Hello Runners!
Nothing could rain on our parade this week– not even, um, rain— as we finally reconnected and ran in our larger pace groups, rode trains to take on the glorious Windsor run together, had lunch and coffee together, and even sat inside at Starbucks like in the old days! It’s weird that the word “joy” might be the most overused word in my vocabulary right now, but I don’t know a better way of describing the feeling of being together without constantly counting numbers, revisiting our happy places (and finding new ones), and generally getting back to our WRW community live and open and in-person! Some runners even toed the line for an actual, live race this week. So, a little cold? A little rain? No big deal as long as we can run through it together!
It’s worth mentioning for these last few weeks together, now that we don’t have to carefully maintain six-packs anymore– this is the perfect time of year to mix it up pace-wise. On the one hand, it’s totally understandable that we’re all keen to just get back to our larger pace groups. But from a training perspective, it’s also a great time to run with friends– or make new friends!– in other pace groups, and to experiment with how a little faster or a little slower pace feels to your body. We’ve all been in our small silos so long, in some cases we may find we’re actually running pretty close to the same pace as a different group. And if you’ve been contemplating a pace change for any reason, now (or maybe after Monday’s run) is a great time to try it.
Running this Week. Monday is the Choose-your-own-adventure Run by pace group! Though I’ve heard some previews, I can’t wait to see photos and hear about the adventure runs this week! We have resisted the urge to suggest a local route for those who aren’t able to go off on a Monday adventure further afield– because adventures are not just things you do away from the local! So even if you can’t make it far from St Johns Wood, choose-your-own-adventure is still the challenge, and don’t forget to share it with your other WRW friends afterwards.
Wednesday’s Five Gardens run is another unique one in that we’re suggesting the touchpoints, but leaving it to you to freestyle your route. Regents Park is so familiar to most of us– or is it? We have our routes we follow, but how well do we know the park off our beaten paths? The map names four gardens in Regents Park: The English Garden, Queen Mary’s Rose Garden, the Japanese Garden Island, and St Johns Lodge Garden (we call it the ‘secret garden’ because you really have to be looking for the entrance, off the inner circle near Chester Road). We also start our run in a garden– the beautiful space next to the St Johns Wood Church (if you generally enter and leave the church grounds from the St Johns Wood High Street side, it’s worth crossing the park to visit the maintained garden at the corner near the roundabout). On this short run, connect the dots to the various gardens in whatever way seems most fun to you and your group. (And yes, just because we don’t want you to think we’re just being lazy, we have made a cheat route you can use if you don’t feel like being spontaneous!)
Finally, Friday we have slated a last Finsbury Park run for this year– up around the far side of the Heath to Highgate, and onto the Parkland Walk to finish at Finsbury Park for some Happenin’ Bagels. You can grab a coffee at Costa on the way to the station, OR if you walk around the back side of the station (I think I was the last to discover this), there are more coffee and pastry shops!
Announcements and Shoutouts. Last Sunday morning, several runners did the Royal Windsor River Trail Half Marathon. Congrats to Kate Ballbach, Jess Brown, Marigold Dooley, Roni Fransis, Janelle Meyer, Erin Roth, Meredith Snizek, Emily Turner, Theo Yardley, and…me, on the finish. What a treat to run an actual, real live race!
If you hear of anyone who would like to join the Beginner’s class of 2022, please connect us or pass along their contact info to [email protected]. As anyone who has been through this program knows, it can be an amazing, life-changing experience! The program is for people who have truly never been runners before. It starts out with one-minute intervals at a very slow jog, so is not appropriate for anyone who is able to run even a mile or two. Our regular M-W-F group can help people who have been runners before ease back into it and work up to joining our M-W-F runs.
An almost-final reminder to let us know if you are planning to leave London at the end of the school year! Also, if you are a leaver, please send a photo for Janelle to use in our end-of-year festivities (or I promise we will find your most embarrassing snapshot in our archives;). Looking ahead. Our annual Leavers’/Sights of London Run is already coming up next Wednesday, June 2. This is a short run taking in some of the most iconic London sights, with frequent photo stops and a coffee at the end. Mark your calendar to join us that morning if at all possible. We will all want the chance to have a proper send-off for our friends who are leaving.
The WRW End-of-Year Celebration is now on the books for Friday, June 11, beginning at 1pm in Regents Park (arrive from 12:30 if you can to help secure spaces for each group!). The rain date is Monday, June 14. More details to come, or feel free to get in touch with any questions!
Our Save-the-date list is getting so small! It’s hard to believe the end of the year is rushing up on us so quickly:
Wednesday, June 2 – Leaver’s Run/Sights of London
Friday, June 4 – Destination breakfast with your pace group. Which Dishoom… or Eggslut or other tasty breakfast… suits your group? It’s up to you to decide your route to breakfast this week!
Friday, June 11 – WRW End-of-Year Celebration, 1pm, Regents Park (arrival from 12:30- 1:00).
Wednesday, June 16 – last official WRW run for the 2020-21 running year!
May and June are always such a busy time! And coming out of months of lockdown, it may feel extra frenetic this year. Some of us may even be struggling a bit to re-adapt to having a social schedule– as great a pleasure as that is, it’s an adjustment! One way to help yourself is to carve out the time for your WRW runs. For many of us, running was a lifeline throughout the last year-plus, so keeping it in our schedules now is a really good way to make sure we are maintaining balance and staying healthy as our lives begin to fill up again with some of our pre-Covid commitments. Just because things are seeming more ‘normal’ doesn’t mean we should stop doing the things we’ve gotten so good at in the past months– keep taking care of yourselves and of each other! Even now, reach out if you need a hand. And as always… keep running!
xx Micki
ROUTES
Monday 24 May – Choose-your-own-adventure Run – Pace Group Choice!
Pace groups will run the destination route of their choice today– we can’t wait to see the highlights! Please reach out to your pace group via whatsapp, or email us, if you are not in the loop on what’s happening with your group!!
Wednesday 26 May – Regents Park, Five Gardens in Five Miles, Freestyle (+/- 5 miles)
Okay, we could give you a route; and sure, we’ll include one just below. But the real idea of this run was for everyone to chart their own way around the park, taking in all five of the gardens in a freestyle run– however seems logical and/or fun to you! Grab a snap at each garden to prove you made it– or send a funky running app imprint if you don’t want to slow down for photos. But hey, there’s neither a prize nor a penalty involved– it’s just a good time of year to get out for a great run around the best of Regents Park. Enjoy the morning on our home course!
We start in the St Johns Wood Church Grounds (with the lovely gardens right next to the church!). In the park, can you find Queen Mary’s Rose Garden, the English Garden, the Japanese Garden Island, and St John’s Lodge Garden (aka, the Secret Garden)? The 5-mile route below does cover them all if you’re not feeling creative, but trust us, you’ll be happier navigating your own way through familiar territory, than trying to follow the turn-by-turn instructions on this RunGo route!
Here’s that ‘cheat sheet’ route if you really want it…
Friday, 28 May – Finsbury Park/Happening Bagel (7 miles)
RunGo: https://routes.rungoapp.com/route/OqSvoVYSBa
For this run we start up Fitzjohn’s as if we’re going to the Heath, but pass the Heath entrance and continue up Spaniards/Hampstead Lane into Highgate. Bear right onto Highgate High Street. 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 Sisters 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).
Other Heath routes offer a variety of options for hill runs:
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 OR Pergola route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles: The full Heath route
Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.