Lisa Rainsberger is a graduate of the University of Michigan and a former Boston and Chicago Marathon winner -- she was the lone American to win Boston in its history until 2018, when Desi Linden crossed the tape first -- who founded the Kokopelli Kids Trail Racing Series in 2009. She's the mother of two, including University of Washington athlete Katie Rainsberger, an eight-time state champion in track and field and cross country for Air Academy (CO). Katie was a 2015 NXN winner and Gatorade's National Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year in 2016. In this essay from 2017, Lisa shares her thoughts on raising an elite high school athlete.
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What do you do when you have a son or a daughter who exhibits elite potential and performs outside the norms of traditional expectations in high school track and field?
My advice as a parent? Gather facts and ask a lot of questions. Our daughter, Katie, started to show promise as a runner in the seventh grade in our home state of Colorado.
