Group Running

There is something profoundly individualist about running, it s a personal experience everytime you train, even if you run the same path over and over again. But motivation and enhanced learning experience certainly comes from group running as you can compare yourself to others and learn from their experiences.

In Greenwich council there are cheap running lessons (haven t tried myself) that can also be coupled with other activities. Typically rowing is a specific sport you may consider doing in the Thames for example. It is also good for "cross-training" purposes, but shall be the topic of another post sometime
Here is a useful link for those interested in this version of the Group Running Theme:
http://www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/LeisureCulture/SportLeisure/SportsDirectory/AthleticsAndRunning/Running.htm



As for the More hardcore and ill motivated ones that look forward to beat their personal bests or increase performance run after run , there is the British Military Fitness "look alike" club :
http://www.britmilfit.com/  and this has the advantage of beeing highly motivational as the trainers are literally shouting at you in the open spaces to give you good time for your money. Again, the subscription process is easy and fairly cheap, you can go for your first training session free and assess your difficulty level then (green, blue, red...).  Be ready to step in the mud in dark cold evening winter nights or heavy sun in summer. One of their other advantages is that there is training in the week end, and that fits most workers

Make it Useful - Charity running

run for charities..there are loads of them out there willing to give you the opportunity to raise funds ..
I like http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/ because of the labradors :) ...but others have more mainstream ideas like cancer research or AIDS vaccine research, or sometimes more niche markets (super useful idea this one : http://www.sandblast-arts.org/)

to raisefunds, online fundraising is made very easy with http://www.justgiving.com/ ... you are a couple of clicks away...

INTERESTING TOOL TO MAP YOUR RUNS

This allows to show some of the usual runners on and around Greenwich Park, thanks to Garmin Connect and the fantastic tools those running watches provide

http://connect.garmin.com/explore#activityType=running&eventType=all&location=Greenwich%20Park%2C%20Greenwich%2C%20Greater%20London%2C%20UK&sortField=relevance¤tPage=1

will show you the recent runs downloaded (wirelessly for most!) and mapped on googlemaps

Go have a look !

RUNNING WHERE TIME STANDS STILL

Is it that every runner has a favourite place to run, a favourite hideout to eat miles ? where one can compare one run to the other, close the eyes and revive the same run over and over again, the exhaltation, the lack of breath, the pain, the effort, the accomplishment...and restart ... and improve ?

For me this place is , since a couple of years, Greenwich Park and its surroundings. Soon host of the 2012 olympic equestrian games ( see http://www.london2012.com/venues/greenwich-park.php for details) , the park is before anything else the birthsite of the Greenwich Meridian , where the GMT (Greenwich Meridian Time) is referenced. That is , a few miles away from the buzzing center of London, overseeing the financial centers of Canary Wharf and the Square mile of the older city.

The park boasts of rare tree species, a couple of stunningly well mantained flower beds, and in its center, the royal observatory. It is also under the protection of the UNESCO as an historically protected site : http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/795

This park has more than one feature to surprise and entertain the visitor. The Royal Parks have beautifully exposed its many facilities on the following webpage http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/greenwich_park/ where you can get a feel for the areas where you can run....