Half Marathon Girl

A 12-year-old girl who thought she was running a 5km race ended up completing a 13 mile half marathon instead.  It all started when Lee, the accidental long distance runner, turned up at the start line in Rochester in the US state of New York just when half marathon runners were setting off.  Thinking she had arrived late for her shorter race, she started running.  As she clocked up the miles though Lee began to get suspicious, as the 12 year old explained “About the fourth mile, I asked a woman I was running with how long it was – and she said it was about 13 miles…That’s when I realised I think I was in the wrong group.”  Despite finding herself in a race which covered a distance four times longer than what she had trained for, she continued.  As for Lee’s parents, who must have been wondering where their daughter was, they were eventually able to watch her finish the half marathon after a police officer on a motorcycle managed to track the youngster down.  And even though she had not trained for the longer distance, Lee completed the 13 miles in an incredible two hours, 43 minutes and 31 seconds.  A natural born runner.