Whatever happened to little Wesley Paul? Born in 1969, Wesley tackled his first 26.2 mile marathon at age 7. Running side by side with his dad, they finished together in a time slightly over 4 hours. In 1977, at age 8, Wesley set an age group world record at the first Chicago Marathon with a time of 3 hr: 15 min: 20 sec (footnote: I was also a participant in that race!). At age 15 Wesley ran the Houston Marathon in 2 hr 38 minutes, a 6 minute per mile pace. Future Olympian or potential burned out runner? Neither. Today Wesley is 6’2” tall and a graduate of Harvard law school residing in New York. Reportedly he still enjoys running, starting each day with a 2 to 5 mile run. Wesley Paul, Marathon Runner
"I trained 6 miles a day. The marathon wasn't my best distance, but I did 3:01 at age 10. I won Bay to Breakers three times and ran for San Francisco State. Running provided me with opportunities I never would have had otherwise." -Mary Etta (Boitano) Blanchard -halhigdon.com
MY COMMENT: Should your kids be running? Absoulutely! Should they be running marathons? Absolutely not! Go to kidsrunning.com for some great information on how to keep your kids in the sport- sanely.
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