This seems crazy to me, but I feel like some of the stuff we did as kids back in the 80s had a few risks too. Is marathon dad worse than no dad? Stuff I might do on a typical day in the 80s, age 12. Jump dirt bike in private quarry without permission Shoot .22 at stuff. Steal beer, share with friends. Jump fence and explore vacant construction site. Mess around with old scuba gear to see how it works and shut off friend’s air. He returns favor.
Doing track and cross country as a youth isn't the same as running seven days per week. Find a good program with good coaches. They could do that as well as other sports too. Multi sport athletics should be what they are doing when they are young. It's no different than soccer. Many soccer programs are pushing kids to seven days. You need your practices, your training sessions, then you need your private coach on the other days, etc.
Again, I’m not disagreeing, but some of the club running programs are super competitive and the parents are crazy. I had a kid in one. Everyone wants their kid to be “All American.” It was insane.
Best to just stick to multiple rec sports that may eventually turn into club. Soccer, basketball, tennis, swimming, volleyball, whatever, doesn’t matter. But soccer & swimming are the best for future runners.
“MK said that the rule barring younger runners is similar to what women faced before the Boston Marathon went coed in 1972.”
ya'll are some soft pansies. Nowhere does it say he makes her do anything. Guess this girl isn't allowed to have any interests. Go cancel peewee football while you're at it.
I mean doesn’t everyone remember Tierney Wolfgram, the high school girl from Minnesota that qualified for the 2020 Olympic marathon trials? Qualified via Twin Cities in 2018 and eventually went off to run for Nevada. Had one good cross country season making it to nationals (2021) and no one has heard from her since (didn’t run 2024 Olympic trials marathon).
The kid seems to enjoy running marathons, and seems to handle the stress of the distance well. The scientific and medical communities don't seem to really know whether this type of event has long term health/psychological impacts. I really wouldn't want my kid out running marathons at that age, and certainly wouldn't persuade/strongly encourage a kid that age to train for and run marathons.
The kid doesn't seem to mind dad recording this stuff for Youtube. Even though she's young she seems capable of consenting to it.
My personal take is dad is a narcissistic tool for posting the videos.
Yes. Running is fundamentally different. Or at least is unique in that if you mess up the stress/rest balance, you risk permanently damaging multiple systems, especially in a 12yo.
Would we be talking about her if she was a 4-5 hour marathon runner? Don't get me wrong I wouldn't allow any of my kids to run a marathon, youth track or cross country yes but sometimes I wonder if its really concerning people here or just pure jealously.
Doing track and cross country as a youth isn't the same as running seven days per week. Find a good program with good coaches. They could do that as well as other sports too. Multi sport athletics should be what they are doing when they are young. It's no different than soccer. Many soccer programs are pushing kids to seven days. You need your practices, your training sessions, then you need your private coach on the other days, etc.
Again, I’m not disagreeing, but some of the club running programs are super competitive and the parents are crazy. I had a kid in one. Everyone wants their kid to be “All American.” It was insane.
Best to just stick to multiple rec sports that may eventually turn into club. Soccer, basketball, tennis, swimming, volleyball, whatever, doesn’t matter. But soccer & swimming are the best for future runners.
and that's true in every sport. Some club soccer programs are the same. Must like soccer or swimming you have to find the right club running program.
I thought the same thing - this sounds very similar to the Al*na H*dley situation. Did she even continue running any past her teens?
And the reason I didn't spell out her name is because remember years ago, any LRC thread that mentioned her got quickly deleted - even the ones that were only critical of her dad but not her. I always suspected Dadley had something over the Brojos or was a volunteer moderator himself, such that any threads quickly went away. Let's see if this one lasts.
No, this has very little similarity to Alana Hadley. Alana had run a 16:51 for 5k, a sub 34:59 for 10k and a 1:16:42 half marathon before she ever ran a marathon. Alana ran her first marathon at 16 yrs old. This girl is 12 yrs old and has none of those type of shorter distance times.
The only similarity is they are both coached by their fathers. Which can be said of thousands of kids across the country in most every sport.
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.
He also ran 9:22 for 3200, which is stronger than 4:31 for 1600. Local kid to me. I wouldn't say he flamed out whatsoever, he just hit his ceiling talent-wise.
But, yeah, all the age-group WR stuff is silly, and those of us who know better roll our eyes when "future Olympian" is thrown around.
I have personal experience with this, decades ago. My father, a well known coach from the 60's, forced me to run, from about age 10 and mediocre races resulted in beatings to both me and my mother. I did ok in high school - a 4:09 miler in high school in the 70's - but I really didn't enjoy it - even on a well known state champion team. Fortunately my father left home and abandoned us and I went off to college entirely on my own at age 18 to have a mediocre college athletic career and a fairly impressive academic career, albeit at some cost to my health. Eating other than pancake mix to survive was always a problem. My mother never recovered, leading a life of misery and addiction. My teen years were sheer terror and I was fortunate to have survived. Skip Hollandsworth wrote an excellent piece on a Texas high school football player in a similar situation and this young man ended up shooting and killing his father. The jury deadlocked, and the kid took a two year prison deal. On reading Hollandsworth's piece, my dismal and evil thought was that was a heck of deal. I was glad to just to leave and go on my own. My father tried to live vicariously through his son, and did so in a dreadful way. He died without me knowing a few years back.
I am so sorry for tragic experience and thanks for sharing it as a cautionary tale. There definitely are bad/poor parents out there who emotionally and sometimes physically scar their kids. Some use "coaching" to do it and many use other means. This does not mean that all or most parents who coach their kids are bad, most often that is not that case at all.
It is easy to project your personal bad experiences onto other's situations. Be careful. They are not you and their parent is not your parent.
Many, many kids across the country are coached by loving parents who simply l want the opportunity to spend more time with their kid, make sure they are getting proper instruction and learning a sport they know or love. All those are good, positive motives. Don't saddle them with the baggage of those parents who used coaching badly.
I am so sorry for tragic experience and thanks for sharing it as a cautionary tale. There definitely are bad/poor parents out there who emotionally and sometimes physically scar their kids. Some use "coaching" to do it and many use other means. This does not mean that all or most parents who coach their kids are bad, most often that is not that case at all.
It is easy to project your personal bad experiences onto other's situations. Be careful. They are not you and their parent is not your parent.
Many, many kids across the country are coached by loving parents who simply l want the opportunity to spend more time with their kid, make sure they are getting proper instruction and learning a sport they know or love. All those are good, positive motives. Don't saddle them with the baggage of those parents who used coaching badly.
Totally agree. I would like to add, if you are putting your young kids in Marathons you are coaching them badly.
The kid seems to enjoy running marathons, and seems to handle the stress of the distance well. The scientific and medical communities don't seem to really know whether this type of event has long term health/psychological impacts. I really wouldn't want my kid out running marathons at that age, and certainly wouldn't persuade/strongly encourage a kid that age to train for and run marathons.
The kid doesn't seem to mind dad recording this stuff for Youtube. Even though she's young she seems capable of consenting to it.
My personal take is dad is a narcissistic tool for posting the videos.
Read the above post from rogermortimer. It's a harrowing story of what some of these situations look like when the door is closed.
Rogermortimer--I am sorry to hear you had to endure it.
I'm not saying that the same thing is happening to Evan, but be careful when you jump to conclusions that "the kid doesn't seem to mind" either the running or the recording. "the kid" lives with her dad and depends on him for all her needs. She also is only twelve and few twelve year olds have the ability to stand up for themselves to adults much less their parents.
Look at all of the abuse stories where grown adults finally come forward about their experiences. Did you watch Nickelodeon as a kid in the 00s? Well I did, and it looked like to me that all the kids on the show were having an amazing time. I wanted to be one of them. Well there's a 2024 netflix doc coming out that begs to differ.
Dominique Moceanu seemed like she adored her coaches the Karolyis as a kid. See what she has to say about them as an adult.
Personally I think it's really problematic when parents use their kids for attention. The article didn't sit well with me either because her dad seemed to be in it a lot. It just gave off the impression that he's controlling a lot behind the scenes.
Would we be talking about her if she was a 4-5 hour marathon runner? Don't get me wrong I wouldn't allow any of my kids to run a marathon, youth track or cross country yes but sometimes I wonder if its really concerning people here or just pure jealously.
If you're wondering if it's pure jealousy, answer me this: why wouldn't YOU let your kids run a marathon? Why is it okay for Evan to do so but not for your kids?
If anyone is actually jealous of what's going on here, remember, you can always allow your kid to run a marathon if they want to. Find an online training plan, let them join a group. But would you let them? Would you be like MK Kim, coaching them and then soaking up attention in LA Times. If not, why not?
"Oh my kid doesn't have the drive"
There is a HUGE (unfortunate) chance, that neither does Evan. I said in a previous post, that the desire to please at age 12 is a deeply powerful one. Wanting to impress her dad can drive her for a time, and it can drive her to do pretty crazy things.
If your kid doesn't have the drive, parent, you are probably doing something right. You're raising a kid who is independent and comfortable to be themselves around you and say no to doing absolutely absurd things like running a marathon at that age when they can wait 10 years and run a marathon then.
I am very lucky and once past my teen years never felt like a victim. I did very well in education and career - which infuriated my father as he deemed my brother and I academic snobs. I married a complete non athlete and had two daughters, who admittedly I spoiled but I wanted them to have fun. They were great students but not into athletics. They ended up at the top of the Ivy League and I was just astounded I could afford it! It was really a negative experience- my brother ran a 4:10 mile as a sophomore and was shortly thereafter rewarded with his head being bloodied against a basement wall - but it really drove home the value of freedom. The authorities were called but in the 70’s they did nothing.
My late father’s wife is my age and is lonely and isolated - the objective of abusers. I would have no problem reaching out to her but there is too much detritus to overcome. Nevertheless while I am not religious in the least I am reminded of the power of forgiveness.