Hello Runners,
It’s been a busy week for WRW, with our fun Fall Coffee at Regent’s Park Bar and Grill Wednesday, and our (partially rained out) Halloween Run on Friday. Also, between ongoing Berlin hotel reservations, the race signup, and our exciting WRW kit order, you have received about five times the normal e-mail communication from us! Thank you for your brilliant response rate– it really does help with the planning.
Running this week. Monday we will run to Kensington High Street via Brompton Cemetery for our rescheduled Costume Run. It’s All Saints Day– the day after Halloween– when some faiths and cultures visit the graves of family members. When the rain was falling heavily early Friday morning, we sent word round through the pace group leaders to reschedule our costume run for Monday, so check your chats to see who will be in costume on the ‘makeup’ run on Monday! The Brompton Cemetery is one of the Royal Parks, and has been open as not only a cemetery, but also a public park, since 1840. Over 200,000 people are buried there, including such notables as suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst (her grave is on the main path near the exit). You can find some of the cemetery’s fascinating history and a map here. The run ends on the Kensington High Street, which gives us many options for coffee, from Whole Foods to Ole and Steen or Joe and the Juice! Wednesday we are running the 5.5-mile Kensal Rise loop. And Friday we have the 6-mile Borough Market run, which we will be putting on the schedule for the first Friday of each month.
2022 WRW Half Marathon in Berlin– now on a WAITLIST basis! Your enthusiasm for the spring half marathon has been off the charts– we’ve literally never had such a huge and immediate response! We have now reached capacity for event space, which is why we have closed the Google Form RSVPs for the WRW trip. From this point we will keep a waitlist of people who would like to join the trip. If you did not complete the RSVP but would like to be added to the waitlist, please e-mail tripmaster Sue Wheeler. Note that registration for the race itself is still open. If you have told us you are coming on the trip, please be sure to register for the half marathon itself before it sells out! And please remember our longstanding WRW policy of no non-runners on the trip. This is a special weekend for WRW runners to share with the women they run alongside throughout the year. Do get in touch with us if you have any questions about this or anything else to do with the race plan. We will shortly be moving all race communications to a separate mailing list of those who have signed up.
Training note: background on routes and mileage. We are still in base-building mode of our training, so we should be enjoying runs that are a comfortable pace and distance for us– perhaps building toward being comfortable with a 6-mile base by winter break, if you will be training for the half marathon. We are a big group, with many different types of runners, all running with different objectives and fitness levels (but pause here a moment to reflect on how fantastic our general fitness level is!). That’s why we offer routes each week that fit our general training plan but can be adjusted in length depending on your own needs. When the routes team plans our calendar, they are looking at at least four years’ worth of previous runs, as well as the general training plan. The mileage will never be something we haven’t done at this point in the year in previous years, and we will always try to mention options for shortening the run either in this note or in the routes section. In addition, they are trying to fit in all the old favorites, and also trying to think of new routes, destinations and fun ideas. They consider whether a route offers any nonstop running, and if possible, they consider traffic, detours, and any other complications. This is definitely not to say pace groups or parts of pace groups can’t do their own thing from time to time!— it’s great to come up with your own ideas or redo routes that make you happy! It’s just to give you the perspective on what goes into the routes you see published here each week.
One of the most beautiful things about this group is that we encompass everything from the most casual of beginning runners all the way to ultrarunners and semi-elites– and we all support each other, cheer for one another, and share this community built around running. If you are newer to the group, or on the casual end of things, it may seem daunting to see the longer runs posted. But there are always ways to make those runs shorter, and no one in this running group will ever judge a runner for taking the shorter route or for running whatever pace is comfortable for them. At the other end of things, some runners extend the routes, or turn the destination runs into out-and-back runs; and it is wonderful that we so often get to see them on our routes even when it means they have to consider how to adapt them to meet their training goals.
Shoutouts and announcements. Congratulations to Anna Zlateva on finishing her virtual NYC marathon last weekend! And a shoutout to Miki Neant for her guide-running support for Irish ultrarunner Sinead Kane in last week’s 24-hour race in Gloucester. Finally, one further shoutout for Phil Kelvin, who set a new course record in the W70 category at the Cabbage Patch 10-Mile Race two weeks ago! Amazing! Apologies if I’ve missed any runs or races this week. Do let us know if you have a notable run coming up, or if you’ve just completed one!
More thank you’s for some of the people who have done so much to make the last week exciting for us all. Magali Kivatinetz organized such a great coffee in Regents Park– the venue, the food, and the coffee were all fantastic! Thank you, Magali! And huge appreciation to kitmaster Marissa O’Malia, who not only managed to secure kit for us despite the challenges everywhere this year, but also has done countless rounds of design and numbers e-mails with suppliers. Most of all, even now Marissa is trying to secure specific kit items to match demand with the limited supply we mentioned in the kit e-mail. She is like a high-end personal shopper for kit– with hundreds of clients!
Save the Date. Be sure to save time on your calendar for these extra-special runs/events!
Fri., Nov. 12 – The Remembrance Run– Annual WRW running tour in honor of Remembrance Day (Nov. 11).
Mon., Nov. 15 – Hampton Court Adventure Run– Block off the full morning for this twice-yearly favourite route. Take the Overground to Richmond for the 7-mile run to Hampton Court Palace (hopefully with coffee in the Tiltyard Cafe on palace grounds!), then take the train back via Waterloo.
Wed., Nov. 17 – The Wednesday Scramble— A new WRW social running event designed to mix it up a little bit! Stay tuned for details!
Wed., Dec. 1 – The Christmas Lights Run— Kick off the holiday season with an early start to run to central London and view the holiday lights before dawn (and before the crowd descend!) A WRW tradition!
Happy Halloween to all! Hopefully the rain will clear out for any festivities around St Johns Wood this evening. But meanwhile, I hope you enjoyed your extra hour of sleep last night and are warm and dry this morning. See you out on the pavements this week!
xx Micki
ROUTES
Monday, 1 November – Brompton Cemetery to Kensington High Street (6.5 miles)
RunGo: https://routes.rungoapp.com/route/Sv1mfzlEl2
We start out the normal way to Hyde Park. Once you enter the park, turn left and run along the east side of the park. At Hyde Park Corner turn right and run along the south side exiting at the gate we normally use at William Street [next to the French Embassy]. Cross the street, take a right. Turn left at Brompton Road (just past the tube) and take Brompton all the way (admiring Harrods as you pass) until Fulham Road. Veer left on Fulham Road and continue to Brompton Cemetery – with its black wrought iron gates and a red phone box on either side. Turn right to enter the Cemetery. Run through the Cemetery then exit and turn right onto Old Brompton Road, then turn left onto Earls Court Road. Cross Cromwell Road, then turn right onto Cromwell Road and then turn left onto Marloes Road. Continue north on Marloes making your way through the streets to Kensington High Street. Whole Foods will be to your right.
To shorten this route, try running straight across Hyde Park, going straight at the silver sphere and exiting the park directly on the other side at William Street. This cuts approximately half a mile from the route. Other suggestions could be to walk across the cemetery and take in the sights, then carry on with the last part of the run as a cool-down; or walk the last bit of the route to the High Street. The Earl’s Court tube station is along the route should you want to exit early– with the shortcut across Hyde Park, Earl’s Court should be just over the 5-mile mark.
Wednesday, 3 November – Kensal Rise (5.5 miles)
RunGo: https://routes.rungoapp.com/route/1rhb3AdSh7
This route takes us along the canal to the west. Please be aware of bikes along the canal and form a single file whenever you hear someone call out ‘bike!”.
Start out heading west on Circus Road, turn left on Grove End Road, then right on St John’s Wood Road at the traffic light. Then turn left on Cunningham, right on Aberdeen, and cross Maida Vale to the right side of Blomfield Rd. Stay on the right side of Blomfield Road as you run parallel to the canal. Turn left at the second bridge over the canal (at Westbourne Terrace Road), turn right just after the bridge, follow the sidewalk along Delamere Terrace, and join the canal path heading west at this point. Run to the Ladbroke Grove exit. Here we turn right and run over the bridge along Chamberlayne Road to Harvist Road. Turn right on Harvist, which turns into Brondesbury Road, and take that to Kilburn High Road/Maida Vale. Turn right and follow Maida Vale to Hall Road where you turn left and run back to Starbucks.
If you want to shorten this route, run west on the canal and turn back at your desired half-way point. (The two mile mark is at the point on the canal when the Westway motorway is over our heads.)
Friday, 5 November – Borough Market (6 miles)
RunGo: https://routes.rungoapp.com/route/6U5vDjwEEA
We start by heading to Hyde Park via the usual route. Head west on Circus Road, turn left on Grove End Road. At the corner of St. John’s Wood Road and Grove End Road, cross diagonally at the light and continue south on Lisson Grove. Cross over Marylebone Road and continue south on Seymour Place until it tees into Seymour Street. Turn right and cross over Edgware Road and then take the first left on Stanhope Place 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, cross The Mall at the light and turn right at the grand wrought iron gates into 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. Continue past Big Ben and cross Westminster Bridge. After the bridge turn left down the stairs to run along the Thames until the river path ends after Southwark Bridge. Just past Southwark Bridge, head right and then a quick left to go into a short tunnel that puts you onto Clink Street. Make a right on Stoney Street to get to the market (and Monmouth Coffee!).
The Westminster tube station is at the 4-mile mark on this route if you need an early exit. Or, if you are looking for a shorter run but still want to end at Borough Market, try taking the tube to Westminster or Green Park and intercepting your group at the desired location along the route.
