Cross country running part 3

The Maudsley Hospital phoned back yesterday (bless them). They said that Waif could run her race provided she ate an extra 1,000 calories. I told Waif that she had to eat an extra 1,000 calories before AND an extra 1,000 calories after.

Waif really seems to have done that :-) She set a new record for breakfast this morning - as well as her usual 2 pieces of toast (wholemeal, crusts off, no butter, smear of jam) and bowl of cereal (bran flakes), she had a hot chocolate, a rice pudding and an apple. How I would like to see that every day! It also turned out that the race was only 2km so I am pretty sure that she will have come to no harm and will have done less exercise than usual in total as she traded me yesterday afternoon's games lessons when she came home and rested instead (we watched Enchanted on Sky-plus together). The games lessons would have totalled an hour and a half whereas her run was probably about 15 minutes.

I discovered this morning why Waif was so keen to go - her friends from her old school were also competing :-) All in all, she had a good day even if it was 4 hours total in the coach (which is a good thing in my view as it involves sitting still). Oh, she was also pleased to come 39th out of 250 competitors. I told her that she could be a very good runner if she can build up her strength and put on some muscle (it's true). Hmmm.... she has now asked to go for tennis lessons every Friday night at the local club. I am okay with it as long as she is willing to take in extra calories in compensation and is putting on weight. I have told her that if she stops putting on weight then all sport will come to a complete halt. Getting to a healthy size has to be her utmost top priority - what's the point of being good at tennis if you might die of heart failure at 23? :-(

Meanwhile Older Daughter has announced that she wants to go to boarding school. I can see her point as it is all quite stressful at home. The only problem is that she has just missed out on all the deadlines for sixth form entry. As she is a very clever girl and likely to do extremely well in her GCSE's, I am confident we could find her a place somewhere but not, perhaps, the top boarding school of her choice.... I am writing begging letters. Her main focus needs to be on entry to med school coming up soon. I feel I have been neglecting her recently....