Hi Everyone,
Thanks for a great run to Hampton Court Palace last week. It’s nice to be on a bit of an adventure and get out of our neighbourhood. We’ll do that route again in the fall. This Friday is our Sights of London run and Leavers Coffee – more details below. (Last year Nancy said that she hated that name, so maybe we should call it the WRW Graduating Class of 2017 coffee?!) Since we won’t be running the hill on Friday we’re going to do the hill on Monday and head to Happening Bagel in Finsbury Park through Highgate and the Greenway. If you haven’t done this run before, it’s a favourite of many people. I recommend it! Wednesday we’re running the Notting Hill route.
Well done Denise!
Congratulations to Denise Glaser who ran the Stratford Shakespeare Half Marathon last weekend. You rock!
Good Luck Paula!
Paula Mitchell, the fabulous founder of WRW, is running the Mauna to Mauna Ultra race in Hawaii starting this Sunday. The race is 154 miles in 6 stages over 7 days. To put that in perspective, Stage 6 is “only” 6 miles so that means the other 5 stages are over 20 miles each and stage 4 is actually 49 miles. She writes, “This will be a great race! We will be running across the big island from east to west coast climbing two volcanic mountains and experiencing all types of terrain through 11 of the world’s 13 climate zones.” In addition to the mileage and the terrain, this is a “self-supported foot race” which means runners carry all their own food and supplies. WOW! If you want to send a good luck message to Paula, send me an email at the
[email protected] address and I’ll forward you the information.
Friday 19 May – Sights of London run and Leavers Coffee
This is a great run! Even if you haven’t run in a little while – come along! We run as a (BIG!) group and we wait for everyone at the lights so we can stick together. (If we get separated we’ll wait for everyone at the photo points.) The total distance is about 4 miles and we stop often.
We’ll stop for group pictures at:
– Hyde Park Speaker’s Corner
– Buckingham Palace
– Big Ben
In some years we continued on to Trafalgar Square, but recently the the group has been so large that we usually take the tube home to SJW from Westminster. We’ll walk to the Richoux cafe at 3 Circus Road, NW8 6NX. (We’ll be in the upstairs room at Richoux. We’ll have coffee, tea and some food for the group but in order to keep the costs reasonable we’re asking people not to order individual fancy coffee drinks. Thanks!) If you can’t run for any reason, please still come for coffee. I expect we’ll be there around 10 am. Unfortunately we have many runners leaving London this year! So take a minute to come and say good-bye. We’re going to miss them so much!
Celebrating the Year at WRW
Thanks to Marissa for the suggestion that a good way to celebrate the year at WRW and honour our leavers is to watch the amazing race video put together by Sonia, Joanna, Liane and Carol. If you didn’t go to Warsaw, take a minute to watch it. It is so entertaining and funny and a perfect snap-shot of WRW! Here’s the link to YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xorCr45ydZkJune 4 – 10-mile Richmond run RSVP
If you signed up for the 10-mile Richmond race on June 4, please send an email to
[email protected] so that we can connect the group and make a plan for travelling to the race together.
Collecting names for next year’s beginner group
If you have any friends that are interested in being part of the beginner group for next year, please tell them to email
[email protected]. As a reminder, the beginner group is for women who have never run before. We start at the very beginning with running for one minute and walking for two minutes.
Keep running,
Jane
ROUTES
Monday 15 May – Happening Bagel via Highgate and Finsbury Greenbelt – 7 miles
For this run we start up Fitzjohn’s like we’re going to the Heath but pass the entrance and continue up Spaniards/Hampstead Lane to Highgate. At the very top of the hill bear right and run slightly downhill towards Highgate High Street. At the second circular intersection, cross the high street at the zebra crossing and go down Southwood Lane. At the bottom of the hill veer to the right onto Jackson’s Lane (which is a very narrow road). Continue down Jackson’s to Archway Road, cross the road and make a right, then a relatively quick left onto Holmesdale Road. Run a short distance on Holmesdale and the entrance to the Finsbury Greenbelt will be on your left. Follow the path until it ends, turn left, cross the bridge over the train tracks and enter Finsbury Park. Turn right and run along the western edge of the park until the entrance on Seven Sister’s Road. After we stretch we will head over the street to the Happening Bagel. Once we’ve bought our bagels we will cross back over the street to Costa for coffee and then take the tube home from the Finsbury Park Station.
Wednesday 17 May– 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 19 May– Sights of London run and Leavers Coffee
This is a great run! Even if you haven’t run in a little while – come along! We run as a (BIG!) group and we wait for everyone at the lights so we can stick together. (If we get separated we’ll wait for everyone at the photo points.) The total distance is 4 miles and we stop often.
We’ll stop for group pictures at:
– Hyde Park Speaker’s Corner
– Buckingham Palace
– Big Ben
We head to Hyde Park via the usual route. Start heading west on Circus Road and turn left on Grove End and follow south as it becomes Lisson Grove. Cross over Marylebone Road and continue on Seymour Place until the end. Turn right and cross over Edgware Road and then left to enter Hyde Park at the intersection with Stanhope Place. Run along the eastern edge of the park to Hyde Park Corner, under Wellington Arch and down Constitution Hill. Run past the Victoria Memorial down the mall and enter St. James Park. Run over the pond and out of the park, turning left onto Birdcage Walk and down into Parliament Square to Big Ben.
