Not A Good Sight at Run The Woodlands Today
I meant to write about this earlier, and I forgot.
J.D. reminded me of it in his blog post today about being out at Surfside and cheering runners on.
Somewhere before the 2-mile mark at Run The Woodlands 5K, a father and his two young boys passed me. No big deal. Another Dad and his young son were in front of me. (The ones in front of me, Rick, was the guy in the red shirt that you talked to as we stood talking before the race.)
Just as we crossed an intersection and right where there is a small playground to the left, the Dad turned to the second son who wasn't having a good day and said, "Well, then, just walk." (I told Waverly this evening about this and said that I had to stop and think about how I look when I'm challenging her and pushing her on the course. Therefore, it was a little bit of a wakeup call.)
As far as walking. Well, of course, been there and done that myself. But what I saw thereafter alarmed me.
The Dad and his other son kept going on ahead!
This little guy left behind could have been no more than 8 years old.
If you've done Run The Woodlands 5K before, you know that the course is on trails around a semi-circle on the street, Alden Bridge. However, the trials are shaded fairly well by trees and fences that are at the ends of people's backyards. From the point where the Dad left the other son go, there was probably about another 1.3 miles to go.
I thought to myself, after I had run past the little guy, "I couldn't believe that this Dad was doing this." Of course, in this day and age, you hate to think things BUT what if somebody had just come along and snatched the youngster.
When Waverly ran Run The Woodlands by herself for the first time in preparation to do her half marathon two years ago, her Mom - with my knowledge, of course - was waiting before the mile 1 point to make sure she saw her. And then she was there on the other side of the road as she ran.
A little overprotective? Perhaps, but better to be safe than sorry. Yes, something could happen to Waverly out there today ... but she's almost 13 not 8!
As I almost had made it to the finish, I expected to see the Dad running back out to run his boy in. However, it didn't happen. I was disappointed and stunned that I saw what I did.
I just hope that I don't ever have to witness something like that again.
And I kind of felt bad this evening that I was so selfish about my run that I didn't stop to make sure that the youngster was OK - and/or stay with him. (And could have the Dad said something to a runner or two behind all of us to keep an eye out for him? Maybe. But it sure didn't appear that way.)
J.D. reminded me of it in his blog post today about being out at Surfside and cheering runners on.
Somewhere before the 2-mile mark at Run The Woodlands 5K, a father and his two young boys passed me. No big deal. Another Dad and his young son were in front of me. (The ones in front of me, Rick, was the guy in the red shirt that you talked to as we stood talking before the race.)
Just as we crossed an intersection and right where there is a small playground to the left, the Dad turned to the second son who wasn't having a good day and said, "Well, then, just walk." (I told Waverly this evening about this and said that I had to stop and think about how I look when I'm challenging her and pushing her on the course. Therefore, it was a little bit of a wakeup call.)
As far as walking. Well, of course, been there and done that myself. But what I saw thereafter alarmed me.
The Dad and his other son kept going on ahead!
This little guy left behind could have been no more than 8 years old.
If you've done Run The Woodlands 5K before, you know that the course is on trails around a semi-circle on the street, Alden Bridge. However, the trials are shaded fairly well by trees and fences that are at the ends of people's backyards. From the point where the Dad left the other son go, there was probably about another 1.3 miles to go.
I thought to myself, after I had run past the little guy, "I couldn't believe that this Dad was doing this." Of course, in this day and age, you hate to think things BUT what if somebody had just come along and snatched the youngster.
When Waverly ran Run The Woodlands by herself for the first time in preparation to do her half marathon two years ago, her Mom - with my knowledge, of course - was waiting before the mile 1 point to make sure she saw her. And then she was there on the other side of the road as she ran.
A little overprotective? Perhaps, but better to be safe than sorry. Yes, something could happen to Waverly out there today ... but she's almost 13 not 8!
As I almost had made it to the finish, I expected to see the Dad running back out to run his boy in. However, it didn't happen. I was disappointed and stunned that I saw what I did.
I just hope that I don't ever have to witness something like that again.
And I kind of felt bad this evening that I was so selfish about my run that I didn't stop to make sure that the youngster was OK - and/or stay with him. (And could have the Dad said something to a runner or two behind all of us to keep an eye out for him? Maybe. But it sure didn't appear that way.)
posted by WalkSports.com | 9:58 PM
6 Comments:
Yeah, that's a good life lesson: if your friends or family can't keep up - abandone them...
Poor kid. I know we hate adding rules to things, but perhaps Luke's needs to consider adding a clause about no one under 13 allowed to run without an adult??
If Lem can't keep up with me, or if I can't keep up with her, I either don't bring her or make sure that someone is willing to stick with her for me.
Selfishness lives well here in the woods... that guy would probably try to sue Luke's if something, god forbid, happened to his son.
It's a dollar race for crying out loud. What kind of life lesson was the dad trying to instill in his kid? Is that how you spell "instill?" Or is it "instil?" Or is that even a real word? Just wait a few years when the kid will return the favor by dropping his dad off for not keeping up.
I walked home from middle school every day, a distance of about 1.5 miles that included crossing a couple very busy roads. While I would've stopped and stayed with my kid, I think we should avoid rushing to judgment. We don't know the guy or his kid.
To be honest, I'm happier to hear that he allowed his kid to walk to the finish instead of pushing the kid to keep doing something he obviously didn't want to do.
Anyway, just my two cents, and I hope I don't start an argument. :)
Hi Sarah,
The trails here are not open to plain sight. Anything could have happened to him and it probably would not have been seen. There have been sexual assualts, attempted abductions and more that occur on these trails. I don't run by myself if I can help it. I don't think this dad did anyone any favors by leaving his son in the dust. It was irresponsible. It would be like letting him walk the mall by himself. Unsafe and not smart. I understand being frustrated, but being a good dad comes before any race.
I too used to walk home from school every day, but things were different then. I wish we still lived in that kind of world...
Wow. Well, Sarah is right - we don't know the boy, or if perhaps his mom, etc. was somewhere behind him in the race.
I tend to give our daughter a bit more leeway than some of her friends' parents do (which still isn't very much at 10!) but I wouldn't be comfortable not staying with her there.
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