Marathon

In 2023, Gina ran her first marathon in Edinburgh. It would no doubt have been the first of many if she hadn't become ill. Cruelly perhaps, the 2026 Edinburgh marathon fell on what should have been Gina's 30th birthday. In a different universe where she had survived, Gina would have been there battling through, to support the charities that helped her through 2024. 

The coincidence wasn't missed by Gina's friends though. In the end, around a dozen of her friends and family ran in the 10k, half and full marathon events. Among them were her brother and brother-in-law as well as friends from college and university. It was a hugely emotional weekend which I was personally dreading, for all the wrong reasons.

We've discovered that one of the difficulties in dealing with losing a child, is that for the most part, everyone else moves on - as they should. They see us coping with daily life in view of others, and assume that we are OK; that we have to some degree moved on - or at least learned to live with it. In fact, we've just learned to hide the grief; to keep it out-of-sight; briefly to push it aside with distractions. Being happy, isn't possible. We can be temporarily entertained, amused - even laugh & joke, but when things become quiet and the distractions subside, the grief and sense of loss creep back in to fill the void.

The marathon weekend was a surprising demonstration that even though people have rightly moved on, they haven't forgotten Gina. That is some sort of comfort. Gina would certainly have been immensely proud of her brother and her friends for doing what they did.