It's the Green Belt Relay, a two-day 220 mile relay challenge around the skirts of London that follows the M25 highway, encircling the city. Each member of the 11-strong team runs a stage on both Saturday and Sunday, ranging anywhere from 6-13 odd miles on terrain as flat as towpath, to hills so steep they cause you to walk, in crouching agony, up them.When you aren't running, you're being shuttled, stage to stage, to marshall, hand out water, cheer or just relax by the start or finish of a stage. The logistics of the even is a feat in itself.
My stage (stage 8 map) today began at Letty Green, in Hertford and followed a stretch of canalside towpath to cover 10.65 miles ending at Dobbs Weir in Hoddeson. It was a flat fast course, and an opportunity to gauge my fitness, so I tried to stay focused, warm up and stretch, whilst my vanload, most of whom had already competed for the day, enjoyed a pint at the quant countryside pub that marked my starting point. It was worth the discipline, as I just dipped under 1 h 12 min for the course, finishing 3rd and within 1 min of two women ranked top 25 in the nation, which showed some improvement in my speed since I ran a half marathon in Feb. The cost of a quick course, however, meant enduring endless stretches of gravel towpath, lined with beer-sipping sunsoaking folk who only served, with their puzzled looks, to make me think twice about how I was spending my Saturday afternoon...not to mention harassing young boys who you'd think never saw a woman in spandex, dogs off leishes who made moving hurdles of themselves, and a riverboat called 'Slow Pace' that cruised past as I was huffing it in the last 5 k.
Tedious, but I enjoyed the flats while they lasted. Tomorrow I'm in for a more undulating change of pace...
