THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE ROAD RACE (May 1, 2002)

Today's topic is how to introduce more teenagers to the world of running. Listen up.

Last fall my daughter Kaitlin, a freshman in college, told me she was training for a marathon. I wasn't thrilled to hear this, because I knew that her farthest training run--ever--was ten miles. Ten miles is only halfway to hell, and once you get to hell you still have six hellish miles before the marathon finish line. That's a lot of the Devil's half-acre to cover if you're not prepared.

I finally persuaded her to delay her marathon attempt for a while, and to try running a half-marathon first. Since I was scheduled to be an invited speaker at the Napa Marathon in March, I made arrangements for her to come along. Napa doesn't have an official half-marathon race, but organizers said it would be fine for us to just run the first half, and to catch a ride from there back to the hotel.

It all worked out great--spectacular scenery, gorgeous weather, and lots of upbeat marathoners oozing positive vibes. Kaitlin finished the half-marathon with just a slight pain in her arch, something she'll need to fix before trying the full distance. Mostly, though, she was inspired by the spirit of the day, and determined to go the distance later in the year.

But here's what I really remember: When I woke her in the morning to get ready to shuttle to the starting line, she rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock. "Hmmm, 4:30," she mumbled. "Dad, this is when I usually get home."

Just what a father wants to hear. Oh, those late-night, party-till-ya-drop teenagers!

I was remembering this a few weeks ago when Runners World Online had a discussion about Boston's noon starting time, which is clearly an anachronism in today's marathoning world. A lot of runners responded like I would have--that Boston's noon start is nice, giving you a chance to sleep in a bit, eat a light breakfast, and just generally deal with the whole notion of consciousness before trying to roar down the road at full throttle.

In fact, I think one of the reasons I ran my personal best marathon at the 1976 Olympics was because the race started in the afternoon, when my biorhythms were on full alert. Sleep in, breakfast, light lunch, GO!

Most races, of course, marathon or shorter, don't have the luxury of starting late. Traffic and other logistical concerns generally mandate an early start. So do legitimate worries about heatstroke. Sometimes, there's really no other option but to get going before the birds start to twitter.

But what about races that, for whatever reason, have a real option to start late? What if the weather is likely to be mild all day and the idea of closing the race course to afternoon traffic doesn't give local officials hives? Shouldn't there be a few races around that take advantage and schedule later starting times?

I've always thought that one reason more teenagers don't show up for road races is that 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning just isn't part of their world view. (Get real, dude.) Even kids who turn out for cross-country and track race mid-morning or late afternoon, not when the sun is still below the horizon.

Or here's another option. Why not schedule races even earlier in the day. How about a 5:00 a.m. start? That way, we'd catch teenagers on their way home.

Hey, everybody, let's go run that 10K!

Yeah, I'll just know that'd work.