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How many schools out there allow their distance runners to train off school grounds and run on the roads during practice?

Jackson runners used to run on a gravel lane barefoot and crossed two railroad tracks and swam a moat. My buddy landed in a pole vault pit made out of old school bus seats we collected and covered with a military canvas. (Way back in the day of '78-'79). We never even had a cinder track. (still pickin those out of my knees) Unioto distance runners run on roads quite a bit, and they are the best distance team in the state since Mat Paxton has been there over the past decade. Making a distance runner go around in circles on a safe, soft track sounds ok but as long as the kid can think about safety at all times, it really should not matter where they train.

Sorry JoeRoberts- I'm sure you had a legitimate inquiry. I know that a lot of schools train distance runners on the sidewalks and roads around the school. On my daily trips back to my home, I pass through many towns between 3:30-5:00 and very often see Jr. and Senior High kids obviously distance training. I have yet to see one wearing earphones and listening to music, thankfully.

As a distance runner's parent, I'm totally against kids running on the roads unless it's a not very heavily traveled road. There are too many driver distractions now (cell phones). One of my kids has already been hit by a car while running.

One of mine was hit last fall, but not at practice.

We don't allow them on the roads, nor do I encourage it. They tend to come too close to being hit in the driveway let alone on the road.

I also prefer to keep them off of pavement as much as possible to avoid lower-leg injuries. We have lots of grass and wooded areas to run.

Are you serious? Kids will be fine running on the road. I run on the road everyday and when a car goes by, i just drift further away from the road, not rocket science.

no it's not...and in my 6 years we have been on many different roads...but with texting and cell phones it's really a lot different than just a few years ago.

The risk has become greater....still extremely unlikely....but too likely it seems.

We wonder why kids are so soft now a days

when i was in high school that is all we did was go and run on the roads. if you are paying attachen and get over when you see a car coming your going to be ok. i have been running on the roads since i was 12

classof86 wrote:We wonder why kids are so soft now a days

Yea class of 86 mother use to tell him when he was little to go play in the road.

HAHAHAHA

I agree with Classof86 and 5kdude......I have been a runner for 39 years and run on roads and streets, not fields or trails.......to each his own, but it has worked out well for me.

Bike paths have made it a little easier to run for some but running on the road is common everywhere. I see kids running in Jackson and McArthur and for the most part both the drivers and the runners seem to be aware of each other. Most of the sidewalks have been so neglected that kids are more likely to get injured running on them than they are the streets. While i'm not crazy about it, i understand they need a bigger area to train and most schools can't provide that on school grounds. I know that the Jackson coaches want our runners staying in groups.