Hello Runners!
What a week! Starting with last Sunday’s cold, soggy marathon for some of our brave runners and their dedicated supporters, we ran through birthdays and cloudbursts, sculptures, street art, cemeteries, and statue poses! The photos you sent were beautiful and fun. While I can only share a limited number of photos in this e-mail (lest the servers decide we are spammers!), I can thank all of you uncredited photographers, and suggest to all that you put some of your highlights on our WRW Facebook page. Especially while we are all so fragmented in our ‘Rule of Six’ world, it’s great to connect with other pace groups and 6-packs with fun photos from our runs. If you’re not on our Facebook page, search us up and request to be added (Amy will say yes!).
Running this Week*.
Monday is part of October break for ASL, and we normally do not have an official run on school holidays. But check in with your pace groups via Whatsapp, as I imagine many women are not traveling and will choose to run as usual. If you have the time, why not choose a fun destination and make it a mini-getaway? Wednesday we are suggesting two routes that allow us to play a game of “Frieze Tag.” I know many groups have run through the sculptures recently installed in Regents Park as a main feature of the 2020 Frieze Art Fair, which has gone mostly virtual this year. Here is a link to an online video tour if you’d like to have a better idea of the stories behind the sculptures we’re running by! Finally, Friday we’re suggesting an old favorite destination run to Finsbury Park. It’s a 7-mile route that incorporates our usual Friday hill workout, but then follows the lovely Parkland Walk from Highgate to Finsbury Park, and ends with bagels at Happening Bagel (there’s a Costa across the street) and a tube ride or other form of transport back to St Johns Wood. It’s a great route, but if you’re not up for figuring out the transport back at this time, you can stick to our Friday Heath routes or run to Borough Market. See details and links below.
*Note that all of our plans are subject to change with whatever new guidance is being announced Monday. Stay tuned, and we will send out updates to our plans and meeting procedures as needed!
Announcements and Shoutouts. Huge congratulations to our official London Marathon finishers, Kelly Willis, Laura Beal, and Noor Ismail (I’m so sorry we didn’t know you were running, Noor!), and to Jess Browne and Miki Neant, who ran alongside them! What an amazing experience and achievement– we are all proud of you, and your strength, spirit and perseverance! We are also so proud of the teams of supporters who chased, photographed, ran or biked with, and generally provided the marathon atmosphere for the day (along with some dry layers here and there) for our runners as well as any others spotted out on the streets. I know that your support meant so much to our marathoners! I do want to give a special shout-out to Tamar Brooks for her photo coverage. Tamar and Yvonne Horrell spent the entire day out in the rain, chasing our runners all over the city, and the results are incredible. Click here to see her gorgeous album. And below is a preview with some of her photos as well as many from all of the supporters who were out there last Sunday.
Celebrating this fabulous milestone feels like a good time to assure you that your WRW team is continuing to think about spring training goals. Our race-boss, Sue Wheeler, has been keeping a steady eye on the outlook and opportunities for Spring 2021. Stay tuned for an update next week! And meanwhile, don’t forget to keep taking care of yourselves by stretching, attending to any niggling pains or injuries, and paying attention to your training pace and miles. More on this in weeks to come.
On a very different note, Jess Browne has asked me to share the following note with this WRW community:“Dear runners: it’s been 6 months and I had promised myself thank you notes would be done by now. I tried to write them last Sunday after the marathon but just opening the box with your cards to reply was like reliving the april pain again. I just couldn’t do it. What I can do is tell you that without those cards, books, flowers, food and love you sent, my family and I wouldn’t have survived. We’ll always remember the support you gave us during our most horrendous time. Accept this as a thank you note and know you all have a special place in our hearts.”
As we head into this week with possibly more rule changes ahead, I just want to close by reminding you what a strong community we are. We will find a way to keep running, getting stronger, and supporting each other– together, apart, in sixes, in twos, or however we have to do it. I’m so thankful for, and proud to be a part of, what we have together in WRW! See you out there!
xx Micki
ROUTES
Monday, October 12 – ASL School Break– Runner’s Choice
Use Whatsapp groups to coordinate start times and locations, and take your choice of destination!
Wednesday, October 14 – ‘Frieze Tag’ via Primrose Hill or Mornington Crescent
8s & 10s pace groups – Primrose Hill/Regents Park (5 miles)
From the Church Gardens (rather than Barclay’s as shown on map) start out as if we’re headed for the Heath, running a short way down the High St, then right on Allitsen, left on Townsend, right on Acacia, and then left again at Avenue Rd. Use the zebra crossing just a short way up Avenue to cross over and run down Elsworthy Rd until you see a small road on the right that ends in the entrance to Primrose Hill park. Once in the park take the path that angles to the left, then bear right at the first fork and left at the second. This will take you up for a fantastic view from the top of Primrose Hill. After you’ve caught your breath, take the path that goes down on the right (if you are looking out toward London), then curve around to the left at the first split. Follow this path all the way down the hill to the crossing at Prince Albert Rd. Cross at the zebra and head straight into the park via the bridge and across the Outer Circle (NOT a zebra, please note!). In Regents Park, take the path that angles to the left, running behind the zoo. Cross the Broad Walk by the fountain and continue across on the path that heads toward, but not all the way to, the perimeter of the park. Follow this to the far corner, zig-zagging as you like to see the sculptures, and then turning right to run along the southern edge of the park, inside the fence. Continue to follow this around the boating pond to run across the little bridge at the far end of the pond, then bear right to follow the contour of the pond to its end. Continue on the same path until it meets the diagonal path that runs behind the zoo (the same one we ran in on). Turn left to follow that to its end and then turn left onto the Outer Circle and follow it for a short distance to the crossing at Charlbert. Exit the park and take Charlbert to St Johns Wood Terrace to finish at our Starbucks/Pret corner of the High Street.
9s & 11s pace groups – Camden Lock/Mornington Crescent/Regents Park (5 miles)
Head to the canal going eastbound to Camden Lock, where we cross the small, cobblestone bridge, exit the canal and turn right onto Camden High Street. Take the first right turn onto Jamestown Road and then the first left onto Arlington Road. Run straight down Arlington Road, make a slight right onto Mornington Crescent, follow it around and turn right onto Hampstead Road. At the first intersection, turn left onto Granby Terrace and the second left onto Stanhope Street. Continue down Stanhope until we reach Trinton Square. Turn right and run between the office buildings at Regent’s Place, past the nice fountains, to the end of Trinton Street. Use the pedestrian crossings to cross Osnaburgh Street and Albany Street. Head left to the intersection of Euston Road, where you take a right and run briefly along Euston Road. At Park Square East, turn right through the gates towards Regent’s Park. We enter the park at the Outer Circle intersection and follow the paths on the east side of the park to take in the Frieze sculptures, cross the Broad Walk at the ornamental fountain and head along the path with the Zoo to our right. Turn left onto the Outer Circle, past the Avenue Road exit, and right at the second exit (where we usually enter for the canal or park). Run up Charlbert Street to St John’s Wood Terrace, make a left, and head back to Starbucks.
Friday, October 16 – Finsbury Park/Happenin’ Bagels (7 miles), or Heath routes
All 6-packs doing the Finsbury route, please allow a good amount of space between groups leaving the park, and take Fitzjohn Avenue in single file! As Fitzjohn is our best route to do this run, we’re going to try it. Please be mindful of social distancing as you run past people doing the school dropoff. Run as if you are going to the 6-mile Heath route, but pass the Heath entrance and continue up Spaniards/Hampstead Lane, curving up and around into Highgate. Turn left down Southwood Lane (the road next to Gail’s) and go down the hill, then veer to the right (not a hard right turn!) onto Jackson’s Lane. Continue down Jackson’s to Archway Road and make a right, then a relatively quick left onto Holmesdale Road. Run a short distance on Holmesdale and the entrance to Parkland Walk will be on your left. Follow the path to Finsbury Park, cross over the train tracks, turn right and run along the western edge of the park and exit onto Seven Sister’s Road. Happening Bagel is across the street, Costa is to the right, and Finsbury Park Station is further down on the right (on the Piccadilly and Victoria tube lines).
For groups doing other Heath routes, please continue to use our Elsworthy Rd and Thurlow Rd routes into the heath, so we can keep as much traffic as possible off the Fitzjohn Avenue pavement. For specific directions on these routes, consult the WRW London group page on the RunGo app.
Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.