For all of his life, Calum Neff had a passion for running. Now he is sharing this love with his 11-month-old daughter, Holland.
He not only won the half-marathon in Katy, Texas, but he did so in record time. Calum bested the Guinness World Record for the fastest half-marathon while pushing a pram when he completed it in 1 hour, 11 minutes and 27 seconds all while pushing his 20-pound baby girl, Holland, for 13.1 miles as she was buckled safely in her 22-pound stroller.
The last record was set in 2013, with a time of 1 hour, 13 minutes, 50 seconds.
“It was just a truly epic day to share with my youngest daughter,” Calum told TODAY Parents. “It shows that anything is really possible and being a dad and working doesn’t mean you have to give up on other dreams and hobbies.”
The 31-year-old operations manager for an oil field services company ran his first race when he was only four years old.
“We’ve been on cloud nine,” Calum said. “It’s really special to share that with Holland.”
photo: Calum Neff facebook
The father-daughter team were cheered on by the crowd as little Holland waved and babbled away.
“For almost the entire race, she was waving and clapping and talking and babbling away,” shared Calum. “She was stealing all the hearts along the way, that’s for sure.”
At the finish line, Calum grabbed the medal as it was being placed around his neck and slipped it around Holland’s instead.
“I wanted that to be hers,” he said. “It was fun for me to put that around her neck.”
photo: Calum Neff facebook
On the next page, find out how Calum pushed through when Holland started getting irritable
“There was so much support on the course,” added Calum. “Everyone was cheering and a lot of people knew who were and that we were going after the record.”
When Holland started getting fussy with about 10 minutes left in the race, Calum became more motivated to finish it faster for her.
photo: TODAY Parents
“It was awesome,” said his wife Julie, who was waiting with their 3-year-old daughter Alessandra at the finish line. “There was so much energy. I was shaking, I was so excited.”
“For me, it’s kind of worth it,” Julie told TODAY. “It’s not so much whether or not he wins or gets a world record, it’s the process of his running that is really amazing to me. It’s important for me to see the girls watch him go after all of his goals and dreams.”
Though he works full-time, he manages to make time to participate in marathons and other long distance events.
He trains by doing mountain running, usually without a stroller. But he does take his daughters out for stroller runs on the weekends.
“It’s important to get them out into the outdoors,” said Calum. “In Houston, it’s a concrete jungle but we still try to see as much green space and wildlife as we can.”
READ: Simplest parenting hack ever: Do this one thing to raise healthier kids
photo: Calum Neff facebook
Being a father is inspiring, shares Calum, and he longs to be good role model for his two girls. He plans to support them no matter what path they take.
“It doesn’t matter if my girls don’t become runners,” he said. “It’s just something I wanted to share with them.”
READ: A stroller that pushes itself is now in the works!
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