1. Conway Beach, Wales 2. Exchange point, Dublin 3. Exchange point Trafalgar Square, London 4. Exchange point, Brussels
From now on we are traveling just with our relay team of four, consisting of Laurel from Hawaii, Heiko from Germany, Paul from Scotland and myself from The Netherlands. Designated the yellow team, we will be together for at least the first 15 days of the route. Each relay team will run four consecutive days with the fifth day off for some rest and media events. The rest of the time we travel, run ten miles per days, pack and unpack our suitcases and pass through the night to be gone again by dawn. Most of the teams will stay at the same hotels at different points of the day and as we come and go, we will exchange our stories, hugs, good byes and hellos with the blue, green, red or silver team.
For the first week we are running the 9:00 am to 3:00 pm “shift”, and the mid-morning to afternoon time slots proofed to be fairly hot, with temperatures in the middle to upper eighties. Add to that some hills and head wind, and we have a good daily workout. Admittedly, I was slightly nervous when it was my turn to take over the baton and run my first leg of the global run, but at the halfway mark I was in the groove and paraded at a comfortable 8:30 pace through the rolling countryside of Connecticut. On occasion a curious onlooker would ask me from a front porch or a sidewalk what was going on. I would than raise the baton and simply respond with a smile and say: ”blue planet run”. Traffic was polite and shared the road at a safe distance. Intersections would come to a halt to let me through, and scooter-man, our personal guide and pilot rider, was always in sight to give directions, and make sure we were safe and secure.
Before I knew it, my run had come to an end and still breathing heavy from the run, hot and soaking wet, I was looking into the giant lens of a camera! Everything I say now and every move I make will be recorded and could end up in some evening news show or local newspaper. Wow! I felt good and concluded my interview with the hope that this global run would produce the desired result, to bring safe drinking water to over a billion people. Nearly finished with the run and the interview, we boarded our team truck to the next exchange point. That night we flew across the Atlantic Ocean, destination Shannon Ireland, for the start of the European part of the run. And so our journey has begun.
For the first week we are running the 9:00 am to 3:00 pm “shift”, and the mid-morning to afternoon time slots proofed to be fairly hot, with temperatures in the middle to upper eighties. Add to that some hills and head wind, and we have a good daily workout. Admittedly, I was slightly nervous when it was my turn to take over the baton and run my first leg of the global run, but at the halfway mark I was in the groove and paraded at a comfortable 8:30 pace through the rolling countryside of Connecticut. On occasion a curious onlooker would ask me from a front porch or a sidewalk what was going on. I would than raise the baton and simply respond with a smile and say: ”blue planet run”. Traffic was polite and shared the road at a safe distance. Intersections would come to a halt to let me through, and scooter-man, our personal guide and pilot rider, was always in sight to give directions, and make sure we were safe and secure.
Before I knew it, my run had come to an end and still breathing heavy from the run, hot and soaking wet, I was looking into the giant lens of a camera! Everything I say now and every move I make will be recorded and could end up in some evening news show or local newspaper. Wow! I felt good and concluded my interview with the hope that this global run would produce the desired result, to bring safe drinking water to over a billion people. Nearly finished with the run and the interview, we boarded our team truck to the next exchange point. That night we flew across the Atlantic Ocean, destination Shannon Ireland, for the start of the European part of the run. And so our journey has begun.
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