A Force To Be Reckoned With

I have like most people I would imagine, have not been able to find the words, or perhaps even the thoughts to articulate my perception of the events of this week in Woolwich. Words, images and phrases have spinning round my brain like a carousel but not with any cogency or structure: disgust, shock, horror.

Primarily, for me it is the horror, the guttural the feeling of horror. Horror at such a brutal murder, beheading seems medieval and somehow worse. Of course a murder is a murder but beheading adds even more gravitas to the situation. How do we stop this horror happening again?

My sister and I were talking about security when at the Manchester 10k today and whether things have increased since Boston. The truth is I really don't think that we can do much to protect against terrorism. How tight would security have to be to check every spectator at a street event, how then could we check every person on the street in every town to protect against another Lee Rigby death?

If we increase security we cease to become a free society and we feed in to terror. One thing I have not heard anyone say this is week is that they fear terrorism ( this may be naïve, I can only comment on media coverage I have seen and people I know ) and most of the service men I have seen interviewed state that it's business as usual.

My view is as it always is in life, is that none of us know when any of this can be taken away from us and all we can do is cherish the small stuff because sometimes that big stuff is way out of our control.

I have seen many reactions to Lee Rigby's death. I have seen shock, disgust, racism but mainly I have seen positivity about our country and of course about what a valued man Lee Rigby was.

I guess it is easy for a civilian to sit and give lip service to it all, people may say positivity is just an empty platitude, a meaningless congeniality but what else do we do? Weep and hide at home?

I shall sign off with telling you more about today's race in context of the events of this week.

Today I witnessed these twelve British military men running the final 100m of the
Manchester 10k in uniform and back packs, they pounded the streets in searing heat. I heard the crowd up the ante as they cheered them across the finish line with astounding volume and with a passion and pride usually reserved for sport like The Olympics. That, yes * that* is what this week has done to the forces and the British people.