My kid's first 5-K (Read 1017 times)

My kid is running her first 5-K on Saturday morning!  She's 9, and has shown interest in running before, but never stuck with it past a week or two.  She's been training for this race for a month, and she's enjoying every run.  No pressure on her, but I'm hoping to she will learn to love being fit and healthy.

Fun!  Take tons of photos! 

I wish I could get my kid interested in running...I think he'd be a natural.  But he has 0 interest.  Just as well, since he'd probably kick my ass in a year or two.

Great!  Hope that motivates her to run a lot more!

Awesome!!    I cannot wait until my kids are a little older.  They are 5 & 7; do you think 9 is a good age to do a 5k??  I guess it depends on the kid. 

Fun! Congrats to your daughter, Schoolmarm.   Hacker, my not terribly athletic daughter ran her first race (a women's 4 mile race) at 8, and has run a 5k or 4 miler a couple times a year since.  Honestly, she is often somewhat miserable during the race, but she is THRILLED at the end.  My 7 year old son wants to run one, but I'm a bit worried about him.  He's way more athletic than his sister, and lots faster, but I'm not sure he has the stamina to run 5K.  His sister just whines and walks when she gets unhappy, he'd sit down and refuse to move.  And of couse he has no sense of pacing -- it's blisteringly fast or deadstop for him. 

 I have 2 girls, but similar issues.  My 7 year old is a lot of talk, but she has no stamina really.  I might give her a shot at one either late this year or next......we'll see.  My 5 year old though, she has real possibilities.   They a small race for kids that she entered last year and beat many of the boys in her age group.  You can just tell she has the ability.  Her interest though, eh??  We'll see.  I gotta say though; I really WANT them to have my desire.  Time will tell. 

My 12-year-old daughter has run races with me since she was 8.  I just make sure she always wants to do it.  I also tell her we'll do something fun afterwards, such as going out for breakfast.  She's a tiny little thing still, about 67 pounds.  It is so much fun to see the looks on men's faces when she zooms past them!  She loves that.

Hacker, I have tried running before with the kiddo, but she's never been able to run for long, and didn't really want to contine running.   We have a big dog, and he likes to walk and run, so we walk him a lot, but she's never wanted to run for long...just enjoyed walking.  This time, we started running, and she'd keep going.   For some reason, she liked it this year....like I suddenly liked running at the age of 27! 

There were many young kids at the race, and many not racing with parents.  There was a little girl ahead of us who ran the whole race by herself...she'd stop and walk every now and then, and she looked miserable, but she was fast enough to finish ahead of us!  There was also boy of about 5-6 who'd zoom ahead,  zig-zagging around until he tired out, then he'd walk.  Pretty soon, he'd come zooming past again.  He grinned the entire time! 

So, just keep trying with your kids, and don't worry if they zoom ahead and walk...you can race a whole 5-K that way!

wow that is crazy!  I'm so happy for you both.