Dear Carol,

My younger brother is 11 years old and loves to run. He has grown up watching my other brother (15) and I (17) run and play numerous sports. He begs me to let him tag along on my summer base runs. He even pushes me to go faster. We let him run a kids 1 mile fun race at a cross country meet and he won easily.

He has amazing endurance for an 11 year old who barely trains. He is begging us to let him run upcoming two mile and even 5k cross country races. He loves to compete even if the people he competes against are 2 feet taller and 10 years older than him.

What do you suggest? Are occasional races okay? Should he tag along with me?

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Dear Jayme,

Sure let him tag along from time-to-time, but also continue to seek out kids' races for him. Try to find out if you have any of the Hershey Track, Junior Olympic Cross-Country and Track events, or State Games in your area. There will be plenty of competition at these meets to keep your younger brother challenged.

Running the longer distances is okay on occasion, but his real racing skills will be developed at the shorter distances with the right competitive peer crowd.

Run for a lifetime,
Carol Goodrow
kidsrunning.com

Note from the kid's editor: Running is natural for young kids, but they still can use guidance when starting a running program.