Another great week of running! I’ve really enjoyed meeting the new runners – thanks for joining us! If you’re just getting back into running, and you’ve struggled a bit, don’t give up – Keep running! I promise with each run it will get easier and you will feel stronger. This email has a lot of important information about dates for fall runs so make sure you read it. It will also hopefully give you some incentive to keep running when you see the interesting destinations on the schedule.

We have some great routes this week with many distance options. Monday we head to Sloane Square/Westminster/Green Park and you can pick anything from 4-10 miles. (10 miles is an option for the women doing a fall half marathon.) You’ll see all the options listed below. Remember to bring your Oyster card/Tube card. Wednesday we run west along the canal and loop back home through Notting Hill. The entire route is 6 miles, but you can easily shorten it by turning back at any point along the canal. If you want to run a total of 4 miles, the 2-mile turn-around point is when the Westway motorway is over your head.

Thanks for all your patience and help last Friday. We had a very large group at Barclays. I think there were over 50 runners! I love it! I think the general Friday plan worked well last week. The runners who did the reverse route really liked it (except that Parliament Hill was tough!) and we also had a good group to do the standard 5-mile “Betsy” hill route and a group that did a flat run. Given there are so many of us, the plan for now is to continue sending smaller groups in a few directions on Friday so that we don’t overwhelm the sidewalk on Fitzjohn’s during the school run.

An adventure run means that we ride the train to a location at the start of the run and then we take the train home at the end of the run. It takes more time to take the train both directions, but it gives us a chance to run some interesting routes that are outside our neighbourhood. We tried our first adventure run last spring from Richmond to Hampton Court Palace and it was a big hit. We run along the Thames path for pretty much the entire way and it’s a beautiful route. Plus you can’t beat coffee at the Palace cafe when you’re done. The entire route to the Palace is 8 miles, but there is also an option to take a train home at 6 miles. Mark your calendars now for Monday 7 November and block out the entire morning or more if you want to stay for a long coffee afterwards.

One of our favourite routes is to go to Borough Market on a Friday. If you want to plan ahead, our first Borough Market run will be on Friday Oct. 7. We also have one scheduled for Friday November 18 right before the Thanksgiving break. For anyone who doesn’t want to do a destination run, the Hill is always going to be an option on Fridays.

Here are the Monday routes over the next month and a few other key routes in the fall:

12 September – Sloane Square/Embankment/Westminster

19 September – Hyde Park

26 September – Whole Foods Piccadilly

17 October – Brick Lane

31 October – Brompton Cemetery and Kensington Whole Foods

7 November – ADVENTURE RUN – Hampton Court Palace

21 November – Finsbury Park Happening Bagel

7 December (Wednesday) – Christmas Lights run (early start)

In general, each week we run a long/slower run on Monday, a shorter/faster run on Wednesday and a hill run on Friday. We have pace groups that help make it easier for folks to find each other and will be especially important for our long runs. I’ll write more about the pace groups in the next few weeks. We follow the training principle that your long run should be at a pace slower than your race pace. If you’re new to the “race pace” concept, don’t worry! We can help you figure out where you should be.

As always, if you have any questions or if you need any guidance, just let me know.

Keep running,

Jane

3.75’ers:  at Sloane Sq, take the Tube home!

6.33’ers:  continue past Sloane Sq down Lower Sloane St/Chelsea Bridge Road to the Thames.  Turn left on the Thames side of Grosvenor Rd and run along the embankment to Westminster Tube–you’re done!

7+’ers:  continue left on Birdcage Walk, cutting through St James Park to the Mall, then left on the Mall towards Buckingham Palace, crossing before the circle to reach Green Park.  Run up to the Green Park Tube on Piccadilly St and head home!

10 milers:  for anyone needing a longer run today, continue past Green Park Tube, through Mayfair to Baker Street and head to SJW Starbucks–this will give you almost 10 miles.

Wednesday 14 September – Notting Hill (4-6 miles)
Run out the canal to the west and exit at Ladbroke Grove.  Run to Elgin Crescent and make a left.  Continue to Ledbury and go right and then left at Westbourne Grove.  Run down Westbourne Grove over Bishop’s Bridge and down the steps into Sheldon Square.  Go back along the canal and out where you entered and back to Starbucks.

You also have the option of a shorter run by not running as far as Ladbroke Grove.  Instead, run half the distance you want, turn around and head home.  For example, running to the Westway flyover and back is about four miles [two out and two back].