Ben runs on

Along with Ben’s recent progress in cycling, he has also been progressing as a runner.

Last fall, he became interested in running one lap of the track (400 meters) as fast as possible. In his first attempts, he did just over 2 minutes. In the spring he got down to 1:43, and this summer, with the aid of a pacer (me), he ran 1:38. Pretty good for a kid who has yet to turn 7!

Ben then started trying other distances at the track. Last Tuesday, while vacationing in Bronxville (NY), he did 1000m in 5:28, then returned in the mid-afternoon heat to complete 1600m, pacing pretty steadily and then kicking hard to a 9:31.

The latter run took a toll. Upon finishing, Ben complained of pains in his head and stomach. Once back at home, he curled up in a chair and took a rare nap.

I wondered: where would he go from there? Would he return the next day to try to grind out an even faster time? Would he decide that he had hit his limit and retire in frustration for a couple of weeks?

Either choice would have been consistent with the way I trained as a competitive, numbers-obsessed kid. But Ben, without soliciting or receiving any advice on the matter, found a third option: continue visiting the track, but run untimed at an easier pace. In this way, on Thursday he comfortably completed an even longer distance, 2000m, which will be the length of his first-ever cross-country races this fall.

Not only is he a better runner than I was at his age, he’s a more mature runner as well.

Update, 8-30-25: Tonight he ran 2 miles on a hotel treadmill. He’s an animal!