‘Nothing could have prepared me for the moment’: Daughter joins marathon to help struggling mother

‘A moment I hope neither of us ever forget,’ mother says

A gracious 10-year-old stepped in to help her mother when she noticed her struggling in the middle of a marathon.

In early September, one mother-daughter duo proved triumphant even without the first-place title. The mother, Courtney, was in the middle of a marathon in Salt Lake City, Utah, when her offspring noticed her struggling.

A few miles before the finish line, Courtney cried as she tried to make it to the end. In a video posted to Courtney’s TikTok account, her 10-year-old daughter could be seen running out from the sideline to meet her mom as she moved past.

“She knew I had struggled the last few miles. She heard tears in my eyes when I called on mile 24,” the mother admitted. “Nothing could have prepared me for the moment my 10-year-old daughter would jump out of the crowd and run me into the finish line.”

Touched by her daughter’s notion, she turned, smiling at her child. The two grabbed each other’s hands and completed the race together.

“And then she just held me,” Courtney confessed. “A moment I hope neither of us ever forget. Best moment of my race.”

Deeply moved viewers added poignant comments on Courtney’s video. A few acknowledged the beauty of the mother-daugther relationship and how emotionally aware children can be at times.

“She held YOU. So beautiful how our kids recognise when we struggle even when we don’t think they are paying attention,” one emotional viewer wrote.

“There’s an instinct I think daughters have that tells us the exact moment our mamas need us most! Love everything about this,” another added.

One person commented: “This is how you KNOW you’re a good mama.”

Other viewers commended Courtney on her effort in attempting the race in general.

“Look at you queen you did it!! You’re absolutely amazing and so incredibly strong! How incredibly special this is,” another viewer wrote.

The Independent has reached out to Courtney for a comment.