Most of the time spent participating in the Green Belt Relay, involves being shuttled to, from and in between stages in a team van. Three colour-coded vehicles - Green, Blue and Red - are coordinated on a leap-frog-like schedule driving runners to their scheduled starting points, marshall points and designated finish areas to pick up racers as they finish. There's usually baking, always wine gums, the occassional post-run box of donuts, case of beer -- all amidst a faint smell of sweaty socks.The van-time fun helps distract you on days like today, where luck of the GBR draw has me descend Box Hill (Stage 19 Map), only to climb the height across dorking and along the North Downs Way. A stunning course over 10.5 miles, but made arduous by Saturday's 10.65 already weighing on my legs, not to mention the sweltering mid-arvo start time and the fact I haven't run uphill in months. The panoramas were worth the effort, and the hills gave a good enough excuse to slow the pace...err, nearly 10 mins slower than yesterday's longer distance.
Still, it suits my perverse definition of fun, and, given the giddy folk in the picture, not mine alone.
