A huge thank-you to everyone who travelled to London, walked , ran , hobbled, took photos , came to support, drove, provided B&B, gave up their home and garden, sent emails, made food , bought drink , wore ‘the’ T shirt, bought and sold ‘the’ T shirts, organised showers ( communal ? ), decorated the garden , cleared up , made cocktails, did the’dance off’ , did the bbq, sat in the 1940’s car, raised money, laughed, talked, mixed, cried, played drinking games, ate, drank , made speeches ,bought a bottle of wine for 50p, washed the floor , recycled, lugged garden furniture ( Izzy did you carry the chair the right way up ?!). etc
The one person that would have taken part in all of that (except for clearing up and washing the kitchen floor )was Rosie and I hope she was in your thoughts all day.
Rosie is never far from our thoughts, but you are right that on Sunday she was even more ever present. I found it all incredibly emotional and was in tears at various points along the route. Not because of the pain of the jog itself, but at the loss of Rosie. With the teeshirts emlbazoned wih her name and picture, people in the crowd encouraged me with ‘Keep going for Rosie’ . And it was great to see the teeshirts on others, going in the opposite direction on the route back, or very occasionally catching up with someone who has flagging for a moment and being able to bond without words, reminding each other why we were putting ourselves through it. And quite often being overtaken by others wearing the teeshits – people whose faces I had never seen before but I had Rosie in common with them. It seemed that her picture was dotted everywhere throughout the crowd of participants. She was, and will always be, an integral part of us all.
Rosie has been in my thoughts since that sunday evening, driving back from Dorset –