It’s going to be a beautiful week in Victoria, and I’ve had a lot of interest in Running for the Truly Terrified (RTT). For the past two weeks I’ve been joined by Scott and Derek. This week my hairdresser Marion says she wants to come with her friend, and a couple of other people on Twitter have expressed an interest as well.

I volunteered on the run course at the Victoria Youth Triathlon this morning where I ran with a little girl “K” to get her to the finish line. K had a good race, except when she came off the bike for lap 1 of the run her stomach started to hurt – bad. Through tears, she insisted she was DONE. I took her off the course to the finish area where she had a bit of juice and some bread. We waited for her mom who – I realized as soon as she arrived – was my friend Cathy from Twitter!

Soon after K saw her mom she started crying again – she wanted to get back on the course and finish her race. Not finishing is worse than finishing in pain – I know that feeling — that’s the spirit of a strong, determined young woman!

I took her back to my station where she had left off and said “When you make it back here to start lap 2 I’ll run the rest of the way with you — if you want.”

Sure enough (and sooner than I expected) K came roaring around the corner toward my station for lap 2. “Do you want me to come with you to the end?” I said as she whizzed by. She slowed a bit and said “Yes,” so I took off my jacket and brought her all the way around, cheering her the whole way, encouraging her to keep going. Cathy was in tears when she saw her little girl finish, and she was even more surprised to see me right there with her.

“I can’t believe you ran with her, thank you so much!” she said, over and over again, giving me a big hug. Or two or three.

For me it was no big deal, or so I thought. I had been a bit bored, standing around waiting for runners from 7 am until noon, even though my own daughter was with me and we always have a great time volunteering at races. I was happy to run a bit and get the blood going.

Except that, when I jogged back to my station where my daughter was still monitoring the run course, I found myself in tears as well. And here I am, again in tears as I write this. I was so proud and honoured to be able to help someone achieve her goal, even after all seemed lost. Everyone is an athlete who shows up, day after day, race after race, and does their best. Everyone is a hero who digs down real deep and finds the courage and the heart to cross that finish line, no matter whether they’re first or dead last.

I remembered what I told K after she finished: “This is yours, all yours. You finished this race, you are a triathlete and no one will ever be able to take it away from you, ever.”

I hope she’s as proud as I am of her.