Talent or burnout?

I was looking at the results for AAU Cross Country from last year and came upon a kid who I could not believe. He ran a 12:51 for a 4k as a 13 year old. I looked up his name and some more results and it turns out he ran a lot of unbelievable times. Here are some just to name a few:

Half-Marathon: 1:26:11 (13 years old)
5K: 15:56 (13), 18:30 (11)
4k: 12:51 (13)
3k: 10:14 (12), 10:48 (12)

This kid just makes me feel like a turtle.

So is this talent that will last or will this kid end up burning out?

Umm...both could happen?

If he's brought up conservativly, with all his coaches not putting pressure on him to be the best for them (HS, even College) he could be very good. Sadly a lot of coaches waste their talented runners to win championships NOW rather than look at the long term development. Peaking for 3 seasons a year doesn't help at all.

Theres a 11 year old that runs some of the road races I do and he run in the 18's for a 5k. I think he'll burn out before he's a senior. Next time I see him I'll ask how far he runs a week.

We can only hope he burns out, but a kid like this could be the one setting the records when we're older. Who knows.

TRI_Love_518 wrote:We can only hope he burns out, but a kid like this could be the one setting the records when we're older. Who knows.

Why would we hope for others to suck when we can just get better and not have to worry about it?

Running With Scissors wrote:

TRI_Love_518 wrote:We can only hope he burns out, but a kid like this could be the one setting the records when we're older. Who knows.

Why would we hope for others to suck when we can just get better and not have to worry about it?

yea....hoping for someone who we dont even know, to burn out is kind of douchebagish.

alex-likes-running wrote:

Running With Scissors wrote:

TRI_Love_518 wrote:We can only hope he burns out, but a kid like this could be the one setting the records when we're older. Who knows.

Why would we hope for others to suck when we can just get better and not have to worry about it?

yea....hoping for someone who we dont even know, to burn out is kind of douchebagish.

First, I was being sarcastic, and second, why else would everyone think he's gonna burn out before the end of high school? If everyone can just get better and not have to worry about it, then why is this even a post?
Someone obviously cares if he does well or not...

TRI_Love_518 wrote:

alex-likes-running wrote:

Running With Scissors wrote:

TRI_Love_518 wrote:We can only hope he burns out, but a kid like this could be the one setting the records when we're older. Who knows.

Why would we hope for others to suck when we can just get better and not have to worry about it?

yea....hoping for someone who we dont even know, to burn out is kind of douchebagish.

First, I was being sarcastic, and second, why else would everyone think he's gonna burn out before the end of high school? If everyone can just get better and not have to worry about it, then why is this even a post?
Someone obviously cares if he does well or not...

I wanted to share the fact that this kid is freakishly fast but also asked if it would result in burnout or getting better.

It could be either, don't worry about it.