Hello Beginner Runners,

We’ve made it! We are RUNNERS!!! This week we’ll have our first non-stop hour long run. It’s incredible. We’ve come so far in 16 weeks. It seems like yesterday that we were jogging one minute and walking two minutes (and that was hard!!!). Now look at us go….. we are big-time runners!

Before we move on to training specifics, we have a few “housekeeping” items to discuss:
Thank you Nicky for volunteering to help with transport in Bratislava. We all appreciate it!
We are still collecting for the Starbucks holiday tip fund. The money will be given to the staff this Friday so if you want to donate, please do so this week (to Betsy, Syma or Bonnie). Most ladies are giving £5, some more, some less, some not at all. We are also baking cookies/candy/treats for them. A lot of the staff are not from the UK and will not be going home for the holidays. We thought home-baked treats might be a nice idea. Again, feel no pressure to do this, but if you are willing, let me know.
Also, I have the running group t-shirts in the boot of my car. You could find me around Starbucks this week at the following times:
Monday 10:00 – 11:00+ (after the MWF run)
Tuesday – not at all – I’m out of London for the day
Wednesday 10:00 – 11:00+ (after the MWF run)
Thursday before our run (I’m usually there by 8:00am) and after our run (I’ll probably be back from our finish point by 10:45 or 11:00 depending on how long we sit at Westfield)
Friday 9:45 – 11:00 (after the MWF run)
Yes, you are correct – I spend far too much time at Starbucks!!! Feel free to pick up shirts for friends if they are not able to pick them up. I have a spreadsheet printed out – you just sign by the shirts you’ve taken. Let me know if we need to organise a different time for your shirt delivery.

Starting this Tuesday, 11 December, the run should be 45 minutes (not a repeat of what we did last Thursday). For this week, you can split that up into two intervals or try to just do the 45 minutes non-stop. Beginning next week, Tuesday, 18 December, the run should be 45 minutes non-stop. There are some suggested routes in last week’s email. Some of you have asked about extending the weekend run. This is not a good idea. It’s better to keep that run to 35 minutes. If you want to push yourself, try to run it a bit faster but don’t make it a longer session.

This week our route will take us to Westfield Mall at White City. How cool is that? It seems so far away but actually we’ll have to do a little spin through Hyde Park and Kensington to give us 60 minutes of running time. At the mall, there is a huge Starbucks (upstairs near Next). If you have time, stay for a coffee and/or a little shopping.

Lastly, during the holidays we have two Thursday runs – the 20th and the 27th. I’ll send more info about specific training over the holidays next week including route options for those of you in town. Syma will be leading a run for you on the 20th. She’s out of town on the 27th so it will be a self-led run that day.

Call or email if you need anything. I’ll be in the US from 16 Dec until 13 Jan but will be checking my emails regularly. See you Thursday!
Happy Running,
Paula