Lexington, SC (WLTX) - The fastest 7-year-old girl in South Carolina lives in Lexington County and she just might soon be the fastest little girl in the world.
Kendra Miles has only been running 5K's since last fall, barely six months. Her father Mike Miles says he is amazed at what his kids can do. He says, "She started with a time of about 30 minutes."
Kendra says she wasn't satisfied with that first race. She says, "I wasn't that happy with my time because I knew I could have done better. because whenever I felt like walking I walked and I shouldn't have but it was a good feeling to cross it for the first time." MIles says, "The next race was 23 minutes and it just kept getting closer and closer and ended up getting the state record about two months ago." That was on December 17th in the Soda City Crit. Kendra broke the state record for 7-year-olds with a time of 21:51. That time actually beat the eight and nine year olds too. But she can't hold that time because she is still too young.
Kendra's 11-year-old brother paced her for the Soda City Crit. He tells News 19, "I told her her mile times. I watched the pace. I figured we'd stay at an even 6, um like a 6:50 to a 7:10, somewhere in there, and I told her to slow down when she was at like a 6:30 and speed up if she was like at a 7:30."
Now Kendra has her sights set on a new goal. She says, "I'm going to try to break the state record again and maybe the world record." She's training up to three times a week with that goal in mind. MIles says he lets his daughter set the pace for her training, He says, "She is a very driven person you know, so when she sets her mind on something she really goes for it. So we just to to encourage that."
Tyler says he believes in his sister. He says, "I think she has a lot of potential and I think if she just keeps pushing herself she will be able to get it."
I asked Kendra about her other goals with running and she says, "I'm going to try to get a scholarship and I'm going to try to get a faster time every time." And when I asked her about maybe going to the Olympics some day she said, "Maybe for one year."
Kendra's next race is on February 25, 2017, The Race for Hunger in Lexington. She is hoping to set another state record and maybe even get a world record. To beat the world record, she has to beat an 18:28. Tyler's goal is to beat the state record for 11-year-olds too.