The legendary Ernie Banks was renowned for a signature phrase that conveyed to the world his passion for baseball, "Let's play two!" For the Hall of Fame Chicago Cubs infielder, there was nothing better than playing a doubleheader. Some area runners share Banks enthusiasm for twin bills and they'll demonstrate it today at the Betty Double. In order to prepare for next month's Reach The Beach Relay (RTB), a few locals will 'play two.'

In its 10 year history, the Reach the Beach Relay has become the premier team endurance event for area athletes. RTB is a 12 person relay race that begins in Franconia and travels 200 miles across the state of New Hampshire, finishing on the shores of the Atlantic in Hampton Beach. This year's RTB is Sept. 12 and 13. Teams set off on staggered starts and each of the dozen team members run several times, accumulating approximately 18 miles each over the period of a day. It's important that they have the physical endurance and the experience of running at night in unfamiliar locales. That's where the Betty Double, two 10 mile runs, 12 hours apart comes into play.

Sandy Sheehy has cobbled together a team of women runners, the 'Bettys' for RTB in four of the past five years, and the Betty Double has been an integral part of their success.

"Any double session is a great compliment for this multiple rotation event," the North Attleboro resident said. "It not only helps to simulate what it will be like to get out there and run again, but because the mileage is significant enough it simulates the 'beat up feeling' which is what RTB feels like between the second and third rotation, only you're in a van somewhere in the middle of New Hampshire."

The 'Bettys' have placed first (2004), second (2005) and third (2007) overall in the Open Female division, so they have something working for them. What would one expect from the Betty Double? The first 10 mile starts at 7:30 a.m. out of North Attleboro and it is expected that 20 runners will be there. The course rolls out of the Sheehy home on Pine Bough and will climb Messenger/Elmwood into the WWI park, out to Rte. 1 then return. The inclusion of a couple trips up Watery Hill is there by design to replicate the hills of New Hampshire.

The evening session at 7:30 p.m. is where the true champions and grit appear.

"It's a whole new ballgame at night," said Sheehy. "The footing becomes precarious and the environment changes at night. Runners need to be aware of sidewalk heaves, curbs and sewers while adjusting to oncoming headlights and the ever present annoyed motorists. There have been several people that have shown up that have never run in the dark before and they were nervous. They came, conquered and are coming back this year."

The course will replicate most of the a.m. tour including the dual climb on Watery Hill.

In addition, to prepping runners physically, the camaraderie that results is just as valuable to building team unity.

"By the time mile 15 rolls around and we are running up Elmwood, you can hear Bettys encouraging each other and helping to push or pull one another up the hill. There's a tad bit of 'hate the hills' banter going around, but this helps with bonding. Each gripe is seconded by another and all the while they are moving right along together."

Anyone can come out and run either or both 10 mile sessions, including men. Mansfield's Mike Touloumtzis doubled last year and was forever changed by the experience.

"In theory it's designed to strengthen the runner for the multi-leg Reach the Beach, but it's really a test of youth," said the Philosopher King of the Wampanoag Road Runners. "Can you run 10 miles and then heal sufficiently in 12 hours to go out and do it again? Not if you remember the Eisenhower Administration."

Touloumtzis won't be playing two this year, deferring to a younger generation, but he was positively elegiac in the passing of the torch.

"'We have some salt of our youth in us,' says Shakespeare in The Merry Wives of Windsor," the 57-year-old said. "Some salt maybe and enough salt-and-pepper on this noggin to know that the Betty Double is for those who are young at heart and in a few more body parts as well. Bless 'em all and Godspeed!" Footnotes

At Sunday's Runaways Five Mile; North Attleboro's Greg Payne, who finished second to Olympian Mark Coogan last year, took the race in 27:44, over a field of 130 competitors; Julie Spolidoro from Duxbury broke the women's course record in 29:08, finishing comfortably ahead of second-place finisher Stephanie McNamara of North Attleboro.... Anyone heard from the Norfolk County Pacers lately? The Franklin-based running club seems to have fallen off the face of the earth in recent months.

ROB ROSE is a Sun Chronicle correspondent. Send running news to P.O. Box 600, Attleboro, MA, 02703 or via e-mail to lsxplrer@comcast.net