I was at a met yesterday and their were two things that I never heard before, both by mothers to their daughters.
The first was the mother shouting to her daughter, DON'T DIE, DO NOT DIE (just the imaginary a runner needs to hear toward the end of a race)
The second was even more ridiculous. A mother is running along side her exhausted daughter yelling, "RUN FASTER, I'm running as fast as you and I'm terrible"
You can't make this stuff up.
"You're looking great!" Cmon now, we all know that barely anyone looks even remotely close to "great" after the first 400m.
I've never been a fan of "pace yourself". What does that even mean?
I flew my college team to a conference meet in which my high hurdler was, to say the least, the prohibitive favorite. I'm sitting in the stands, just past the finish line; her dad, who lives a couple hours away from the meet site and drove over to watch, is sitting in the next row.
As they call the runners to the blocks, her dad yells, loud enough for the whole building to hear, "DON'T BRING SHAME TO THE FAMILY!" He was joking, but also absolutely serious, if that makes any sense. Everybody around him either cringed or fell down laughing.
Yeah, she won--never turned a hair. I got the sense that stuff like this might have occurred on previous occasions...
There was one dad who loved to yell to his son on home stretch he's gaining on you, he's gaining on you. He'd yell this even if nobody was there and then he'd smile at the other parents. He did it often and it got old fast.
My wife was never a competitive runner, so when my oldest daughter started competing in high school my wife often yelled some pretty ridiculous things. My personal favorite: "You look great. Keep going. Keep going!!"
Afterwards, I had to tutor her that if I was running by in a XC race and the first thing that came to a spectator's mind was to tell me to 'keep going', I would be humiliated. You have to be doing pretty crappy if people are encouraging you to simply continue the race. The only other option is dropping out!
My dad yells stuff like "you got him, it looks like he's running with a refrigerator on his back" referring to whoever is right ahead of me. I'm always like "WTF DAD?"
20 years ago in high school I was winning a race and my mom yelled " TAKE BIG STEPS." A for effort mom.
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?
One time in an xc race at the 1 mile mark my mom yelled "Only two more miles!" Yea that's what I want to hear after the first mile.
I always love it when a parent is yelling splits at some random spot on the course that doesn't mean anything to the runners. What runner wants to hear their 1.7 or 2.4 mile split?
I heard someone (coach or parent, I don't know) yell at a kid in a HS DMR "Kill yourself!" as he went by. I understood what the message was, but it still sounded hilarious out of context.
I used to be on a team with two twin sisters. Once at a meet, their older sister (who had already graduated) shouted to the one that was behind "Come on, you can go catch her! Become the new favorite daughter! Earn your parents' love!". I still laugh even thinking about it now.
i had a buddy who's grandfather yelled at him you are looking good but you are not good looking best all time
So what are some things that parents (or others) can yell at their kids that might really help?
Out here, the Hopis yell to runners "Nahongvita", which means something like "Run strong.". I always liked the sound of that.
my mom would yell "correle mijo, correle" and I would!!
Mine used to yell "Andale, Andale; Arriba, Arriba!!"
I distinctly remember during wrestling matches, being on my back, fighting with every fiber of my being to keep my shoulders off the mat, and hearing my mom yelling "GET UP, GET UP!!!"
NO SHIT MOM WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE I'M TRYING TO DO
"Find your race, Tina! Find - your - race!"
Mom standing directly in front of me in the stands.
I wanted to ask her if her daughter ran for Montessori High.
People that do not understand our sport are all fvcking Morons.