I’m happy (just thought I’d share that!).  Ladies, you are amazing.  What a fabulous and inspiring set of women we have in our running group.  It has been such a pleasure to see so many new faces, make new friends and get in some great runs.  Thank you all for being so welcoming to our new runners and so flexible in terms of our routes and pace.  I love that people feel free to show up and join in.  The more the merrier!!

This week on Wednesday, we’ll finish our run in SJW and have coffee at Cafe Richoux at 10:00am instead of Starbucks. We have so many ladies running in different groups now – this will give us all a chance to sit down and relax before the holidays are upon us.  We’re not fitting comfortably into Starbucks, so the room upstairs at Cafe Richoux will allow us to all be together.  Whether you run that day or not, come and meet some of our new ladies, compare training programs, chat about the Lisbon trip and have a chance to say goodbye to Randi who will be leaving London for New Jersey this week.  It would be helpful if you could let me know if you think you may join us.  Cafe Richoux doesn’t need an exact headcount (so I won’t hold you to it) – we just need to give them an estimate.

Monday – We’ll be heading out to Richmond via Lisson Grove, through Hyde Park, out Kensington High Street west to Hammersmith, then over the Hammersmith Bridge and along the river to Richmond.  We’ll take home a tube or overground train back to St. John’s Wood.  Some options:

• 13 miles – Richmond
• 10 miles – Kew (and train/tube back) or run to Hammersmith and turn around and run back to SJW
• 7 miles – Hyde Park – down through the park on the diagonal with the group then instead of heading west on Ken High St. just do a loop around the outer perimeter of the park
• 6 miles – Serpentine loop
• 4 miles – Down to Hyde Park, a little loop by Speaker’s Corner, then back to SJW

Tuesday – The Ease Back into Running group will be doing a 5 mile route finishing at Whole Foods in Kensington.  Many of you requested this route after hearing the beginners went down there last week.  We’ll be doing a longer route than they did with a bit more street running.  You will have endless options to shorten the route.  We’ll finish upstairs for coffee (if you have time) then head home (or grocery shop then head home) from the Kensington High Street tube station (or take a taxi if you’re in a hurry).

Wednesday – When one of our runners is leaving London, we try to do a “Sights of London” route.  We have so much turnover in the group that it’s not always possible, but this week it looks like it will work.  We do an approximate 7 mile loop running by some of the touristy highlights of the city.  For those of you wanting a good, 7 mile, steady, training run – this is not for you.  It’s mostly street running and we’ll probably be stopping for a few photos.  After the run, we’ll be having a coffee upstairs at Cafe Richoux at 10:00am instead of Starbucks.

Thursday – Our beginners will be running and I think some of the Ease Back into Running may be grouping up to do a 30-35 minute steady run (maybe in Regent’s Park?).

Friday – Everyone up to Hampstead and/or the Heath.  Some options:

• 8 miles – Old route – I think it might be a good idea to do the old route this week.  We have several shorter options which start with this route, so we could begin together then split off into different routes and pace groups.
• 7 miles – Stay on sidewalk up to Kenwood House, go into heath running along NE edge by Highgate ponds, then to the track exiting the heath over the railway bridge, up past Royal Free hospital, then through Belsize home.   Or stay with the group but after Parliament Hill go home by the track, then by Royal Free, then through Belsize back to SJW.
• 6 miles – The “Betsy” route (see below) plus Parliament Hill.  Instead of exiting on Devonshire Rd, head up and over Parliament Hill, then down to the track and home via the 7 mile option above.
• 5 miles – The “Betsy” route – I have no idea who created this route (maybe Syma?) but I call it the Betsy route because she recently showed it to me.  It’s up to the Hampstead tube station then Well Walk into the heath, exiting onto Devonshire Road, then home through Belsize.
• 4 miles – Up to the Hampstead tube station and back home the same way

Please be assured that you are not required to do these long distances to run with the group.  Everyone runs with an Oyster card and some cash so you can put in whatever mileage you want, then grab a bus/tube/taxi home.  No worries.  When we have new runners join the group, it reminds me of how unusual our training is.  You will often hear someone saying, “Oh, I have a meeting, I just want to do 6 miles” or “I only ran 5 miles yesterday”.  Those are long distances!  So let me know if distance isn’t your thing.  I’m happy to help you find some races, talk to you about training for different distance events, or help you develop a plan to get ready for a race.  We don’t all have to be long distance runners.  I’ll still love you!!!

Hope to see you out running this week,

Paula