Running began for me with my daughter India (age 10) being an equal partner in the crazy notion to begin running and my other daughter (age 7), being the ‘back up support team’. The back up support team consisted of a child on a bicycle, with a backpack in which she packed, water, band aids and arnica cream, and occasionally we were joined by her friend from across the street, also on a bicycle.

When we finally branched out of our safety zone and began to run beyond the end of our street, we hit the trails. Still with the back up support team in tow, we were now at the huge milestone of being able to run for 10 minutes before walking for 1 minute. Sadly, this was the point at which we parted company with the back up. She declared ‘Its just not fun anymore, you keep running and you just aren’t stopping’. While gasping for breath we tried to explain that was the whole idea, but alas, all future running would be without the comforting knowledge that water and band aids were never far away!