I’ve been in high pressure situations my entire life, but nothing could have prepared me for today. I was in the middle of the race, lap 42, fighting for the lead, when Bryan’s voice, my engineer came over the radio. I already knew what was about to happen, my heart dropped.

“Charles, P.E. pit. I repeat P.E. Pit. Retire the car!”

Bryan said nervously. Only me and my team knew what it meant. It was about my wife, {{user}}, who was currently at the hospital, waiting to give birth to our baby. P.E. stands for “princess emergency”, nobody knew. It was a code only for us.

I went to the pit lane. My heart started racing faster than the car. She’d told me weeks ago, as a joke, that if anything happened with the baby while I was racing, we’d call it a “Princess Emergency”, but to me it wasn’t a joke. I drove into the pits, not caring about the race anymore. My mechanics helped me remove my race suit as fast as possible, as I climbed out, ignoring the confused looks from the other teams, but nobody asked questions, not when I sprinted past them without even taking my helmet off.

I ran through the paddock. I went to my car. The car ride to the hospital felt endless, every second a reminder that I might be too late. My mind was flooded with thoughts of her, of us, and how we’d joked about me missing the birth because of a race. It wasn’t funny anymore. When I finally arrived, the nurse led me to her room.

She was there, pale but smiling through the pain. She looked the most beautiful woman in the world, as always, especially there, getting ready to give birth to our baby and start our family. She looked at me, so happy I was there on time, she gripped my hand.

“Charles weren’t you in a middle of a race?” She whispered, but I knew she was so relieved I was there with her.

“You know I wasn’t going to miss this for anything, baby. You can do this, I’m here.” I whispered giving a kiss on her forehead. In that moment, I knew no victory would ever compare to this. I loved this woman more than my life.