I am in AWE!

It has been 2 ½ years since Hope has been home. When she arrived, she talked about not having to run anymore. It was a requirement in her school, and although I thought at first she missed it, she later let me know that she NEVER wanted to run again. In fact, when she and I would go on little jogs together (bonding time), she would barely be able to run between mailboxes without slowing down to a S  L  O  W walk and breathing heavy.

Fast forward to the following spring. Andrew was training for cross country—Hope decided to try and run a mile with me too. We did more walking than running at first, but then it lengthened to two miles, mainly jogging. Not too bad, but she said that she didn’t want to run like her brother!

Throughout the school year, Andrew kept encouraging Hope to join the Cross Country team. Hope didn’t want to commit, but I took her for a sports physical “just in case”. When she didn’t sign up at the end of the school year, Andrew took the liberty to write down her name on the team’s roster. (without her knowledge, of course J) Hope took the training schedule and started it, without committing, she let me know.

Without getting stuck in the details, only two months later, Hope has run OVER 230 MILES!!! Never mind the blisters, never mind getting up at 5 am to get the run in before band camp for a week, never mind the 90-degree heat most of the summer! She even learned that running in the rain can be enjoyable, deer and wild turkey can be seen in the multitudes when you are on the road, and sometimes you can run 11 miles just because it feels good. As of yesterday, she officially “committed” herself to the team!

I am so proud of my girl!

BTW, I am also proud of my boy—he is now over 300 miles in his 2 months of training for cross country!

Way to go, Andrew and Hope!! You both have done what was formerly-considered *impossible*!

All my best,

Amy