THIS SUMMER PAST, I TOOK PART in the South West Coast Path relay: two teams of 68 runners averaging just over nine miles each. It was non-stop over five days, so some got balmy summer mornings and others gale-lashed midnights. When I signed up, I thought the running would be fun and the WhatsApp chat amusing, and both proved true: but I never anticipated checking the team’s progress so avidly or being so inspired by others’ determination. And I would hazard that almost every one of those 136 competitors ran faster than they would have
