I have a question for all of you. Please skip down to ‘—‘ if you don’t want to read the introductory background.

So I recall the 600 yard dash in my later elementary school days.

And I recall the nearly two thirds mile jog around the basement of my high school.

And the 1.5 mile jog around the track in my one credit PE class at Bethel.

I hated all of these experiences. I ended up nearly doubled over, lungs burning and I could never do these things without stopping and walking much of the way.

When we were taught (in that same college class) that jogging was an aerobic exercise (i.e. a human body should be able to do it for long stretches without rest) I thought, “Well, that’s plainly ridiculous.”

And then, post graduation, there was the hike up Mount Josephine on the north shore, with my extended family and my older uncle and elementary school cousin, and I couldn’t keep up with them.

So I decided to beat this thing and I started jogging – to see how far I could go. And I suffered for days, but each day I was able to go a little bit further without stopping.  And I made it aerobic for me. But it was tough work.

So imagine my surprise Saturday, when all of my six older kids (age 7-13)* jogged a mile with me without stopping**, with no training and with apparently no pain.

I would not have thought this possible, given that they are my offspring (well, most of them).

—- So here’s my question: Are most kids like this? Is it just me that couldn’t run mid –size distances? Can most kids run a mile? Also, what sports expect kids to be able to jog this kind of distances, and at what age?  If any of you are coaches or gym teachers, I also really like to know what a typical elementary school kid can jog.

Thanks for your answers.

* I’m a little disappointed with two-year-old Foster. He can’t jog more than a couple hundred feet without getting distracted by something.

** Yeah, I know. Some of you are thinking right now, “Only a mile? My kid did that in soccer camp. When he was 4.”

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