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The above link is VERY important so please take that into consideration when answering this question. (This is, again, for my cousin by the way)

Shes in 7th grade...her mile time is 9:35. Her peer is are (the fasted around 4:30) and (average-7-8minutes)

My cousin is a really bad runner, and l think its because of her size. Shes 12 and 4'7 and 60 pounds. Shes too frikkin skinny and she wants to join cross country next year (she is hoping she improves).

What kind of training should she go through to meet her goal? Joining a team? Runnning every dday? If so, please give detailed information on joining a team and tips for running. Thanks!

Her size is not the problem, actually her light weight is an advantage. To become better she has to practice. maybe 2 miles 6 days a week and she will cut that time down by a minute in about a month.

Um if she is a bad runner. l would forget about it.
l am in cross country so l would know.
You need to be fit & at least run good.Not run fast.
My time one mile is 6:45 the lowest l had was 7:34
l am 5'9 & l weigh about 115 & l am 14.
If she only weighs about 60 lbs get some fat into that girl.
man she is like skinny.
l mean l am skinny too
ppl say l would make a perfect model.
but l get A is in school so l want to be a vet.
anyway she is too skinny...

First of all l am a runner so of course l would encourage anyone who is interested to do cross country. Her time really is not that bad! If she were to run a full 5K race (3.1 miles) like kids in high school do, & run each mile at a 9:35 pace she would still finish in under 30 minutes which would still beat a lot of people l raced in high school. l guarantee with practice she is only gonna get better. l would say at her age run a couple of miles maybe 3-5 five days a week & take off the weekends to relax. l am sure that maybe there is a local team that would let her join in on practices to help her improve l would check on it. By the way 4:30 for a mile is really fast! l do not think l saw any guys in high school run it that fast. l will say though that running takes a looottt of self discipline so it will not be easy if she is not used to it but it will get easier the more she practices. Also if she is in middle school then l imagine the events she would run would be like one mile or two miles to the most so l would work on speed work (sprints) to bring down ur time & make u stronger.

Wait..4:30 for a 7th grader? Yeah right MAYBE 5:30.

First, if u know a seventh grader that can run a 4:30 u should get that guys autograph now because he is going to be famous when he grows up.

l would not worry about the 9:35 mile. The good thing about running is that there will almost always be someone slower than you. Also, she is extremely young so she has plenty of time to improve on that. l ran cross country in highschool (as well as before & after) & l can not tell u how many stories there were of guys who sucked for a while, & when they finished maturing they started kicking everyone is butt. 12 years old is still way too early to tell how good of a runner she could be. The other thing is that unlike sprinters long distance runners r made, not born. Yes, u do need to have natural talent if u want to be an elite runner, but it is amazing how much hard work can do for you. l am someone that falls into that category. I'd say l have average speed, but l can beat a helluva lot of people simply because l out train them. l will never win any marathons or even 5Ks, but depending on the size of the race l can sometimes win my age group or finish in the top 10 to 20% of a marathon, which is fine by me.

If l were her l would just do what the coach tells her to do, & have fun with it. She can also run during summer vacation as well. At that age l would not recommend running more than 4 or 5 days a week. I'd probably build up to about 3 or 4 miles. l think the girls' highschool cross country race distance is two miles, but at most it would onlybe 5K, so a summer training program for a 12 year old would be that at the most.