This girl impressed the heck out of us tonight.

This evening she asked me if she could run in the 8.5k Nomad Trail Race at Roberts Farm Preserve. She had heard all the stories about what a tough race it is, the weather was extremely hot & humid, she was tired from her first week at school, and yet she was excited for an opportunity to get out and run! I was going up there anyway to photograph the event, so I was more than happy to sign her up.
She was nervous at the start because she's never run a race without any of the rest of our family with her, but tonight she was on her own. 

It was a long time before she reached the first point where I would see her, so I was starting to get worried that the trails were taking their toll on her. They were. She was walking instead of running, and crying. When I ran up to her, she started telling me how awful she felt. I was horrified, but not really surprised since that race course made me cry too. I told her that there was no shame in quitting if it hurt. Nobody wanted her to hurt herself running a race. She asked how far she had gone, and how much further she had to go. I didn't know, but informed her that I did know that the water station wasn't much further ahead. She said that she would get there and make her decision. When she reached the water station, she guzzled 3 glasses of water and decided to keep going! I am so proud of her for showing such toughness and gumption in the face of adversity. Those trails are tough, and long.

As it turns out, they were even longer for her. She took a wrong turn and ended up being out there in the woods for so much longer than expected. She has never run that far before! Fortunately, she had found another young girl out there who was also hopelessly lost, and they helped each other find the correct trail back to the finish line. We adults were just heading out to find them because it was starting to get dark, when they came RUNNING out of the woods! Those girls sprinted and chased each other to the finish line; laughing as they finished a crazy adventure together!!