Kid Leading Race Has Awful Form, Man Reports
/Wondering aloud how she could actually be winning, a spectator critiqued a child's running form at a recent kids fun run, calling it "awful."
"I mean, look at her," said George McFly, a high school cross country coach watching Sunday's Greenville Tot Trot, a 1-mile run for children.
"This kid's arms are flailing all over the place, she's practically leaping with each stride, and—ouch!—look at that heel strike."
"Are you kidding me?" he added, cringing. "This is painful just watching it."
Organizers say some 35 children ages 4 to 9 participated in the free event, which was associated with the Greenville (South Carolina) Half-Marathon & 5K.
McFly noted that, "in fairness," the rest of the runners weren't much better.
"Get a load of this one," he said, pointing to a boy running toward the finish line in a Paw Patrol T-shirt and cargo shorts. "Doing some sort of windmill thing with his arms."
"And her!" he added, moving on to a girl a few yards behind, clearly in distress.
"Hey!" he shouted in the girl's direction. "Maybe you wouldn't be crashing right now if you hadn't started out so fast!"
Watching several other youngsters streaming past, at least one of whom stopped briefly to examine a caterpillar, McFly shook his head.
"And people wonder why the U.S. can't compete internationally," he said. "You call this a race?"
Told that this technically wasn't a race, but an untimed fun run, the man grew agitated.
"There's nothing 'fun' about running," he said, before sarcastically complimenting a passing girl on her "nice cotton socks."
He sighed loudly, then turned to walk away.
"Excuse me," he said, "but I have to go lodge a complaint with the organizers. I saw one of these kids receive assistance on the course."