Margarita ran the “One Tough Mother Runner,” hosted by Virtual Strides!

Did you know that there are more than two million children in the United States who have lost one or both of their parents? Research shows that 1 in 20 children experience the death of a parent before the age of 16. The “One Tough Mother Runner” race helped to benefit Family Lives On  – an organization that provides ongoing support to these grieving children. The Foundation’s Tradition Program encourages the healthy emotional development of these children by providing annual opportunities for remembering deceased parents, and creating a safe haven for children for grief, communication and celebration.  For more information about this charity or to make a direct contribution, please visit FamilyLivesOn.org.

During our first race, Rita decided several potty breaks were needed, which slowed us down quite a bit. However, this time I was the one slowing us down, as I just didn’t have the energy to keep up with her! Rita was raring to go, and ran the entire time with stamina to go even further! Rita even got to see her first deer (a baby!) on this run, as we had to stop to let the deer cross the road so it didn’t get “spooked.”

Our finish time was 33 minutes, 57 seconds for this race. We were able to shave off 7 minutes, 32 seconds off our first race!

I am someone who could never – would never- even think about running without music. I actually am not a huge fan of running, and a playlist of my favorite songs usually distracted me enough to get the job done. I did not wear ear buds while running along with Margarita, as we do not have roads in this town – we have trails – and they are very narrow! I wanted to be sure that I was 100% aware of our surroundings while on the “roads” in our town in order to protect Rita from moving cars, spooked deer darting out of the woods, or loose dogs. I have to say, praising Rita and the interactions I have with her during our runs are far more motivating than ANY playlist!

Congratulations on a job well done, Rita!

Congratulations, Rita!

Rita’s total race miles : 6.24 miles