Hi all,

Halloween was so much fun with WRW this year! I loved your running costumes! Everyone was very creative and we had a large group run to Brompton Cemetery and stay for coffee at Whole Foods. I also liked all the pace group photos at the Cemetery that you posted on our Facebook group. (I recommend joining our Facebook group if you haven’t done it yet. All you need to do is request to join.)

You received lots of emails from WRW this week! We announced that we’re collecting WRW shirt and hat orders and that we’re booking hotel rooms for the half marathon in Warsaw. More details on both of those below. Please read the important update on the HOTEL rooms below.

This week is our adventure run to Hampton Court Palace on Monday. Wednesday is Notting Hill and Friday is the Hill.

RSVP – Adventure Run Monday Nov. 7
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. This means that if you are doing this run we are NOT meeting at Barclays – see the details below. (If you can’t do this run, there will be a group that meets at Barclays and decides on a route of their choice.) Monday we’re running from Richmond to Hampton Court Palace. 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. Block out the entire morning or more if you want to stay for a long coffee afterwards.

If you’re planning to attend, please email [email protected] so we know to look out for you at the station. But please be aware that we are not waiting for anyone. You must be on time to catch this train or we’re leaving without you.

Here’s the plan: We’ll meet at the Finchley Road and Frognal Overground Station at 8:30 for the 8:41 train to Richmond. We will arrive in Richmond by 9:15 to start our run. (You can take a bus up Finchley Road to the station or take the tube to Finchley Road, turn left and walk up to the Overground Station.) When we arrive in Richmond we’ll run along the Thames all the way to Hampton Court Palace. Take a look at the route directions below. (The entire run is approximately 8 miles or you can exit at the Horse Fair bridge for a 6-mile route and take a train from Kingston station.) We’ll take the train back to London Waterloo from the Hampton Court train station. The train runs every 30 minutes, at 23 and 54 past the hour from Hampton Court and it is an approximately 40 minute train ride back to London.

2016-2017 Shirt and Hat Order – DEADLINE SOON
I sent an email on Thursday afternoon announcing that we’re collecting orders for the 2016-2017 Women Running the World T-Shirt. This year we are also offering a WRW half-zip, long-sleeved shirt and WRW everyday hat. If you want to order, please complete the Google Doc at this LINK We need to have a very quick turnaround on the order collection because the inventory levels are constantly changing. When we know the style/colour is in stock we need to get our order in ASAP. Orders are due before Thursday 10 November at 5pm.

Warsaw Hotel Rooms – UPDATE
We sent an email on Friday announcing that you can now book hotel rooms from the Warsaw half marathon. Thanks for being so responsive! We’ve had many women book rooms already. At the moment the hotel website is showing that there are no rooms available, but this is a technical issue on their end. We will let you know when the hotel website is back up but it might not be until Monday or early next week. (We also heard from a few of you who received a “privacy” message when you tried to book and we’re looking into that as well.) If you would like a hotel room and you haven’t booked yet, please email [email protected] and let us know if you are planning to have a single room or share with a roommate so we have a sense of the total size of our group and whether we are going to need add rooms to our block. Thanks so much!

ROUTES

Monday 7 November – Richmond to Hampton Court (8 miles)
We will meet at the Finchley Road and Frognal Overground Station at 8:30 for the 8:37 train to Richmond. We will arrive in Richmond by 9:15 to start our run.You can take a bus up Finchley Road to the station or take the tube to Finchley Road, turn left and walk up to the Overground Station.

Leave the Richmond Overground Station, cross the road at the traffic lights and go down Old Station Passage. Turn left at the end and run a few yards until you get to Richmond Green. Cross the common, using the paths on a diagonally right direction, aiming for Old Palace Lane. Follow Old Palace Lane until you reach the river and turn left.

Now we stick to the river path along the Thames for the rest of our run. We will pass Petersham, Ham House and run briefly along Lower Ham Road. We keep right at Canbury Gardens and run into Kingston. In Kingston, we run as close to the Thames as possible, first on Thames Side past the pier, then right onto a small path which leads to the bridge pictured below.

At the bridge you have two options:

6-mile route:  Go up the stairs on the near side of the Horse Fair bridge and turn left into town. Follow the road to Kingston Overground station.

8-mile route to the Palace:  Go up the stairs on the near side of the Horse Fair bridge and cross the bridge.Come down the stairs and turn right under the bridge to continue along the Thames on a very pretty path called Barge Walk. This path continues all the way to Hampton Court Palace where we will pass some of the gardens and see the palace from the outside. If you can stay for a coffee, we’ll meet at the Tiltyard Cafe which is one of the restaurants on Palace grounds. If you cross the courtyard in front of the palace and then walk past the rose gardens you’ll see the Cafe. (No need to pay Palace entrance fee.) Enjoy a coffee and a treat before we get on the train back to London.

We will head back to London from the Hampton Court train station which is across the bridge from the palace. Coming from the path with the palace on your right, turn left across the Hampton Court Bridge and the train station is on your left. The train runs every 30 minutes, at 24 and 54 past the hour.

Wednesday 9 November – Notting Hill (4 – 6 miles)
Keep your eyes open as this is often a celebrity spotting route!

Start out by heading west on Circus Road, turn left on Grove End to St John’s Wood Road and go west, working your way to the canal entrance on Blomfield. Enter the canal and run to the Ladbroke Grove exit then run down Ladbroke Grove, past the tube stop, to Elgin Crescent and make a left. Cross Portobello Road and continue on what is now Colville Terrace until it meets Ledbury Road where we turn right and then left at Westbourne Grove. Run down Westbourne Grove to the top of Bishop’s Bridge, then left down the steps into Sheldon Square (across from the Paddington Station entrance). Stay along the canal to where you entered, then run back on Blomfield to SJW and 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.

Friday 11 November – 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 yet, no problem, just let us know.  Every week there are a group of women who prefer to do a flat run.  We can help make sure that you find each other.

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back. If you have trouble running up, think about how easy it will be running down!

5 miles: The Betsy Route
6+ miles:  The partial Heath route OR the Reverse Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.