Watch out America! If you see a 68-year-old grandmother running down the highway pulling a bright orange cart behind her, it’s just Rosie Swale Pope. Rosie is a global adventurer who, having completed a five-year solo, unsupported 21,000-mile run around the world — in which she stared down frigid Siberian winters, hungry wolves, crazy ax-men and desolate loneliness — is now tackling America.
While her previous adventure was to help raise public awareness of early detection for prostate cancer — a disease that claimed the life of her second husband — this U.S. trip is actually more personal in nature, she said. She told The Huffington Post — after we caught up with her on the road about 20 miles outside Washington, D.C. — that what she wants to do is not just run across America but run into America. She wants to hear the stories of the people she meets along the way and will give voice to them in an upcoming book. She has camped with the homeless, shared meals with first responders, and spent hours in the company of soldiers who have returned from war. She meets families in coffee shops and strikes up conversations.
–
She asked that anyone interested in meeting her or having her speak to a group, email her at rosie@rosieswalepopw.co.uk or call her at (201) 626-0494.
