Proud parent alert! This weekend my 15 year old daugher and her lifelong friend - G's Daughter, went out and walked 50km. Extraordinary!
(also another friend of G's walked with his daughter at 13 walked the first 25Km... another epic achievement!)
Let me rewind a little. My daughter had often teased me about how sore, stiff and in pain I was after training and challenges the last couple of years. As teenagers can be, she even suggested it might be easy. LOL.
Then, about 6 months ago, my friend G suggested we do a Dad and Daughters 50km walk. An opportunity to bond with our girls. I thought this was great idea.... my daughter, not so much. But I thought it'd be good for her as she is very academic, artistic and does pretty much zero athletic endeavors at any time.
All I wanted was for her to have the courage to show up and take herself out of her comfort zone. To do something she had never done, and push herself further than she had gone before.... and she did not disappoint.
She had dome some training with a few 10 and 12km walks, and walks home from school daily (2 miles). She had plenty of bravado (as you'd expect from a teenager) but I also know she is incredibly determined. She also has an issue with her feet and ankles which I thought could cause issues, so had concerns about the condition she might finish in. But I'd be there to watch and stop it if it was too much.
The morning of the challenge, my daughter had a nasty cold. Not a great start as she felt pretty rubbish. I was prepared for having to pull her out at halfway. This feeling grew as her feet and ankles started causing her pain and problems as we were 20km in. To her credit, my daughter was ADAMANT she was going the full 50km. From the start,, and as the pain kicked in. I know this about my daughter already, and know that she will push herself to breaking point when she sets her mind to it. As her dad I didn't want her to break so it left me with a decision to make. Pull her out or get her legs treated by the medical team at half way. If she felt better, then we'd set off for the second half.
Both G and I set off for the 2nd half and we knew what was coming. A very long 16km stretch of Thames Path. By the end of this stretch I was dancing into the final rest-stop as a distraction to my girl who was starting to suffer. 9 hours on her feet, and 20km of pain from her ankles and lower legs were taking a toll, but she kept putting one foot in front of the other.
The last 8km from the final rest stop was undoubtedly the hardest of my daughter's young life so far. She slipped and fell in the mud in the dark, and cried as she moved. Pain, tiredness and emotions kicking in. So close to the end but still having to move. And move she did. She just kept going, refusing to quit with me feeding her sweets and dextrose tablets to keep her blood sugar up. The pair of us, in the dark, on a muddy trail, on our own simply putting one foot in front of the other.
G's Daughter achieved a just-as-remarkable feat and was suffering at the end. The second half we didn't see much of them as both us Dad's were focusing on keeping our girls going. But G's Daughter was a warrior and I'm so proud of her as well.
At the end my daughter just sat down. No celebration, just some quiet time to process her emotions, dissipate some of the pain and let the magnitude of what the girls had just accomplished sink in. She wasn't fussed about medals, just that she had got through it. The satisfaction rarely sets in at the end, only after.
This will give her so much self belief. That is what this was about for her really. That's why she said yes to doing it. She is quirky. One of the girls who isn't part of the 'in crowd' or 'athletes'... but this young woman is unbreakable. She walks to the beat of her own drum and I am so happy to be her dad.
I am proud of my daughter. Not because she completed and ultra marathon. Not because she is so young. No, I'm proud of her because she chose to do something new, something challenging, and simply show up in the first place. But I've always been proud of her, she's my little girl and a beautiful human being. She didn't need to do this for me to be proud of her.... I have been from the moment I knew she would be in my life... That she did this anyway, is simply awesome.
Thanks for reading...
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