I recently saw a film about this charity Free to Run. I was moved by the deprivation of liberties of women and girls in Afghanistan, and the leadership and running programmes that Free to Run have been tirelessly implementing to improve access to sport and education for Afghani women.

Unmarked minibuses pick women up before dawn and take them to the mountains to trail run with a lower risk of getting shot for doing so. They risk their lives every time they step out of the door. Under the Taliban regime women are not allowed to work, go to school or get a further education, and are not allowed out of the house without a male relative or their husband. They are expected to stay at home, cooking, cleaning and parenting.

We can only imagine the impact on their physical and mental health under these conditions, and I felt moved to run every day from the day I saw the film, run for the women who can’t, run to appreciate my freedom.

I decided to double my lockdown challenge and run 100km in May. When you are as slow as I am and with as many ‘balls’ in the air, fitting this in is not as easy as it sounds! Sometimes I’m having to run twice, or further if I know I will miss a day due to other commitments a distance away for example.

So I hope you can see why it is so important that we support programmes for equal rights and opportunities for women and girls, and that you can dig as deep as you can to spur me on on my daily jogs! Thank you 🙏🏽

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