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RIGHT DISTANCE FOR 9 YEAR OLD
Ask Carol
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Dear Carol, My name is McKenzie. My age is 9 . I have been running since I was 7. Since then I have been running 600 yards - 5ks . My problem is that I do not know if these are the right distances for me. What do you think?
Sincerely, McKenzie
Dear
McKenzie, There are no 'absolute' right or wrong distances. You can find out what Coach Mick recommends above on his distance chart. You'll see age-graded distances for training, fun runs, and races. I think that his distances are shorter than the ones that you are running.
Coach Mick feels following his plans will make kids faster runners. He also feels that the bones are not developed enough for young kids to 'race' long distances that high school kids race.
Remember his guidelines are very general. You can maybe move 'up or down' in the categories.
Running should be fun, and you should be able to take a break when running the long 5k's (which you should only do occasionally). Stop at the water stops. If you feel like taking a walking break, just do it.
Thanks for visiting our kids' running page and I hope that you signed in at our Guest Book. Carol Goodrow
Do you have any questions about a child's running program? If you do please email the kid's editor at carol.kids@rodale.com with your running questions or with comments on this column. 
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Note from the kid's editor:
Running is natural for young kids, but they still can use guidance when starting a running program. 
Photo of Matthew Linde, RW, Carol Goodrow, KR, and Parker Morse, RW at Runner's World, Emmaus, PA, July 2000, by Melanie Strong, RW. 