Hello Runners!
Way to go this week, WRW– it obviously takes more than some soggy weather to dampen our spirits!  (Sorry, couldn’t resist that one).  I think those who made it out found the Monday Brick Lane and the Friday Borough Market runs were worth getting rained on a bit.  And, of course, Wednesday around Regents Park we had a reprieve with blue skies (and a few pink tutus).  It seems like pace groups are settling in well, and everyone has found a good group to run with– but as always, please let us know if you are having trouble finding your place.  

Running this Week.  On Monday we have a great run to the Whole Foods in Piccadilly Circus. Though the route begins along the canal like last Monday’s Brick Lane run, we exit at the Wall and run along Farringdon Road all the way to the Thames, then along the Embankment and through Trafalgar Square to Piccadilly, where you can finish at Whole Foods, or any number of coffee shops nearby (Soho Grind, Hideaway Coffee, etc.). The entire route is 6.5 miles but you can also take the tube from Blackfriars or Temple for 5 miles, or Embankment for 5.75 miles.  Wednesday we will do the Primrose Hill and Regents Park route, for just over 5 miles (or can be whatever fits your mileage needs).  And Friday we will head back up the hill to do the Heath route of your choice.  Maps, directions and links can be found in the Routes section below.

London Marathon.  Sunday is maybe the most exciting run day of the year in our city:  the London Marathon!  WRW will have several runners participating this year.  Bear with me as I try to run through the logistics:  Kelly Willis, Stephanie Gladis and Charlotte Sinclairwill be running the “mass event,” traditional marathon along the Official London Marathon course beginning at 9:30 (Kelly) and 10:00 (Stephanie and Charlotte). Meanwhile, beginning at 8:00 am, Laura Beal, Jess Browne, and Clare Missin will be running the virtual event on a great course they designed (see here for map).  And finally, Miki Neant will be running the virtual event early tomorrow in France, along the marathon course between Nice and Cannes.  If you are lucky enough to be in the neighborhood to cheer her on, please reach out and we’ll try to get you more information!
While the official marathon website is encouraging people to follow the mass race from home via BBC coverage and the live tracking app you can use to follow your runners (more on the app and downloading it here); spectators will be allowed along the course, but are asked not to gather in large groupings.  It is great fun to go out and cheer, and though in the past we’ve organised big cheering groups, it seems better this year to encourage people to form some smaller squads and go out more independently.  In past years we have found some good viewing spots along the course:  near Surrey Quays (overground, or accessed from Canada Water tube with 8-min walk) for a good view along Lower Road between miles 8.5-9;  near Limehouse (on the DLR), where the course loops around and you can see them at mile 14 and 21;  at South Quay (also DLR) where you can see them at both 15.5 and 18 miles; and finally, at Embankment, where you can see them heading in toward the finish around mile 25!  Use the tracking app to help predict when/where to intercept our mass London Marathon runners Kelly, Charlotte and Stephanie!
We won’t have the ability to track our virtual marathoners Laura, Jess and Clare, but we do have a great estimate of approximately when they will hit various landmarks on their route.  As you’ll see on their map, they are beginning at the Regents Park Benugo on the Inner Circle at 8:00am, and expecting to finish at Eaton Square at around 1:00pm.  Some time landmarks will be the following:  Hyde Park Sphere (1.5 miles) about 8:15, River Thames at the end of Church Street/Chelsea (4.5 miles) at about 8:50, Barnes Bridge (11.8 miles) about 10:10, south side of Westminster Bridge (20.5 miles) at about 11:40, and Hyde Park Corner (25.3 miles) at about 12:40.  The full list is included in the ‘London Virtual Marathon’ (attachment below).  There will be groups of 10s running with them for segments, and biking along as support– and all are welcome and encouraged to come out and cheer them on!  
Good luck and ALL the happy running vibes to our marathoners!  We are so proud of you!
Shoutouts and Announcements.  Congratulations to Katie Zolnierz, Laura Beal and Clare Missin, who ran the Hackney Half last weekend!  And next weekend we have at least a couple of runners doing the Royal Parks Half Marathon, so the race streak will continue!  Let us know if you are planning to run, so we can shout it out next week!
A very big thank you goes out to Jen Iannazzo, who, in addition to welcoming new members and keeping our lists, has now wonderfully agreed to help me curate photos for the email each week!  It’s a fiddly job, with a constantly changing array of tech issues– but also rewarding as she will get to comb through all the gorgeous photos of the week.  I am grateful for the help from Jen, and we are all grateful to our photographers who snap and send us the shots each week.  At the moment, the best way to get photos into our files is to e-mail them to [email protected].
We also have a few additional pace group leaders to introduce:  Katie Zolnierz and Clare Missin will be joining the 10s pace leader crew, and Shakha Mehta and Jeanne Jermyn are joining the 11s pace leaders.  Thanks to these ladies for taking on the role!
Save the Date.  We have a couple of fun items coming up later this month:
Wed., Oct. 27 – All-WRW Coffee— Race Boss/Tripmaster Sue Wheeler and ‘Coffeemeister’ Magali Kivatinetz (yup, just made up that title on the spot!) are working on a post-run WRW-wide coffee you won’t want to miss!  Stay tuned for details, and keep a spot in your calendar!
Fri., Oct. 29 – The Annual WRW Halloween run— costumes encouraged– is on!  We will roll out an appropriately themed route, so start thinking about your costumes– but don’t forget you have to run in it!
Meanwhile, your hardworking tripmaster Sue is busy negotiating to make something exciting happen for us in the spring, and kitmaster Marissa O’Malia is plotting with her to be sure we look good when it does!  Keep the excitement balanced with patience, and we hope to have an announcement sometime this month!
I’m looking forward to cheering with (and for) some of you tomorrow, and to running with you this week!  Happy weekend!
xx Micki

ROUTES
Monday 4 October – Whole Foods Piccadilly via Embankment (6.5 miles)
RunGo:  https://routes.rungoapp.com/route/sPLE0JCI3K

Another foodie destination for everyone who missed Borough Market last week!  We start out heading east on the canal and run to the Wall.  We’ll exit the canal there and turn right onto Rodney, which will turn into Penton Rise, then King’s Cross Road, and eventually Farringdon, which we will stay on until we reach the embankment. We then turn right and run along Victoria Embankment to Northumberland (just past Embankment Tube Station). Turn Right onto Northumberland and run through Trafalgar Square onto Cockspur and then turn right onto Haymarket. Take Haymarket into Piccadilly Circus and turn left onto Coventry. Run through Piccadilly Circus, across the street and onto Glasshouse Street, where you will see Whole Foods Market.

Wednesday 6 October – Primrose Hill/Regents Park (5.15 miles)
RunGo: https://routes.rungoapp.com/route/S0AwJViBrd
Start out as if we’re headed for the Heath, running down St Johns Wood Terrace until it reaches the T.  Turn left, then right, then left again at Avenue Rd.  At the crossing just a short distance up  Avenue Rd, cross over and run down Elsworthy Rd a short distance until you see a small road on the right that ends in the entrance to Primrose Hill park.  Once in the park take the path that angles to the left, then bear right at the first fork and left at the second.  This will take you up for a fantastic view from the top of Primrose Hill.  After you’ve caught your breath, take the path that goes down on the right (if you are looking out toward London), then curve around to the left at the first split.  Follow this path all the way down the hill to the crossing at Prince Albert Rd.  Cross at the zebra and head straight into the park via the bridge and across the Outer Circle (NOT a zebra, please note!).  In Regents Park, take the path that angles to the left, running behind the zoo.  Cross the Broad Walk by the fountain and continue across on the path that heads toward, but not all the way to, the perimeter of the park.  Follow this to the far corner, and then turn right to run along the southern edge of the park, inside the fence.  Continue to follow this around  the boating pond to run across the little bridge at the far end of the pond, then bear right to follow the contour of the pond to its end.  Continue on the same path until it meets the diagonal path that runs behind the zoo (the same one we ran in on).  Turn left to follow that to its end and then turn left onto the Outer Circle and follow it for a short distance to the crossing at Charlbert.  Exit the park and take Charlbert to St Johns Wood Terrace to finish at our Starbucks/Pret corner of the High Street.

Friday 8 October – The Heath (4 – 8 miles)Yes, we’re back to it!  There’s nothing like a Heath route for making you feel like you’ve accomplished something with your day– and by mid-morning, even!  Choose your route from the 5-mile Betsy to the 8-mile full Heath and everything in between.  Below is the map for the standard, 6.5-mile Heath route, but you can find all the maps at the links below.

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill. Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back. If you have trouble running up, think about how easy it will be running down!
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6+ miles:  The partial Heath route OR the Reverse Heath route OR Pergola route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route
Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.