How Young? Revisited

I had a different post in mind for today, primarily about Vibrams - but a couple of news events have been bouncing around in my head far too prominently lately, especially in light of an article I recently wrote about the question of how young is too young for extreme athletic endeavors. So today’s offering is the cognitive equivalent of the squeaky wheel getting the grease, and I’ll come back to revisit my original idea tomorrow.

Jordan Romero

As you’ve undoubtedly heard, 13-year-old Jordan Romero made it to the summit of Everest. He’s now a media darling, making the standard rounds on all the major networks, including a seat on Jay Leno’s couch last week. He’s also got a book in the works called The Boy Who Conquered Everest. And truthfully, I couldn’t be happier for the kid. He was highly motivated, worked his butt off, and used a great support system in order to – borrowing Hillary’s famous expression here - knock the bastard off.

However, the side of this whole “youngest ever” frenzy that makes me a little bit squeamish is exemplified in the story of 16-year-old Abby Sunderland and her nearly-disastrous attempted solo circumnavigation of the globe. She got trapped in a storm, and was briefly feared to be lost at sea prior to her rescue by French and Australian crews some 2000 miles off the coast of Australia.

Abby Sunderland
The unsettling aspect isn’t that Abby might not have been qualified to make such an attempt – because by nearly all accounts, she was. It wasn’t even that the plan failed; after all, storms can take out even the most qualified veteran sailors (and as I’ve recently discovered firsthand, sometimes there’s no shame in a DNF). I’m even inclined, just a tiny bit, to cut her family some slack for expressing no willingness to pay for the costs of the rescue, even though it seems like an ideal Balloon Boy-style reprimand on many levels.

What bothers me most is this: prior to the journey, her parents had signed a contract for a film documentary (second item) of the voyage, as well as an agreement to have the whole family’s adventures made into a reality TV show (first item). [*Updated: both of the above links to Magnetic Entertainment, the company in question, have been disabled since this post was published.] And while there’s nothing inherently wrong about soliciting yourselves to various producers in hopes of making a little side income, there’s no question that this wrinkle moves Abby’s endeavor slightly further away from “young kid has a dream and works hard to make it happen” and slightly closer to “family willing to place kids at great risk in exchange for fame and/or fortune,” which for obvious reasons is far more troubling.

I have no idea exactly where on that spectrum this particular family lies – just as I’m uncertain whether the fact that Abby’s brother was a previous “world’s youngest” record holder is a point in her favor or not. But the thought that - no matter what happens to the Sunderlands - there’s undoubtedly another family out there willing to push the line a little further towards the risk side, and another family after them to push it even further, and so on, gives me a bit of a chill wondering if a tragic outcome isn’t hopelessly inevitable someday.

For today, I'm thankful neither of those stories featured Jordan or Abby.


P.S. If you're interested in Abby's perspective, check out her blog here.

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How Young Is Too Young?

If you haven’t heard of Jordan Romero yet, chances are that you will in the very near future.

Jordan is a 13-year-old Californian who is currently making a summit attempt on Mount Everest; it’s the kind of story that simultaneously makes you say “Whoa, cool!” and “Wait … what?” His journey has gained a lot of attention, with recent profiles on all the major network news programs and CNN (which used to be a major news outlet), as well as a great deal of family-driven self-promotion from his website and various new media outlets.

image from JordanRomero.com

The prospect of an adolescent kid taking on Mount Everest – as well as the parents who support and fund such an undertaking – is far too complicated for me to analyze in a single blog post. That’s why I was thrilled to read an outstanding feature article on Jordan’s quest in Outside Magazine last month – the link for which is provided below.

While reading that article, I was reminded of a New York Times piece from last fall that recalled a generation of very young kids who ran the New York City Marathon before age limits were instituted. On some levels, it was just a matter of scale between concerns the running community had back then, and those that the mountain climbing community is struggling with now. Obviously, climbing Mount Everest is a much bigger, much more potentially deadly pursuit than running an ultra, but many of the considerations for and against such activities are quite similar.

That’s the premise I used for the Monterey Herald article that follows. This was also one of those rare times when I’m thankful for an editor-enforced word count, because I could have very easily stretched this from 600 words to 1500 without even looking up from the monitor. However, you’ll be shortchanging yourselves if you skip the more detailed articles - especially the one on Romero – so be sure to follow those links for a more comprehensive read on the situations.

I also had a lot of help on this article from a friend of mine who happens to be the medical director of the Big Sur Marathon. He has an interesting perspective on the issue, having been one of those kids who ran a marathon at age 13 and a 50-miler at age 14, and who is now a member of the board that enforces the 16-year-old age minimum at Big Sur. The point of the article below isn’t necessarily to make a recommendation about these guidelines one way or the other; my intention was mainly to throw a question out there that might trigger some interesting discussion.

Finally, if you want to track Jordan’s progress in something close to real time, his team posts frequent updates here on his blog. The question of whether or not he should be there is now moot; the only thing left for us to do in this case is follow along and see what happens.


Running Life 5/6/10 “How Young is Too Young?”

As you’re reading this, 13-year-old Jordan Romero of Big Bear, CA, is bivouacked at 22,000’ on the slopes of Mount Everest, preparing for a summit bid that would make him the youngest person ever to stand on the world’s highest peak.

Despite his age, Romero is no novice; he’s climbed to the highest points on five other continents, and has more mountaineering experience than many “tourist climbers” who pay for guided expeditions on Everest. However, his attempt has been met with equal parts praise and outrage by experienced mountain climbers. Some see him as a role model for a generation of unhealthy, overweight kids. Others consider him a poster boy for reckless ambition and misguided parental prioritization. [See Outside Magazine’s profile of Jordan.]

The question is simple, but the answer is incredibly complex: how old should kids be before taking on extreme athletic challenges?

The running community grapples with a similar dilemma – albeit on a less dramatic scale than mountain climbing – in considering at what age children should be permitted to enter marathons or ultramarathons. Nearly every race today has a minimum age requirement, but in the 1970s, very young runners were somewhat commonplace at major marathons.

Prior to instituting a minimum age of 18 in 1981, the New York City Marathon saw approximately 75 runners aged 8 to 13 cross its finish line in the late 1970s. [See this New York Times article.] The Los Angeles Marathon’s Students Run LA program annually trains kids ages 12 to 18 to finish the event. Locally, the Big Sur Marathon’s minimum age is 16 – although in an interesting twist, its medical director ran his first marathon at age 13, and his first ultra at age 14. Last month, four 16-year-olds successfully completed Big Sur's challenging 26.2-mile Highway 1 course.

So how young is too young? Is 12 or 16 more risky than 18? What about 10? Or 8? And what exactly is the rationale for any of these guidelines?

The American Academy of Pediatricians recommends that runners focus on shorter events like the 10K or half-marathon until age 18. A group called the International Marathon Medical Directors Association cites the AAP guideline in its own recommendation for an 18-year-old age requirement. Curiously, the standards are based as much on psychological considerations as they are on physiology.

For example, it’s true that kids with developing bones and muscles are highly susceptible to overuse injuries with endurance running – but this is a consequence for many adults who train excessively as well. Children’s bodies aren’t as adept at thermoregulation, leaving them susceptible to heat-related problems during a race – but the bodies of novice marathoners are equally unprepared in this regard. Overall, the physical risks of the marathon for youngsters aren’t significantly greater than those for adults.

Instead, the primary concern expressed by most running authorities, as well as grown-ups who started as extremely young distance runners, is that kids might be trying the marathon for the wrong reasons, and might burn out on running relatively early in life. From a standpoint of promoting lifelong health, it’s always better for runners of any age to build up to the marathon gradually, over a period of years instead of weeks. And if parental pressures are any factor in a child entering the marathon, the likelihood of he or she continuing as independent adults is fairly low.

In the end, every situation is unique to the individuals involved, in running just as it is in mountain climbing. There will always be precocious kids who are physically gifted and genuinely self-driven enough to take on such challenges, and there will always be some who are better off building up to such things patiently. The only things we can wish for Jordan Romero or any other young athletes are for them always to be safe, have fun, and develop a passion for healthy activity that lasts a lifetime.

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