Ava.

Ava and I started training for a half marathon back in April and we'd gotten to the ten mile long run when the knee pain she'd been battling for a year became unbearable.  We started with a physical therapist who discovered that her knee cap was riding about an inch too high and the space had filled with fluid, causing all the inflammation.  She was amazed at how tough Ava was and couldn't believe how much she was doing in that kind of pain.  Over the course of the summer we saw a family doc, PT, chiropractor (and all around kooky nutritionist), trainer, and ortho surgeon.  Ava, meanwhile, was still running and playing volleyball and basketball and went gluten/sugar free, trained twice a week, and finally saw some improvement.  We didn't get to run the half but with the amount of self discipline and self control that this girl has, she'll have no problem flying through the next one.

she's cute too.