Hello Beginner Runners,

I know these notes must be getting boring. Every week, it’s blah, blah, blah…. “you’re wonderful, you’re amazing, you’re doing so well”. Truthfully, I don’t know what else to say. We had another fabulous run this week; some of you even ended up adding a bit of extra mileage on your adventure run! It was fun!!! Last Thursday, I had asked you to run at a comfortable pace, to run in single file when bikes were passing, to get to the front of the pack if you’re faster and to start thinking about your pace pack. Again, you’re perfect! You are all doing a great job of finding your pace. It’s fabulous to see. As for avoiding bikes on the canal, this group could give our Mon/Wed/Fri runners a lesson or two. Thank you so much for being so alert.

This week our route will be somewhat familiar to you. We’ll run to the canal in Little Venice making a quick exit to head down to Hyde Park via Sussex Gardens. In Hyde Park, we’ll run along the Serpentine heading towards the SE corner of the park. From there, we’ll run to Big Ben following the same route as we did weeks ago. When we finish our run, we’ll stretch then head to the Methodist Church (the cafe Susan found for us) for coffee/pastries. The run will be two 30 minute running intervals separated by a short walking break. Everyone should really, really, really enjoy that walking break – it’s the last one we’ll have.

This note may arrive too late to catch you before your run tomorrow morning, but if you read it, here’s the deal…. tomorrow is the last Tuesday that you repeat the intervals that we did the prior Thursday. For tomorrow, it’s not necessary to run to Runners Need again. You could do the two 25 minute intervals in Regents Park or Hyde Park. You could run along the canal or do a shopping run down Regents Street/Oxford St/Marylebone Rd. If you decide to run the canal, make sure your pace is very comfortable. It’s hard to run straight without street crossings. Slow your pace to make up for the lack of little mini-breaks at street crossings. As for pace in general on Tuesdays, please break into two or three groups for the run. Everyone could do the same route but let the faster girls go at their pace and the middle and back of the pack runners go at their pace. Beginning next week (Tuesday, 11 December), the Tuesday run should be only 45 minutes. Some route ideas follow. I’ll send more options in the next few weeks (so you don’t get bored with these three routes!!!).
This is a nice loop which cuts through Regents Park then drops down to Portland Place, heads west Seymour, then north along Lisson Grove. Take St. John’s Wood Rd up to Wellington then head to Starbucks (or the park to stretch).



This is a similar route to the one above but drops a bit further south (to New Cavendish St), heads west, then turns back north on Marylebone High St, crosses over Marylebone Rd, enters the park then finishes at Starbucks in SJW.



To the left is one more option for a Tuesday mid-distance run. Head down to Hyde Park via Lisson Grove/Seymour Place, enter the park and run south then east (see map) exiting the Park at Brook St. Run home by the US Embassy, Baker St. and Park Rd.

The canal in either direction is always a good option for a mid-distance run as is Regents Park. Another idea is to just head south towards Oxford St. Run in Mayfair or Soho (where there are numerous tube stations) until you reach the 45 minute mark then take a tube home.

If you are doing a weekend run, it should be approximately 35 minutes. Feel free to break it up into intervals or just go for it and see if you can do 35 minutes without stopping! Beginning the weekend of 15/16 December, the weekend run should be 35 minutes of non-stop running (no walking breaks).

• Lastly, I have two requests.
  We are looking for a volunteer or two to help Donna Vos organize bus/coach transport in Bratislava (for Friday airport to hotel and Monday hotel to airport). Donna has begun the process of finding viable transport companies but will need help managing the details of who’s on which bus, headcounts, etc. It’s not a hard job nor is it too time-consuming, but whoever takes it on needs to be good with details and spreadsheets. Is anyone willing to help?
• Our Mon/Wed/Fri runners collect money each year to give holiday “tips” to the Starbucks staff. Most of the women give £5, some more, some less, some nothing. Please feel no pressure to do this but if you want to join in give your donation to Bonnie, Betsy or Syma. They will pool the money and present it to the Starbucks staff.

I look forward to seeing you this week! Please feel free to call or email with any questions/concerns you have. I’m serious about that. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you and/or let me know about your triumphs/successes. I love to hear when you have a particularly good run.
Happy Running,
Paula