Good morning, Runners!
Happy Bank Holiday! Even in this very strange year, this holiday weekend feels like the kickoff of summer, which in itself is something to celebrate. I hope you are finding things to enjoy and to look forward to as we start this season. The roses and other blooms about the city are out in full glory, the skies have been clear, and we still have the unique opportunity to run a quiet London. And when we finish our runs now, some of our favorite post-run coffee options are even available for takeaway! Life is still very different from what it used to be and what we expected it to be. But considering that at one point those of us in London thought lockdown could mean we might all be confined to our own homes– and some of us in other locations actually were under strict controls– we do have reasons to be thankful.
Race around the world. Don’t stop running and logging those miles! This week we reached 21,550 miles, taking us to Chris in Atlanta, and to Poornima, Jody, Linda, and a whole host of WRW alumnae in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area. We took a detour west to say hi to Marni in Toronto, then turned back toward Europe and now we are headed out to sea. Devy figures we still need at least 5000 miles to get ourselves across the Atlantic with visits in Iceland and Portugal before landing back in London. We should make it back just about perfectly– let’s not leave ourselves stranded for the summer!
Running this week. Janelle Meyer continues to excel in creating map art with her runs, as you can see from this week’s examples below: the virus run and a boat-inspired run. I think I’m going to have to try the ‘coRUNa’ run this week (name inspiration from Megan), just because it might be fun to take the little detour at every park exit to create the spikes! Wouldn’t it be entertaining, though possibly a little dangerous, to see the whole group take it on when we are allowed to run together again?
Also from Janelle (thank you!) come a few ideas for new sights to run by for your lockdown running selfie collection.
- The Blue Door House in Notting Hill (from the movie) is just off our Notting Hill route (at 280 Westbourne Park Road).
- The grand Debenham House in Holland Park is just on the other side of the park from the path we usually take through (8 Addison Road).
- And the Thin House, true to its name at only 6 ft wide, is in South Kensington (5 Thurloe Place) just a few blocks south of Hyde Park.
The three spots could easily be combined on a run, but it would be even better to have a few more points to add for a West/Southwest sights run– so send us any ideas if you know these areas well!
Announcements and Shoutouts. A big thank you to Carolyn Perelmuter for all the work that went into organising our refunds from the Prague trip. Thanks also to Devy Schonfeld, Mariya Treisman, and Julie Moyle for their work in unwinding the dinners and tours they had planned, and for retrieving the deposits– sometimes requiring quite a bit of persistence! And another round of thanks are due to our team who has taken on getting the refunds into each person’s hands: Carolyn, Darcy Fautz, Amy Grace, Jen Iannazzo, Melissa Kay, Kelli Novak, Marissa O’Malia, and Sue Wheeler.
Keep the spot on your calendar for our June 7 WRW Celebration at 5pm (GMT). It will be a Zoom event, but we are awaiting any new government guidance before we give the specifics. We likewise have not forgotten about our beloved annual ‘Leavers’ Run,’ and though it can look nothing like it usually does, with all of us running en masse and taking big group photos at London landmarks, we will at least publish the route and a virtual group observance next week (again, awaiting any potential changes to official lockdown policy).
Meanwhile, enjoy another beautiful day in another beautiful week. Send us a post-run coffee/beverage selfie! Miss you all, and love running into some of you out on the pavements. Take care, and keep running!
xx Micki
