pickupthepacepaul

From 28th June 2019 the London Relay takes to the streets for 30 days and 30 nights. This started in 2018, led by Danny Brent, and was a great success. With route options of 5k or 10k the relay baton is passed from one runner / group, non stop for the entire 30 day period; 24/7. The website reads simply “Run London, relay happiness”. An event designed to be fun, and for everyone.

Austin had been asking me for a while to attend, and frankly the 21:40 start time for his stage put me off. However, I caved, and entered to join a fantastic group stage of friendly, familiar faces from Instagram. Austin did a brilliant job bringing this team together, and on the 4th July we made our way to the start for stage 117.

We had such a laugh, and this really isn’t about racing off, it’s about having fun together. Although we did run off at the start whilst Leigh was in the toilet (sorry mate). Whilst we had a leisurely start he was at PB pace to catch us up at the London Eye.

At this time of night I was surprised that it was still so busy on the streets of London, I’m usually tucked up in bed. It was lovely to run together and chat along the way. I mostly stuck towards the back, and spent time talking with Rich, Chris and Adam. Lots of great chat with everyone, and a medal for our efforts.

This is a self navigated route (pretty easy to navigate, run to a bridge, cross it, run back to Tower Bridge, finish…). It’s not about the race, it’s the taking part. You get a nice tee to run in, a medal with water and snacks at the end. If you haven’t entered a stage already, go and do it. Better still, get a group of friends and have a laugh together along the way.