Most six-year-olds love to run. Around a playground. On the beach, as they get into the ocean. Maybe even to first base at a t-ball game.
But a full marathon? 26.2 miles? Are you kidding?
Ben and Kami Crawford live in Kentucky, and on a website they run, they claim that they “live life outside the box,” according to the Washington Post.
Let’s say they live life roughly 26 miles outside of what’s considered a normal box. Amazingly, the Crawfords allowed their six-year-old son to run the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati on Sunday. The little guy finished the race in 8.5 hours, but according to the dad, he had to pay off his kid to get him to the finish line.
Here’s the almost surreal message he posted on Instagram about the end of the race.
“On the marathon course, Rainier knew they usually hand out Pringles around mile 20. He was struggling physically and wanted to take a break and sit every three minutes. After 7 hours, we finally got to mile 20 and only to find an abandoned table and empty boxes. He was crying and we were moving slow so I told him I’d buy him two sleeves if he kept moving. I had to promise him another sleeve to get him in the family pic at the finish line. Today I paid him off.”
I’m not sure if it’s more disturbing that parents allowed/made their child run a full marathon and got him to the finish line buy promising to buy him potato chips, or the fact a race director sanctioned it. Iris Simpson Bush is the Flying Pig Marathon executive director, and she at least deserves credit for realizing how stupid she had been.
“I assume full responsibility for the decision and accept that it was not the best course of action.” She went on to add that in the future, parents can’t force their kids to run the race unless their children are 18.
As for the Crawfords, they were in full-on damage control mode after getting attacked on social media, sticking to their narrative that they are just a couple of Kentucky hayseeds who do things a little differently.
“ … We have never forced any of our children to run a marathon and we cannot even imagine that as feasible practically or emotionally. We have given all of our kids the option for every race. … This year after begging to join us we allowed our 6 year old to train and attempt it. … We asked him numerous times if he wanted to stop and he was VERY clear that his preference was to continue.”
“Yes there were tears. He had a fall and every single member of our family has cried during marathons. These experiences were very limited compared to what has been reported and despite the incredible physical and emotional difficulty of running a marathon the amount of his crying is comparable to what we would have experienced had we stayed home on a Sunday morning.”
“You cannot bribe a child to train hundreds of hours and run 26 miles through the heat for a can of pringles. If you can’t see this you are lazy or not listening. … Our parenting methods are unconventional but we do not think accusations or arguments with incorrect facts are helpful.”
The post Clueless In Kentucky? Parents Allow 6-Year Old To Run A Full Marathon, And Race Director Approves It. appeared first on VTPost.com.
Add comment