Children's Hospital Walk For Kids: Holy Smokes!

I found out on a local events board that the Annual UVA Children's Hospital Walk for Kids was today. I knew about that, but they had a "Wee Walk" option. I really didn't pay attention to how long it was; I figured we wouldn't finish anyway. I called about the course--it was smooth, flat, paved, and had water and help available. Hmm.

I asked E this morning if she wanted to go on an exercise walk with me. I said we could be partners, teammates, and see how far we could walk. And that there would be babies and dogs there, and that we would be helping little babies in the hospital by our exercise. She quickly agreed.

Our whole family went. It was H-O-T. 90°F, actually.

We started with the rest of the walkers. E was the only one impaired walking--that I saw, anyway. Everyone was so incredibly supportive. My goal was for E to use one crutch, and hold my hand in the other. We got about 100 feet, to the turn where the Wee Walk started, and there were a few kid games--E stopped to play and she had about had it. She started whining that she wanted to be carried. I wanted to see if I could get her to walk a little farther--just to the shady spot on the grass. We took a few breaks to get there, but she did it. Then she saw everyone across the park finishing the Wee Walk.

"What are they doing?" E asked.
"They are finishing the walk--the course ends over there," I told her, as we sat in the grass. E asked to get up.

"I'm doing it."

"Doing what?" I asked. "Do you want to walk more?"

"YES! I am going to do the whole thing." My eyes got huge. I nodded.

We had about 3/4 of the course remaining. We took breaks often--some were just standing breaks, some were to switch hands, some were to sit down and have water or a goldfish cracker. I let her be in charge--never again did she asked to be carried. There were two ladies who came behind us, and introduced themselves and asked if they could walk with Elena. She took Britney's and Rachel's hand, and kept on going.





SHE DID IT! Jason and I were amazed! The course was 1/4 mile long. Once E decided she was going to do the whole course, it took us ~25 minutes to finish, and a minimum of 10 breaks. GREAT JOB E!