My daughter has now taught me to stop being ...

[Arual]

such a doubter of other's spirit, intentions, abilities and drive.

She is 19. She has never in her life ran a marathon before, so what did she decide to do back in March of this year? To sign up for the Nike Women's Marathon... a 26.2 MILE marathon... in the HILLY city of San Francisco! Mind you, this kid has asthma and a heart condition that is currently in the process of being diagnosed (like literally... she's under cardiologist's care..ugh!)... but yep, she goes and pays her 175.00 fee out of her own paycheck from her little part time job and gets signed up - and reserves a hotel room! So what does she do from March until this past Sunday? TRAIN you say? Train to run this?! Oh no... not her... she decides she's wayyyyy beyond having to train and just does what she normally does, goes to college, chills with friends and works at her little (that's what she calls it.. 'little'.. well, cause it is..lol) part time job - oh and for 'fun' she trained... for ONE day, on the beach... all of 2 miles. I was a NERVOUS wreck come this weekend when she took off for San Fran, when I realized she was dead serious about running this! I was literally sick to my stomach all weekend over this. I stuck close to the cell phone like never before in my life.

But what did she do - yes, that's right... that squirt went and ran 20 MILES of that dang marathon!!!! She's considered a 'finisher' and therefor received a beautiful necklace from Tiffanys. Im in complete 'awe' of her drive and will power to do this. 20 MILES for a first timer... in the hills of San Fran!!! Wow...She ran it in honor of her grandfather who has stage 4 lymphoma cancer (the marathon is for leukemia and lymphoma).

She and her friend who ran this with her, would sent cell phone pics every so often to show me the view... to brag about how gorgeous their running view was ... or was it to torture me some more with worry as I could see how big those hills were .... I think it was to torture me...she says it was to show me what I was missing..... righhhhhhtttttttttt!!!

Anyways... I shall never again doubt my kid's spirit, intentions, abilities or drive. Never ever again.

[carrie1977]

That's amazing that she ran 20 miles of it without any training! Good for her!

My co-worker and her SIL ran the 1/2 marathon and they both trained for WEEKS for it. LOL!

[tanyiadeskins]

I dunno. maybe I have PMS lol but this brought tears to my eyes. Your daughter is amazing and to do that in honor of her grandfather is beyond touching.

[jessica31876]

That is tough!! I have walked like 15 miles before but that was walking not running!! And that was 20 years ago. She should be really proud of herself!!

[mrshobbes]

Originally Posted by tanyiadeskins

I dunno. maybe I have PMS lol but this brought tears to my eyes. Your daughter is amazing and to do that in honor of her grandfather is beyond touching.

Hahaa, it's not PMS, because I am teary-eyed too. I think I needed this reminder of believing in the best of people again Thank you for sharing this!

[scrap2day]

That is ah-mazing!

[xboxmom]

Wow you have one tough cookie there! Proud Mom moment!!! AWEsome!

[eranslow]

That's awesome!! Big congrats to her!!

(and I've done the Nike 1/2 marathon twice - definitely a hard run! But so worth it to get the TIffany necklace!)

[Arual]

Thanks Ladies, I am sooo proud of her... and so happy to have learned a few lessons myself through this!

eranslow - I think she should have done the 1/2 instead, it still would have been a huge step to attempt, but I think it would have been a safer option just starting out. Her Aunt even told her that she runs all the time and she herself can just do a mile over the half, and tried to encourage her to do just the 1/2, but nooooo... kids don't listen to us adults! LOL! Less than about 8,000 runners did the full marathon, she and the others went further than 17,000 runners.... thats amazing that you people can run like that and still stand up the next day! LOL! :-)

[kristijoy]

Fantastic! I just love it will people can over come all odds and do something great!

[deebirks]

That's wonderful.

[kelley]

Wow that is absolutely amazing!! Good for her!!

[lovely1m]

Oh, to be 19 again. Good for her! I run, but there is no way I could do a marathon with no training. lol

[ripal]

WTG!!!! That's awesome! My friends and I were talking about signing up for it, but didn't get around it. I was going to sign up for 1/2 though. I did end up running 1/2 in San Jose but San Fran is much more challenging that's for sure!