Hi everyone,
In any other year, I would be saying, “Well, this is it!  Our last big run before the race!”  But this is anything but a normal year.  However, we are going to continue on this amazing journey despite the craziness in this world.  If you are feeling uneasy about running in a group, please do not feel pressure to come out.  Everyone needs to assess their own needs and do what is right for them.

Even though you have all now chosen (!!) to do this run, you may be a bit nervous about it, and that is normal.  You all can do this – and we know you know you can do it. It’s a long run, and it will feel long, and that’s OK.  We will make sure you are not running too fast and we will get there and it will be AWESOME!  

OK – a few things for the run this week:

• Bring your Oyster card or contactless card to take the tube back plus money for coffee afterwards
• Bring a gel, maybe two and maybe something like jelly beans, starbursts, etc.
• Bring water (with no electrolytes please!)
• Eat well and get a good night’s rest the night before and don’t go out partying 
• Stretch the night before if you can
• Eat something for breakfast

A note about bathrooms along the run – around mile 5, there is a Costa Coffee attached to the Hilton Hotel on the Kensington High Street (just past the intersection with Holland Road) which has a few toilets.  There is also a Starbucks at mile 5.7 but it only has a single toilet.  We are not going to plan a stop – it’s better to keep running – but if you need to stop, a coach will wait for you and other coaches will continue on with the group.

We will have the 8 am group (meet at 7:55 for an 8 am start) :  So far I have Nidhi in that – please let me know if anyone else will join so we know to wait.

Natasha – expected time at Kensington High Street is around 9:20 (come out of tube and cross the street – we will be running along the southern edge of Hyde Park and continuing down the street)

Yvonne – expected time at Hammersmith is around 9:40 (it’s a little tricky because there are multiple exits – you want to come out at the exit on the north side and you will see a traffic island in front of you and then to your left you will see a building that says One King Street – we will go over that traffic island and in front of that building).

If anyone else wants to meet along the way (Carrie?  Wendy?) just let us know so we know to look for you.

If you have any questions/concerns, let one of us know.  Otherwise, we’ll see you Tuesday!
The route:

We start out the normal way running to Hyde Park. Once in the park, we’ll turn to the left and run down the main walkway as we regularly do, to Hyde Park Corner. At the end of the walk, turn right to follow the main cross route in the park—beware of the bike lane! When this ends at West Carriage Drive, cross the road at the crossing and continue on the pathway towards the southwest corner of Kensington Gardens. We’ll run out of the park at the Broadwalk, turning right onto Kensington High Street and continue for about two miles until we reach the Hammersmith Tube gyratory. Run counter clockwise towards the left, ending up on Queen Caroline Street which gets you to St. Paul’s Church green. Run along the green to the right, heading to and crossing over Hammersmith Bridge. Exit Hammersmith Bridge Road to your left, go down the stairs and run under the bridge onto the Thames footpath. Now it’s time to enjoy the view as we run along the Thames for almost four miles—it’s beautiful!

This is the bridge just BEFORE the bridge we exit on.  I find it useful to know what this looks like because then I know it’s the next bridge where we get off the path (and it’s distinctive):

We will exit at the Kew Bridge, see photo below:

Run UNDER the bridge and then turn left, past a couple of tiny shops and garages. Run through the small parking lot until you see the stone steps leading to the top of the bridge.

At the top of the steps turn right towards town (not back over the river) and run along this road [Kew Road] for about a third of a mile until you reach a 3-way intersection.  At the 3-way intersection, veer right and follow Kew Road along the boundary wall to Kew Gardens until you reach the first main pedestrian entrance to Kew Gardens, the Victoria Gate. Across from Victoria Gate, is Lichfield Road (it is only sign posted on the left-hand corner). Follow Lichfield Road straight into Kew village. Starbucks is on the left where we’ll all meet up to congratulate ourselves on such a great run!