15 year old runs marathon despite being told no

Her coaches and parents were right. That is a terrible idea. I'm 14 and I did a 12 mile long run yesterday as part of my base training. Could I have gone another 14. 2 miles? Probably, but if I did that I could have also ruined my XC season. Maybe someone older and wiser than me can give their opinion on this, but I never understood running a marathon just to say you did it.

Plenty of East Africans run marathons at that age. A lot exceed the distance in training, big deal. If someone has the base miles, they can recover from a marathon fully in a couple weeks and be fine for xc.

Kvothe wrote:

Plenty of East Africans run marathons at that age. A lot exceed the distance in training, big deal. If someone has the base miles, they can recover from a marathon fully in a couple weeks and be fine for xc.

The difference is those east Africans are actually competitive at the marathon for their age, not running it just to check it off their bucket list.

A girl that doesn't listen to any sort of authority, and does activities that could irreparably damage her body. All at age 15. This girl is going places with that mindset.

Kvothe wrote:

Plenty of East Africans run marathons at that age. A lot exceed the distance in training, big deal. If someone has the base miles, they can recover from a marathon fully in a couple weeks and be fine for xc.

When in doubt, just give the answer, "Kenya, dammit!!!" But with no particulars.

What East Africans have run marathons at age 15? How do you know how old they were? What kind of running careers did they have later?

At the beginning of the Running Boom in the 1970s there weren't any rules restricting young runners from entering marathons. At the conclusion of a cross country season one of stronger high school teams decided to run a marathon. There times were very good considering they hadn't the long runs for preparation. However, none fared well that winter and spring in track. A number of years later in the early 1980s I had two seniors on my team who were very average high school cross country runners. They some how managed to keep it a secret that they had entered the NYC Marathon which was a week after our high school county championships. One ran close to 3 hours, a very notable achievement considering his lack of a distance base. The other backed off half way through the race. The first runner came out of the race with a leg injury which didn't get resolved until well into the spring. After that I told my runners that if they really wanted to run a marathon hold off until they completed their spring season. I would give them a marathon training program to prepare them for a fall race. High school runners should be working on developing their speed and efficiency. They have decades ahead of them in which they can run marathons in which they have the proper preparation.

I know Geb literally ran a 2:48 thon at 15. I wonder what shape he is now at 45.

Banana Bread wrote:

I know Geb literally ran a 2:48 thon at 15. I wonder what shape he is now at 45.

As opposed to figuratively running a 2:48?

SC baby wrote:

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a21271296/15-year-old-runs-vermont-city-marathon/

I think it's a very unique thing for such a young'n to tackle and the transparency of running boards, and social media definitely opens younger kids up to topics that could have been a lil more hush hush back when, drugs, sex, marathoning lol..

In all seriousness, the distance is a big time demand on the body, I wouldn't let my son run 26.2 at 15, I don't see it as beneficial for long term development. Even in his early to mid 20s, I'd tell him hold off a few more years unless you have a real chance at elite competition or sponsorship, etc. Build the systems up overtime and respect the distance. I am sure it was a crazy experience for her, but hopefully marathon number 2 waits a few more years.

Two comments:

1) Don't worry guys, she's Vegan (Mostly! LOL) so I'm sure she's much healthier than the average person and ready for this.

2) Man, I wish I was still as smart as I used to be when I was 15. I was smarter and knew better than everybody around me, now I've gotten stupid in my old age

some questions wrote:

Kvothe wrote:

Plenty of East Africans run marathons at that age. A lot exceed the distance in training, big deal. If someone has the base miles, they can recover from a marathon fully in a couple weeks and be fine for xc.

When in doubt, just give the answer, "Kenya, dammit!!!" But with no particulars.

What East Africans have run marathons at age 15? How do you know how old they were? What kind of running careers did they have later?

Mitch Kingery ran 2:23 when he was 15. Chuck Smead was maybe 16 when he ran 2:25 or so. I can't find the actual numbers. Lydiard told me he had 12 year olds doing 20 mile runs. "Try to get kids interested in how far they can run rather than how fast," he said.

From the article:

When Lila Carleton was 10, her parents told her that she couldn’t go to a party at a neighbor’s house unless she cleaned her room.

She wouldn’t and, in the end, they left without her—but Lila rode her bicycle to the party anyway, over three hilly miles in a pouring rainstorm.

...

The Vermont City Marathon ultimately created a special category for her, and Lila Carleton finished with a time of 4:18:23. The next step after that? Jump on a bus to Boston and fly to London so she could join the rest of her family, which had already left on a long-planned vacation.

I'm glad I don't know this person.

9:50 miles aren't anything special

I think the issue with U18 marathon runners is pretty much the same as with recreational marathoners. For most, the issue is whether they are really ready to run the distance and not whether they are going to ruin their bodies for life. I think most of the problems young marathoners have comes from poor preparation not from their bodies not being ready for the distance. The Welsch sisters ran marathons and lots of longer races when they were in junior high. One of the sisters is going to run for Pepperdine next year and is internationally competitive at tris and duathlons.

I would never recommend it mainly because kids lack the discipline to do the training and monitor aches and pain. But I do not think that it should be off limits.

THISDUDE wrote:

9:50 miles aren't anything special

This, so what she jogged a marathon?

klasdfjklasdfjklasdflkj

2) Man, I wish I was still as smart as I used to be when I was 15. I was smarter and knew better than everybody around me, now I've gotten stupid in my old age

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now." B. D.

Breaking news: spoiled twat goes for a run wrote:

From the article:

When Lila Carleton was 10, her parents told her that she couldn’t go to a party at a neighbor’s house unless she cleaned her room.

She wouldn’t and, in the end, they left without her—but Lila rode her bicycle to the party anyway, over three hilly miles in a pouring rainstorm.

...

The Vermont City Marathon ultimately created a special category for her, and Lila Carleton finished with a time of 4:18:23. The next step after that? Jump on a bus to Boston and fly to London so she could join the rest of her family, which had already left on a long-planned vacation.

I'm glad I don't know this person.

. . . or her (non) parents. Wow.

My friend's daughter just turned 16 and does tris and is doing her first 26.2 this fall. I don't even think she competes in high school xc and track. This is what she wants to do and there are far worse things -- like playing fortnite for 7 hrs a day like my son :)

She sounds like a fantastic kid. Disobeys parents (repeatedly), coaches, officials and is validated with an article bragging about it. 15 year old "mostly" vegan, yeah that's been thought out well. The fact that she slogged 26.2 just put more impact on her feet, joints and body. Know it all a-hole kid.