My New Athlete

Today I sat across the table from my newest (and youngest)  athlete and told him he could not run a marathon in two months, or four months, or six months.....maybe in a year.

 

He did not like what I was saying.

 

 

 

His mother was sitting next to him when I told him if I was going to be his coach, he was going to have to take it slow.....

 

Most 12-year-old boys don't know the meaning of slow.

 

Go figure.

 

Eduardo won his 1-12 age group at the Mission Inn Run's Half Marathon in Nov. 2013. He ran the 13.1 miles in 1:46:54.

 

Pretty good for a kid who just likes to run.

 

I asked him today what his goals are....short term, long term....

 

Short term - run a marathon.

Long term - run in the Olympics.

 

 

Does Eduardo have a chance?

 

Yes, because he has someone special looking after him.

Tanya McPeek, is a guidance counselor at Thomas Rivera Middle School in Mead Valley.

 

I met Tanya when Robert and I went on a 3-day biking/wining (yes, wining - as in drinking wine) bike ride in Sonoma for our 25th Anniversary.

She was in our riding group.

 

 Tanya is the second from the left (and she is wearing my Odwalla jacket from my first year of being an ActiveAmbassador).
 

Later, Tanya hired me to train her for a duathlon she had entered.

 

Tanya, a guidance counselor at the middle school, is running the school's 100 mile club in the mornings. She sees something in Eduardo.

 

Now, she has reeled me in to help Eduardo, too.

 

I asked Eduardo how many miles he runs in a week.

He said five.

FIVE MILES.

 

He runs 5 miles a week and he ran the Mission Inn Half Marathon in 1:46:54 not because he had trained for it, but because it felt good.

 

He said he felt good running the entire race.

He ran 8:09 minute miles because he felt good.

 

"I love it," he said, when I asked him how he felt when he was running.

 

He's been running five miles a week and he wants to run a marathon...
 

Bravado?

Testosterone?

Pre-teenager?

 

I told him we would work slowly up to his marathon.

He wasn't very happy that Tanya, his mom and I didn't agree to sign him up for a marathon next week....

Well, maybe next week we will sign him up for a marathon, that is a year away....



Next year, Eduardo.