I’ve yet to read the winners of both those competitions, but if they are better than this then I’m in for a treat. It deserves every plaudit it has received and I cannot believe this did not win the Man Booker in 2015, or the Baileys Prize this Spring. And to take a breather after the emotional battering I felt it dealt me! Time alone also gave me the opportunity to reflect on the book’s content. I was tavelling alone, without the family, and it was wonderful to be able to read the last quarter of the book in long sessions, which I think was a good way to approach it. I finished this book at the end of half term on a trip to Italy for a dear friend’s vow renewal ceremony. There are still a number of RfLs still to go up and down the country during the month of July. They knew they were in the presence of something awesome. It was a brilliant day for them too and all the men present were so supportive, so proud and so…secondary. We ran with a friend and her daughter and our husbands came along. But I could never have explained to them in advance how that sense of women’s collective voice, authority and dynamism would impact on them. I applied with my daughters because I thought it would be something we could do together, the girls in the family. I was kind of expecting this, it being a female only event. The other aspect of the RfL which is so striking is the sense of the power of the feminine. Many were running in groups, perhaps having lost a friend, taken too early, or in support of a friend still fighting. For many of those running, it will have been an exercise less in fitness and more in catharsis. Running the race, it was striking how many people had multiple names on their cards. In your RfL pack is a card where you can write the names of people you are running for which you pin to your tee-shirt. A dear friend lost a parent to the disease just last week. Each year these events raise many millions of pounds for charity and this financial input is critical to the global fight against cancer.Ĭancer touches most of us these days I lost my father to lung cancer six years ago. Race for Life is a powerful brand which started out, I believe, to raise awareness of breast cancer. But something propelled me to register for the Race for Life, an event which is now held in different locations up and down the country and which has been established in Tatton Park for a number of years now. I’m not a runner, it’s not really my thing, and, frankly, I will find any excuse not to go for my once or twice weekly jog round my neighbourhood. Last Sunday, I and my two daughters (aged 10 and 12) completed the Tatton Park 5k Race for Life.
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