Here are some of the Bedford Babes – a wonderful group of women (and one man) who came together over a common passion for running but who soon discovered they had many other shared passions as well. The beautiful one in the centre (who looks a bit like me!) is my own sister Mary, one of my dearest loves. She asked the group if they would organize a half-marathom to raise funds for Karuna Vihar and they responded enthusiastically. They even volunteered their children to pitch in for signing up sponsors.

So that’s how I came to be addressing a very various group early one Sunday morning – seven extremely fit, energetic women (they had already put in six miles on a grey, rainy, cold day) and fifteen children ages 4 to 17, who had heroically struggled out of bed on the last day of their school holidays to come and hear me talk about kids with disabilities in India. We had a wonderful buffet breakfast (which I forgot to take a photo of, but think abundance of fruit, bagels, muffins and coffeecake) and then I showed the slides of the Foundation and our work.

Everyone left determined to make the marathon a success and seeing the energy and creativity these women bring to everything else in their lives, I have no doubt they will do just that. I was so inspired by them! I might even take up running! Or maybe I’ll just walk a little faster.