Gina ran the North Dorset Village Marathon on the 6th May and raised £825 for Rosa. Here she explains her motivations behind running.

Why I run:

I run for many reasons: to get fit and stay healthy, to be strong, to be fast, to get out in the fresh air, and to have time to myself to think. Mainly, though, I run because I can.

I went for my first planned “run” in 1994, just after starting University. I think I was trying to impress a boy, but I quickly forgot about him. I didn’t forget about running. It took me 16 years to work my way up to a full marathon, and on 6 May 2012 I ran my second, along the leafy country lanes of the North Dorset Village Marathon.

Many people, many women in particular, aren’t as lucky as I am. They have problems they can’t run away from. That’s one of the reasons I chose to run a marathon for Rosa.

I had heard of Rosa through my job, but I knew that most of my friends and family would not be aware of their work or of the problems women and girls face in the UK in 2012. To many people feminism is an outdated concept, like corsetry. Women are now equal, right, so their rights don’t need to be fought for? I asked my friends for sponsorship for Rosa partly because I wanted them to ask me who Rosa were, and why I was running for them. I wanted to tell them that women and girls in the UK still need people to fight for their rights, and that Rosa were out there doing it.

Compared to Rosa’s work, running a marathon is easy! For 23 miles it was bliss, though I will admit that the last 3.2 miles were amongst the toughest I have run. Everything hurt, and I wanted nothing more than to stop, but I did not stop. I ran the last three miles because I could.

After all, if you can run, why wouldn’t you?

Read Gina’s blog here.

If you want to run for Rosa then please contact Vicki for more information