Brave, intelligent & a reminder of what matters most

I can always tell when I am listening to a book I love on Audible - my step count goes up and I find every opportunity to nip out for a dog walk to listen for 'just another 20 minutes'. This has been the case for the last 48 hours after downloading Jen Scotney's book Running Through The Dark.

For transparency, I have spent time with Jen, have been a guest on her podcast Resilience Rising, subscribe to her Substack newsletter and we share the same editor Kirsty Reade and publishers Vertebrate Publishing.

I thought I understood something of her story and despite not being a runner myself, certainly not a long distance one, I was keen to hear her words. I knew she was an articulate, intelligent and considered writer.

That said, I didn't expect this to be such a beautiful, raw and brave book that has so many threads of grief, love, connection and hope running through it. Like Jen, Albert Camus 'Invincible Summers' has held me up through the darkest of days.

Within the first few pages I was in tears as she described her brother and father's deaths. Her description of the family's last few hours with her father reminded me of my mother's death and stopped me in my tracks.

In many ways this reflects much of Jen's writing - personal and intimate stories about her own life give us an opportunity to ponder upon our own, to feel seen and heard and ultimately less alone. In her detail we find larger themes that we can all relate to in some way.

Jen shows us that even in the darkest of times, there are shoots and roots, connections and hope to hang onto. She also reminds us that we do is not who we are, that our identity is more than our achievements and that the only path we need to follow is our own.

I will always be impressed she met Lady Hale and the positive difference she made in her legal career.

I found the descriptions of the endurance challenges and running community very moving and interesting. The camaraderie, the support, the preparation and the kindnesses. I have zero interest in running the Pennine Way myself but felt at times felt as though as I was with Jen on the routes and likewise her portrayal of the Peaks, Lake District and Yorkshire.

This will be a book I dip into I am sure and thank Jen for sharing her courageous journey with us towards those invincible summers. I highly recommend Running Through The Dark.

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