The Orange Line: Pre-Race Morning

It turns out that in a relay race like this each van is its own little six person world. While there is some interaction between vans it is mostly pretty brief. The Green line had the technologically more advanced equipment so a series of post-race notes will have to do for the Orange line report. I am going to do this over a couple of days so it reads something like a live report. Why not, Rosie ran something like a marathon!

Van decoration is both a complex and important process. More important than you might have ever thought! The point of decorating your van is not to just impress everybody with your skills as a stand up comic (although that is, of course, quite an important element) but to also let your runners figure out which van is theirs! Yes, on the road with your van are another 350 or so identical 15 person vans. Absent anything to distinguish them nobody would know which support vehicle is theirs. Actually, while we were decorating we knew none of this. We just thought we would impress people with our creativity, since we certaintly had no plans to do so with out blinding speed! The vans were named the Green and Orange lines after the color of the window chalk we used on each. Here is Paul standing in front of one after the initial round of graffitti was applied:
Behind his shoulder on the small window is a T inside a circle that is the official logo of the Boston subway system. Across the two big windows it says, "Rosie Ruiz Fan Club Riding to Victory."

Matt