Hello Runners!
Happy May to all! Time does pass, apparently, even when the world seems to have stopped! And all of you fantastic runners carry on with creative positivity, surprising and delighting with your pictures and the stories of how you are injecting these days– even the rainy ones– with fun and fitness. It’s so inspiring, so this e-mail is going to be loaded with photo run-spiration!
Running this week. There have been a handful of serendipitous meet-ups while out on the run this week. Some of the photos above are from planned socially distant runs, and some are just from chance meetings. Either way, it is such a lift to see another WRW person out on the pavements!
Apparently it was a soggy week in the virtual realm as well as IRL, as we sped across water on the Pacific Ocean on our ‘Race around the World.’ We’ve collectively run over 14,000 miles in the last six weeks! Devy’s map shows that we are closing in on California, where we will visit several WRW alumni. She has updated the list, found below on the map with names/locations you’ve sent (or someone has sent on your behalf). Let us know if you want to be added to the itinerary, it’s not too late! I know we have alumnae in Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Boston, New York, DC, Atlanta? Let us know if you would like a ‘run-by!’ Also, if you are an alum and not already being counted on one of the London pace group tallies, feel free to add your name and your miles to the WRW Alumnae tally at this link: WRW Alumnae Race Around the World Challenge .
Games Runners Play. For a little fun this week, I’ve reached out to your Pace Group Leaders for more ideas on how to creatively entertain ourselves while running solo, or socially distant. Here are some of your amazing ideas (complete with photos and credits!):
Monopoly. Bjorg Fridbjornsdottir created this epic running game for the 8’s, who did a first run-through last weekend! The idea is to visit all the properties on the Monopoly board and collect a street-sign photo at each. She has included the list of properties (with Monopoly colors, of course!)– it’s an ambitious run, but could be split into socially distant teams or run on different days. And as the 8s note, it’s also a family friendly biking expedition/game during these lower traffic days! Below is Bjorg’s game key, a map of the entire course, and some fun photos from the 8’s adventure.
Scavenger Hunt. This one is the brainchild of Amy Grace, and we need your help to bring it live. In Amy’s words: “Running on my own, and leaving from my own house, has forced me to create new routes. While it is not as much fun as running with the group, it has broadened my horizons and led to discovering some previously unknown places. I thought it might be fun to create a scavenger hunt of little places or points of interest that you have found, or have always loved, on your runs. For example, I discovered Hampstead Cemetery, a small cemetery in West Hampstead with some lovely monuments. It would be great to get some new places to head for to change up our routines a bit. For London-based WRW runners, if you have a place or point of interest that you’d like to share, take a photo of it and email it to us at [email protected] along with a description (or Google map location) of where it is. We aren’t sure what format the scavenger hunt will take until we see what we get from you all – so stay tuned!”
Relays. Last week’s house-to-house relay by the 5 ladies who had planned to run the London Marathon was a great way to observe Race Day and take part in the 2.6 Challenge to raise funds for the charities that were impacted by the cancellation of the Marathon. Mariya Treisman took on the route-making task to plot each runner a 5.25 mile route beginning at their own home and ending at the house of the next runner, where they handed off the virtual baton (appropriately represented in these times by a toilet paper roll!). Because we all had the routes in advance, many people were out along the way, cheering on the runners in colorful, noisy, but always social-distance-appropriate fashion! Some of the runners were even accompanied by their daughters– the WRW of the future! Photo highlights below…
The Ex-beginners Class of 2020 are already planning their own home-to-home relay event, and in the meantime, they continue to meet up for yoga/squats and coffee via Zoom. You can see their socially distant run photo from this week in the center of the top collage. It’s beyond great to see them still coming together!
Map Drawings, and Every Single Street. There has been some talk amongst the 11s of a Map Art Challenge to see who can create the most interesting picture on a run-mapping app. The possibilities are seemingly endless, and we look forward to seeing any local artwork that may come out of this! Every Single Street is another map challenge we’ve heard of elsewhere. Perhaps less creative, but still a good group challenge, this one involves taking a section of the London street map and trying as a group to have someone run on every single street in the map. You tech-savvy types may have a more streamlined way of managing this, but I would think mapping app screenshots and a group organizer could make it work.
Shout-outs and Announcements. It’s time for another big shoutout to Karen Hough, who volunteer-coached a group of forty women who signed up for an indoor workout challenge group on Beachbody (announced during the earliest days of lockdown, and now ended). Karen was amazing about posting challenges, videos and even healthy snack recipes within our group on the app. Some of us (ahem, speaking of myself here) may have been a little less active and motivated than we’d like to admit, but still loved the tips and videos and so very much appreciate Karen’s time and effort! And in other health-related news, a shoutout goes to Jeannette Boulind, who has been making gorgeous face masks and collecting donations for the NHS– to date nearly £1000! Bravo, Jeannette– you make us proud! If anyone would like to order one of her masks, the link is here.
Finally, we wanted you to know that as we wait to see how things will develop in London with regard to social distancing and lockdown rules, your WRW team are considering different ways of celebrating the end of our year together. You didn’t think we would just let the year go uncelebrated and the leavers quietly slip away, did you?? Stay tuned in the next weeks for more, and please, please do give us an update at [email protected] if your plans for the end of the year have changed!
Meanwhile, keep on doing what you’re doing! You are rocking this challenging time– even making lockdown look good! But even saying that, we know it’s not all only smiles all the time… if you are struggling, please, please reach out to one another, or drop us an e-mail. We’ve all had our ups and downs through this time, we’re all in it together, and we are all about taking care of one another. Sending another week of lockdown love– beautifully illustrated in the photo WRW Alumnae Yianna Xenakis sent from San Francisco where she placed a WRW lock up at the top of the Marin Headlands during a recent run. Stay well everyone!
xx Micki
