Hi Everyone,

 Welcome back!  I hope you had a great two weeks whether you were travelling or enjoying some spring weather in London.  

 On Wednesday we have one of our favourite London routes – 4 or 5 miles to Big Ben.  The 4-mile route takes you straight to the Westminster tube stop but if you’re up for a bit more running and a few beautiful views, we have a short loop over the Westminster and Hungerford bridges and then back to the tube stop.  Remember to bring your tube card.  If you have been consistently running over the break, you can run back to St Johns Wood.  But if you’ve taken some time off these last few weeks, it’s better to take it easier these first few runs back.  Remember to take time to stretch and gradually build back the mileage. 

 On Friday we are back up the hill to Hampstead.  Once again, consider taking a shorter route if you haven’t been running.  Or feel free to follow a flat route of your choice if you’re not up for the hill quite yet.

Keep Running

I know it’s tempting now that our big race has finished to take a break from running.   Especially as life gets increasingly busy as the end of the school year approaches.  However, the best thing you could do for yourself is to keep running over these last few months of the year and over the summer.  You’ll hang on to the fitness level you built for the race and you’ll start the fall ready to run. 

Spring, Summer or Fall race?

One of the best ways to keep running is to sign up for a race.  Having that race on your calendar will motivate you to train.  Even a short local race can make a difference.  Or you may want to consider signing up for a half-marathon in the fall.  We usually have a group of women who run the Windsor Half Marathon, which is scheduled for Sunday 28 September.   It is supposed to be a beautiful but (true confessions) hilly course.  As of today they were still taking entries, the race closes at 6,000 runners.www.runwindsor.com

Welcome to Ex-Beginners!

We’re excited to have the ex-beginners join our MWF group!  As a reminder, we have four pace groups (9s, 10s, 11s, and 12s) but the groups are really just a simple way to organise folks who run at roughly the same pace.  As I mentioned at the race dinner, Syma usually runs in the 11s and Betsy runs in the 12s.  I think Bonnie runs a bit in both groups.  I run with the 10s and sometimes the 11s.   There is such a big group of ex-beginners, so wherever you end up there will be other ex-beginners with you.   We all know that joining the big group can be intimidating at first, but please know that the first day is the hardest.  Everyone is so friendly that you will quickly fit right in.  (It’s easier to join the MWF group in the spring, because in the fall there are many new runners that just moved to London.)   As a reminder we meet at Barclays at 8:15, and we try to start running at 8:20.  Let me know if you have any questions about the pace groups or the MWF group. 

I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone!

Jane

ROUTES

Wednesday 23 April

Big Ben plus Embankment Loop (4 or 5.3 miles)

We have no scheduled run for Easter Monday, 21 April, So we start this week’s routes on Wednesday 23 April with a modified Big Ben Route.  We’ll head down to Big Ben the usual way, to Hyde Park and then along the eastern edge of the park to Hyde Park Corner, under the arch and down Constitution Hill.  Run past the Victoria Memorial down the mall and enter St. James Park.  Run over the pond and out of the park, turning left onto Birdcage Walk and down into Parliament Square.  You can take the Westminster Tube from here for a 4-mile run or continue down to the Thames and across Westminster Bridge, where we’ll turn left and run along the south embankment to the Hungerford Bridge and left along Victoria Embankment to Big Ben, where we’ll head home on the tube from Westminster Tube Station.

Friday 25 April (seriously 25 April!!)

HILL RUN  The Heath

 

It’s Friday again, so everyone up Fitzjohn’s.  You can pick your distance and whatever you choose, there will certainly be someone else interested in running that distance.  All of these routes are on the website.

In addition, every week there are a group of women who prefer to do a flat run.  We can help make sure that you find each other.  

 

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.

5 miles: The Betsy Route

6-7 miles:  The partial Heath route

8 miles:  The full Heath route

 

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes

 

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