Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the fantastic feedback on our Paddington Bear runs.  We had a great turnout and a lot of fun chasing the Bear across London.  There’s a lot of important information in this email including details on something new we’re trying, our first ever 6:00am run to see the Christmas lights, so please read it.

Monday – Wembley
We’ve got a great long run to Wembley this week with options for 7, 8 or 9 miles.  We head west along the canal for 7 miles.  We quickly lose the bike traffic and there are parts of the route that are urban and others that are very rural.  It is an interesting slice of modern London.  (The only tricky part is knowing when to exit the canal.  Check out the photo and directions below – you’re looking for a big “243 Ealing Road” sign.)  If you have been following the gradual training schedule and building a base of 5-6 mile runs, this week you need to do 7 miles.  (Don’t be tempted to run 7 if you haven’t run in awhile, mileage increase should always be gradual).  If you have a few 7-mile runs under your belt, think about running 8 or 9.  The good news is that the route is the same, you can decide which tube to take home based on how you are feeling on the day.  The destination runs take a bit longer, but they’re worth it to prevent boredom.  Running a new route can add a spark to your training!

Wednesday – Christmas Lights
A big thanks to Diane Bell for suggesting an early morning run to see the Christmas Lights.  For those who are interested, meet at Barclays at 6:00am. It’s 4.4 miles to Bond Street station and 5.3 miles to Baker Street. So you’ll be home to wake the kids at 7:15. Why get up so early? It’s pretty much deserted, the shop windows look amazing and it’s just so pretty in the morning. If you are planning to run at 6:00am please wear bright or reflective clothing and maybe even carry a bike light if you have one.  Diane suggests that you could also reserve a table for breakfast at the Riding House Cafe if you want to make a morning of it with some of your running buddies.  If you’re not up for an early morning run, they’ll be a group that meets at the regular time on Wednesday.  You can decide to do the Christmas Lights route at that time, or you can do the regularly planned Wednesday route of The Wall or another route of your choice.

THANK YOU to Starbucks
The holiday time of year is here and we’ll be organising a gift for the employees at our local St. John’s Wood Starbucks.  We’re suggesting a £5-10 donation but feel free to give whatever you would like.  We’ll also be donating some home-baked goodies.  Give your donation, in an envelope with your name, to Bonnie Bandeen or me before Tuesday Dec 16.  Please email Bonnie if you would like to contribute baked treats.  Bonnie will gather the baked goods on Tuesday Dec 16 and we’ll give the gift to Starbucks on Wed Dec. 17 so please get your gift to us soon if you would like to participate.

BE CAREFUL
As many of you know, one of our runners Linda was hit by a bike on our Monday run.  She cut her head and suffered a mild concussion.  We’re so relieved that she is OK and was not more seriously injured.  The whole episode was a dramatic reminder (especially for those who saw it) that we need to be extra careful running around London.  Please make the extra effort to cross at the cross walk and wait for the “walk” signal.  If you just make it across during a short signal wait for the rest of the group on the other side.  If we all get in the habit of waiting and looking out for each other, I think we’ll be less tempted to dart across the street.  Unfortunately we can’t depend on the cars and bikes seeing us and stopping so we all need to be extra careful!

Here’s a picture from Diane to get you inspired for an early morning run!

Keep running,
Jane

 

ROUTES

Monday 8 December – Wembley (7-9 miles)
7 miles (Alperton Tube Station-Piccadilly Line)
8 miles (Wembley Central Tube Station–Bakerloo Line and Overground)
9 miles (Wembley Park Tube Station–Jubilee and Metropolitan Lines)

This is a great run – we go out the Canal to the west almost the entire way. No lights and soft on the knees! Continue out the canal and exit at Alperton.  The steps are just before the bridge labelled number “11” and “Ealing Road Alperton.”  (See photo below).  Turn right at the top of the stairs and your first right again onto Ealing Road.  Just after the turn you’ll see the Alperton station on your left for the 7-mile route. Follow Ealing Road to the High Road and turn right.  You’ll see Wembley Central on your right for the 8-mile route.  For 9 miles, continue until you make a left on Park Lane which becomes Wembley Park Drive. Continue past the stadium and to the Wembley Park Tube Station.

NOTE:  While the Alperton Tube station is at mile 7, it is a longer Tube ride home because of the necessary line changes.  You might want to push on to mile 8 and take Wembley Central which is a faster route home.

 

Here’s a photo of the exit off of the canal:
(You’re looking for the 243 Ealing Road sign)

Wednesday 10 December

Option One (6:00 am start) – London Holiday Lights (4-5 miles)

The first part of the route we run through Regents Park.  Head out St. John’s Wood Terrace, right on Charlbert and enter Regents Park.  Turn right at the Outer Circle (watch out for bikes!) and follow the circle around until we exit at York Gate.  Cross Marylebone Road and follow Marylebone High Street down until you turn right on George Street, then left on Manchester Street (past the Wallace Collection) then right on Fitzhardinger Street, left on Orchard Street until you reach Oxford Street.  Left on Oxford Street and continue until you reach Regents Street and turn right.  Follow Regents Street all the way into Piccadily Circus.  Turn right on Piccadily and then left on Old Bond Street.  Follow Old Bond which turns into New Bond back up to Oxford Street.  Turn left and you can stop at the Bond Street Station (4.4 miles) or continue up Gee’s Court (across from the Bond Street Station) which becomes St. Christopher’s Place.  Cross Wigmore Street up Marylebone Lane, back up the Marylebone High Street turning left on Paddington Street, right on Chiltern Street until you hit the Baker Street station on the Marylebone Road (5.3 miles).

 

Option Two (normal 8:20 start) – The Wall (3 to 6 miles)

We head down towards Regents Park, then enter the canal at the Charlbert entrance and run east [left] cutting through Camden Lock Market until we run out of canal path at Islington and hit “The Wall.”  [Don’t forget to touch The Wall or else your run doesn’t count :p ].  At The Wall, we turn around and head back to St. John’s Wood.  This is a great route to do a tempo run because there are no traffic lights.  But please be careful and aware of the bikes on the path.

If you run all the way to The Wall and back it is 6 miles.  But it is very easy to run half the distance if you want and turn around and head home.  As a marker, if you run to the Camden market (where we have to exit the canal path and run past the food stalls for a minute) and return home it is a 3 mile round trip.

 

Friday 12 December – The Heath 4-8 miles

It’s Friday [again!], so everyone up Fitzjohn’s.  You can pick your distance and whatever you choose, there will certainly be someone else interested in running that distance.  All of these routes are on the website.

If you are not up for a hill run, ask around at Barclays;  every week there is a group who prefer to do a flat run and you can decide together which flat route to tackle.

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7miles:  The partial Heath route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.