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INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A little more than 1,000 children under the age of 16 will run in Saturday's Mini-Marathon.
You might think, nothing could go wrong with a young runner.
But in our Eye on Kids report, we found young marathoners do face some risks.
Riggs Baxter and his sister Madison are just two of the young runners in this year's Mini Marathon. They've been practicing with their dad.
“We do six miles every week and then we keep adding on ten minutes every week,” said Madison.
“I want to stay in shape and my dad runs it,” said Riggs.
Staying in shape is a great idea. But too much running can cause problems in kids, specifically with their growth plates, the ends of their bones where growth actually takes place.
Dr. Daniel Kraft of Methodist Sports said it's different from adult problems.
“Where an adult may get an Achilles tendonitis, a child younger, 9, 10, 11 age range may get what we call severts. Which is an inflammation of the growth plate where the Achilles attaches to the calcanus,” said Dr. Kraft.
Dr. Kraft also said kids don't respond to heat like adults. So, they should be watched closely if the temperature is over 55 degrees.
And, young runners should be accompanied by an adult, especially in a race as big as the Mini.
For the Baxters, that's not a problem.
“I jog ahead and then I have to wait up for them but uh, they do a very good job,” said Jeff Baxter.
All in all, Dr. Kraft said if kids want to run, let them. Just make sure, the kids really want to do it.
“Running in races such as this 5k races, Mini Marathons for kids, is fine as long as a child is doing something he likes to do and they are the driving factor in them running. When it becomes coaches, parents being the driving factor, then I think that causes problems,” said Dr. Kraft.

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Tags: indianapolis, marathon, mini