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When running makes you cry
Published: 6/6/2011 4:48 PM
Last Modified: 6/6/2011 4:48 PM


Runners take off at the start of the 5K run at the 31st Tulsa Run in downtown Tulsa on Oct. 25, 2008. Photo by Brandi Simons for the Tulsa World.

Not being a parent, I'm quite reticent to play armchair guardian.

However, I was a little alarmed this weekend during a 5K to see parents either run off and leave their red-faced, crying kids alone on the trail or make them keep running despite the fact they were panting, red-faced and sobbing -- kids who couldn't have been more than 8 years old.

Of course, in the name of diplomacy, I reckon there could be instances in which it's totally appropriate to leave your elementary-aged child alone during a 5K. I can't think of any at the moment, but I was hoping some would come to me.

Like maybe the kids kept begging their parents to do a 5K with them, and Mom and Dad finally relented -- only to get to race day and have the kids whine and complain. But why not stop and let the kid walk?

One of the kids we passed ended up being seen by a medical professional while we were there on Saturday. A few minutes later, and she was OK. Maybe she wasn't hydrated enough or was already coming down with something.

OK, I'm gonna let the parents weight in here. If you were doing a 5K, and your kid suddenly started crying and was all red-faced and stuff, would you slow down and walk with them? Or would you advise they suck it up?

Peace, love and heavy panting ... XOXO


Reader Comments 1 Total
918MOMMY (last year)
OMG that is so wrong! For one, I probably wouldn't bring my small child to run a 5k, but if I did and they need to stop or walk then we would stop and walk, not leave the kid behind to suck it up and deal with it! Some poeple make me sick! :/
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Living Wright

While other kids were watching "The Smurfs," Scene Writer Jason Ashley Wright was tuned in to "Style with Elsa Klensch." By fourth grade, he knew he wanted to write, and spent almost three years publishing a weekly teen-oriented magazine, Teen-Zine -- circulation: 2. After earning a degree in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi, he became the medical reporter and teen board coordinator for the Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, a Gannett newspaper. Eight months later, with visions of Elsa dancing in his head, he applied for the fashion writer position at the Tulsa World, where he began working on Aug. 3, 1998. He is now a general assignment reporter for Scene.

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