Rosie Swale-Pope

(25 January 2014 – Stratford charity shop)

I’d heard about this woman’s epic and practically unsupported run around the world (she was sponsored by Runner’s World magazine and provided with kit by various companies, but ran alone for most of the journey) and was pleased to happen across her book on our charity shop ramble in Stratford at the beginning of the year.

When Rosie’s husband dies of cancer, she resolves to run around the world – as you do – to honour his memory and raise awareness of cancer; she also ends up raising awareness of and money for various charities along the way. Because this journey eventually takes five years, the book presents an outline of her journey and a series of vignettes (happily in order, or occasionally in well-signposted flashback) of her life on the road, concentrating mainly on the lovely people and animals (there is no sad animal stuff apart from a few partings) she meets along the way.

The frightening experiences are far rarer than the heart-warming ones, and her calm efficiency and resourcefulness – as well as an ingrained and passionate respect for ordinary people and careful intention not to allow herself to be frightened, but always think the best of people – get her through various scrapes and danger. She is humble, grateful for help when she has to ask for it, and very, very resilient (OK, extremely hard!), breaking several ribs along the way and not letting that stop her (she even runs through a set of dental treatment at one point!).

She wasn’t a newbie at adventure, having completed the Marathon de Sables and a single-handed Atlantic sail, so she has already tested herself and knows she can do it, but she’s not a machine, and it’s a heartfelt, moving book, respectful and celebratory of people, animals and nature. It made me well up a good few times.… (más)

This is a true story about a woman who, after her husband dies of cancer decides to run around the world in order to raise awareness of cancer. It's an amazing story, and Rosie is an amazing woman but I think I was expecting to be more involved in her story. I think partially the problem was that the book spans the five year trip and the places she ran were so remote so the snapshots were exactly that and it was difficult to get a real feel for the journey at times. Running in -50, and dealing with Siberia, Alaska and Greenland amongst other places is awe-inspiring, but sometimes I don't think I really got that sense. It's maybe a harsh to judge because she's not a writer, but I almost wish it was a pure diary form where we got more of her emotional experiences, and found out more about the days where she wanted to give up, where the frostbite and the isolation got to her as opposed to the more sanitised 'this is what happened, I felt, I saw...' thing we got sometimes.

Regardless, my awe of the woman throughout the book never wavered. It staggers me that she never gave up, that she completed that journey despite it's length and tribulations. She was 57 when she started her journey, and although she wasn't a newbie at these mammoth feats after sailing the Atlantic single-handedly, it's still, for me, an almost unbelievable feat and although I was disappointed I didn't develop a more emotional connection with the journey, my admiration and awe was definitely something that wasn't ever in doubt.… (más)