen years. Moving down would be impossible after training for the half at age 11.

silly old fossil wrote:

Young kids that run road races do so because there is no competition....none of their sensible peers are running those inane distances. Instead they are doing the 400 & 800 at Junior Olympic meets LIKE THEY SHOULD BE DOING.

The 1/2 marathon isn't going anywhere; it will still be there when he is 27.

How many collegians do you see running 1/2 marathons....none, because they are busy working on their 1500 SPEED.

Not the 5k/10k guys, they are focusing on strength and could bust a great HM if they weren't running in races for their team.

He's not talking about becoming a hard core road racer, he's talking about seeing if he can complete the distance. He doesn't need to work on his VO2Max. He's also clearly not dodging competition. He's not even a competitive runner.

It's not going to hurt him. Just let him know that he can drop out whenever he feels like it. Don't make the final decision until he's doing some longer runs in training.

I let my son run a half-marathon at age 12. He wasn't doing any formal training, just riding his bike back and forth to school, doing some swimming and we were running about 45-60 mins one or both weekend days. He liked it and did XC/track in HS where he became a 9:35 3200 runner. He used his track performance to get into the college he wanted where he ran 3:56 1500. He is now in his late 20's happily married, working as VP of a small corporation and still running about 40-50 mpw. It didn't seem to do him any damage all those years ago.

Mr. Robott Mann wrote:

I'm a father which doesn't necessarily make me qualified to answer this question. But my vote is "no". It's too far. Distance running takes physical maturity, and I think it's a physically and mentally unreasonable distance for anyone 17 or under. I'm serious.

You sir are an idiot. There is no medical evidence to suggest you are correct yet you have formed an opinion based on just your pure speculation.

I regularly ran races of between 8k and half marathon starting at the age of 8 and I enjoyed them very much. I went on to grow to be 6' tall (tallest in my family) and have a All-State career in high school and earn a full 4 year scholarship to a major D1 University where I was captain of the cross country team and I still enjoy running today with absolutely no major injuries in my 30 years of running. I think distance running is an execellent activity for kids, one that teaches them discipline and gives them self confidence.

As with all sports and people of all ages, training should be done under an experienced watchful eye and reason should be used. Jumping into high mileage is bad for anyone at any age. Burnout and injury happens to many people regardless of their age because they don't do the proper things and use proper training. There is absolutely no evidence that this percentage is higher for kids than adults. All distance running has to be taken gradually and slowly built-up - this is true for everyone regardless of your age.

Jordan Hasay, who began running an a young age just went through a growth spurt and now stand well over 5'4" as a 16 year old girl. Mary Decker started at a young age and grew to a good hight and has no health related problems do to her early running.

The fact that so many people in positions of authority in running share this unfounded belief that running is bad for kids is one of the bigger reasons why the US and Britian continue to lag behind in distance running to countries like Kenya and Ethiopia where running at a young age is part of everyday life.

Take your head out of the sand and wake-up.

Unbelievable reactions and comments on here. I like the 'he can hurt himself running to the fridge' comment! The important thing is, 'HE' wants to do it, he can run 6 miles, why not 13? I think it would be a great experience for him. He's 11 years old, I would say heavy weight training would be bad for him, but running is a great exercise for children, it's not like he's running 13 miles a day. Tell him I said good luck and most importantly have fun!!

I have a son just turned 10. He's been running 5Ks with me since age 7 or 8 (25min PR). I don't train him - he just loves to run. But I've told him races are limited to 1K per year old. On his 10th birthday we ran a 10K. Doubling the distance was tough for him, but he survived.

A HM is more than I'll let him run for awhile - I'll probably change the 1K/yr when he's 13 or 14, but right now I don't think its good for him to do much more than a 10K without training, and I don't believe its good for a 10yr old to train like someone older.

It's a tough call. You're the dad - you'll know what's best given your kid.

It's just a half marathon. What's gonna happen? He'd finish it in less than 2.5 hours or not at all. I assume he'll have the good sense to DNF if his knees start to swell or something. If he's a soccer player he's in plenty good shape, as long as he's also used to running on pavement, he'll be fine.

Since 11 is still growing age, he clearly shouldn't be training 75 mpw for a marathon but that's not what we're talking about here. I once raced two 10Ks in one day when I was 11 - one on trail in the morning, the other on road in the afternoon. I was sore as sh\it for a week, but it didn't harm me as such.

If he can get up to running at least 3 times a week and can get up to 10 miles on one of those runs then sure. If he can't do that first then you should exercise the restraint of a good parent.

MTH, it is not about whether he can handle a half physically, I am sure he can....but what is the point. He will gain no running benefit from it.

If this is such a good thing, why isn't the half marathon a standard Junior Olympic distance?

Shoot, the furthest a collegian races is 10K...that tell you something....that the NCAA doesn't feel collegians are mature enough to race any further.

And to the person who said collegians COULD crank out a mean 1/2 marathon....the operative word is COULD.

I still say kids shouldn't be running road races. Road races were designed for post collegians, to give them a competitive outlet.

silly old fossil wrote:

MTH, it is not about whether he can handle a half physically, I am sure he can....but what is the point. He will gain no running benefit from it.

If this is such a good thing, why isn't the half marathon a standard Junior Olympic distance?

Shoot, the furthest a collegian races is 10K...that tell you something....that the NCAA doesn't feel collegians are mature enough to race any further.

And to the person who said collegians COULD crank out a mean 1/2 marathon....the operative word is COULD.

I still say kids shouldn't be running road races. Road races were designed for post collegians, to give them a competitive outlet.

Let me answer this point by point

What do you mean he would gain no running benefit from it. He would gain cardiovascular fitness, capillary building, increased oxygen uptake, etc. Do you understand distance running?

The reason the junior olympics doesn't do longer races is that its a track meet fit into a short period of time. There isn't time for longer races in each age group. The same goes for the collegiate level. Its a time constraint not a distance constraint for the most part. These are track meets not road races and who wants to sit through a race longer than 25 laps on a track. And by the way the NAIA does have a marathon championships as part of their track championships. It has nothing to do with the NCAA not feeling they can handle longer races.

Why do think road races are for post collegians? What evidence do you have to support this belief. I say its not because then they wouldn't allow kids into them if they were and most all of them do. They are for anyone who is reasonably prepared and wants to try the challenge of the distance or time.

silly old fossil wrote:

MTH, it is not about whether he can handle a half physically, I am sure he can....but what is the point. He will gain no running benefit from it.

If this is such a good thing, why isn't the half marathon a standard Junior Olympic distance?

Shoot, the furthest a collegian races is 10K...that tell you something....that the NCAA doesn't feel collegians are mature enough to race any further.

And to the person who said collegians COULD crank out a mean 1/2 marathon....the operative word is COULD.

I still say kids shouldn't be running road races. Road races were designed for post collegians, to give them a competitive outlet.

Do you want to watch a f***ing HM on the track? HM isn't an Olympic distance either, guess it is a worthless event huh? Road races are designed for whoever wants to do them, shut the f*** up.

I ran a half marathon at age 12. I was a serious soccer player (went to college on a soccer scholarship and was an all-american in that sport), but loved to run as a kid. I didn't train specifically for long distance running, other than my soccer practices and an occasional run with my dad on weekends. The race went fine for me -- I ran 1:41 (I am female) and only remember being really tired the last 2-3 miles because I went out too fast. I had run several 5K's, 10K's and a 10 miler before this race.

I don't think that road running hurt me as a kid. In fact, it helped me build a solid base for soccer and attain my aspirations in that sport in college and beyond.