How to help my 13 year old who wants to do track/be a runner?

StaciMarie1974

Tips, resources, suggestions? There is nothing available thru school until she reaches 9th grade and she's in 7th now. I want to help her explore this interest.

Going to get her fitted for shoes this weekend - though will probably have to order as she has tiny feet. (Size 3-4 in youth sizes.) Beyond that I don't know what to do.

BerryH

Search for you local youth athletics team; most athletics clubs have a youth group. Best of luck to her!

hermann341

Find the local running clubs, often at the running shoe store.

DavidMartinez2

Try contacting the Cross Country and/or Track coach at the high school and ask them for a recommendation.

bwogilvie

Yes, go to Big Peach (or another running store, if Kennesaw has more than one) and ask for advice there. And there are some good online resources for information. The Road Runners Club of American has a page on youth running. Runner's World also has some articles online about kids running.

Kids have a lot of energy, so probably the most important thing to keep in mind is that she shouldn't start out trying to be too ambitious. That's where advice from someone experienced is useful. I know that a lot of people have done Couch to 5K with their kids.

fleetzz

Run with her, ask her friends if they want to join her. Ask her if she wants to enter any races--start with some small ones and once she begins to place in them go bigger.

Sounds like you have great ideas already!

jacksonpt

StaciMarie1974 wrote: »

Going to get her fitted for shoes this weekend - though will probably have to order as she has tiny feet. (Size 3-4 in youth sizes.) Beyond that I don't know what to do.

That's a great start.

Beyond that, I'd suggest the Runner's World website and local running groups/clubs.

pobalita

My 11 year old ran his first half marathon this year. He started running with me doing local 5K and 10K fun runs. We then joined a neighborhood running club that we found online and did Saturday morning runs up to 8 or 9 miles. For his long training runs, we'd run at the with the run club and then kept going on our own.

Other resources: call the high school and ask to get in touch with the track or cross country coach - they will be more than happy to point you in the right direction (especially if they know your daughter will be headed that way soon). Your local YMCA (very kid friendly) might have a kids running group, local running clubs have track teams if your daughter isn't interested in distance (one club near me even has track meets in the summer so kids can try out events). Also, check your local parks and recreation programs and look online for "camps" during school breaks.

SonicDeathMonkey80

Lots of running stores have a "101" class, or better yet, one that's geared toward kids.

StaciMarie1974

Thanks for the suggestions. This gives us a place to start. I want to encourage her interest - without putting my own agenda onto her shoulders!