Hi everyone,For those of you who celebrated, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  All that eating is perhaps good motivation for doing some running…!

We have just two more weeks until winter break and we will accomplish a lot before then.  You all can DO this!  We are so excited for all of you, how well you are doing.  We have several pieces of information below but not quite so long-winded as the past few weeks 🙂

Pacing
A quick note about pacing.  You may have noticed that we are starting to spread out a bit on our runs.  We will soon start being a little more formal about this by having people choose to go in the front group or the rear group and there will be plenty of opportunity for you to try out various paces to see what is most comfortable for you.  In addition, there will be some weeks when you’re feeling great and ready to roll and others when you’re not feeling it – it is completely normal to switch around.  You are the only one who knows what is right for you.

Shoes
Some of you may have already purchased new shoes since you started running, but some haven’t.  If you haven’t, it would be good to get a new pair before we start increasing our mileage in January.  If you’re going back to the US for the holidays, you could pick up a pair there (that’s what I did my beginner year).  It’s a good idea to go to a store that knows what it’s doing – that will evaluate your gait and suggest an appropriate shoe for you.  In London, Runners Need (a chain with many locations) or the Asics store on Oxford Street offer gait analysis.  You want to get new shoes soon so you can make sure they are comfortable and don’t cause any issues.  When I was a beginner, I ran the first few months in cross trainers and when I got “real” running shoes, my knees started hurting because I was landing differently in the new shoes.  It took several weeks of alternating with my old and new shoes before everything settled and I was glad to have that time.

Starbucks/Pret donation
We have an annual WRW tradition of showing our appreciation for the employees at our local coffee stops.  As Starbucks and Pret function as our unofficial clubhouses, and the employees are generally very friendly and kind to us as a group, we like to give a tip and a basket of home-baked goods on our last run before the holiday break.  If you’re inclined to contribute £5-10 toward our thank you, you can give it to any coach at Barclays this week or next.  We will give the gifts on Friday 13 December.  

Holiday Lights at 6 am
This week we will be running two 30 minute segments but there will be many extra stops as we take in the holiday decorations.  It will be important not to start out too fast as the first half of the run will have few stops. We will meet at 6 am and plan to start out ASAP so please be on time.  In order to make sure we are back to get the kids off to school, we will do a quick warm up, walk one block down Wellington Road and then we will start running. When we’re waiting at Barclays and when we walk or run by the houses in town, be VERY QUIET. No talking or only whispers. Our group is very loud and we don’t want to wake up the entire neighbourhood at that early hour! 

Since it will be so dark, please wear bright or reflective clothing and maybe even carry a bike light or head lamp if you have one. And be extra careful of the cars! 

The map below is the one used by the MWF group and it has us going to Baker Street.  To get home by 7:15, you may need to stop at Bond Street and that is fine.  However, we have found the last couple of years that to finish the full 30 minute segments, we need to run to Baker Street.  So those of you that can do that, that will be our destination if Bond Street doesn’t do it for us.  Please remember your Oyster/contactless card! 

See you all bright and early on Thursday! 
Amy