Hello everyone,
I’m so happy to be back in London! It’s been nice seeing you this week and getting in some great runs. This week I’m suggesting everyone run basically the same routes, just shortened for those of you wanting less distance. Before we get to that, could I mention a few things?
Our beginner runners are doing their first destination run this week to Big Ben. You may remember the feeling of being terrified and excited at the same time. Please give them the thumbs-up when you see them this week – your encouragement means the world to them.
Another email will follow with the first bits of information on the Lisbon race. I will send that out to the combined beginner and regular runner email distributions. Let me know if I’ve missed someone on the list. Thanks!

If there is enough interest I will be starting a new group on Tuesday mornings (starting 25 October) somewhat like last year’s Ease Back into Running group. We have several runners who have been out with injuries, or have been out of running for months/years, or have just moved to London and are only interested in doing a few miles at a gentle pace. I would propose that we try this until the winter break in mid-December to see how it goes. The problem is this – we have been losing some runners over the past two months due to injuries but also a result of there not being a more gentle-paced group to join. Some of these ladies have tried running with the mid-level group but they miss out on the post-run camaraderie as they are stopping mid-run when they’ve done their distance. We all know why we run…. it’s for the post-run coffee, it has nothing to do with fitness! Please let me know if you are interested in this group and let me know if you know of other ladies not on our distribution who would be interested. I would hope this group would also run Fridays and either Monday or Wednesday. The Tuesday morning run would be with me and the other two runs would be with the main groups. I’m hoping the group will gel on Tuesdays so you’ll feel comfortable organizing yourselves into a “mini-pack” as part of the regular Mon/Wed/Fri runs.

Monday:
Canary Wharf (9.5 miles) – yay! I love this route – it always feels like such an accomplishment. This route is a bit tricky; there are very few options to grab a bus/tube/taxi mid-run. In addition, sections of the canal are very isolated. This is not a run to do alone – if you are concerned that you can’t keep up, organize yourselves in pairs ahead of time with someone who goes your pace. For those wanting a shorter route, I would recommend:
Angel tube station (4 miles)
“The Wall” (6.0 miles)
Mile End (7 miles) – if this is your plan, find someone to run with you and bring a map so you know where to exit the canal. Hackney isn’t a great place to wander around alone.

Wednesday:
Notting Hill (6.7 miles). The mid-level runners went to Finsbury Park this past week and everyone did extremely well. The Notting Hill loop is a bit shorter than the Finsbury Park route and is mostly flat. My plan is to make this a recovery week for you before we bump up the mileage again. You may feel a bit deflated running Notting Hill after the challenge of Finsbury Park, but it will give your body a week to recover before we increase our mileage again. Ideally, I would like to have this group comfortably running 8 mile routes by end-November. For those of you in the group planning on doing a spring marathon (not the half), it is at this point (1 Dec) that your training will begin to differ from the rest of the group. For those of you in the mid-level group aiming for the half-marathon in Lisbon, if you’re interested in seeing your training program leading up to the race, I’m happy to share that with you. I also completely understand not wanting to know! Sometimes it’s easier to NOT think about those long runs ahead of time.

Friday:
Everyone runs up the hill – fun times! I’ll be out of town for the weekend so either do the old route or give the new route a try (could be an adventure!!!). As always, you have endless options to shorten this route.

I’ll look forward to seeing you this week,
Paula