Your World
Your letters, your pics, your pages
I’ve just started to read my July issue of RW and was delighted with the article Support and Sisterhood [about a running club for perimenopausal women]. I have been struggling over the past year and reading this gave me hope. Knowing other women are struggling with joint pain, fatigue and mood issues, but still running, has motivated me to dust myself down and get back out there. This is a subject that is not discussed enough, and I would love to see more articles written about it. Thank you, RW, for including the article and well done to Gail Titchener for setting up the running groups that are quite clearly supporting other women.
– Rachel Yarwood-Murray, via email
BACK WITH A BANG
After over a year’s break from running events due to Covid restrictions, it’s so good to be back! I didn’t realise how much I’d missed the atmosphere. I’ve seen a few sights since starting back at official events, including a runner carrying a refuse bin, one wearing winter gear – including bobble hat – in 20-degree heat and someone who was dressed more for a night out in Hawaii than a half marathon…and you know what? I love it! Can’t wait to see more.
– Barbara Bone, via email
MAPS-OLUTELY FABULOUS
Inspired by your recent feature on Helen Ilus’ Greenground Map of London (Alight Here for a Greener
Future, Jan 2021), I thought that it would be appropriate that Sheffield (arguably the UK’s greenest city) had its own version. I contacted Helen and put her in touch with Marketing Sheffield, and they are now in the
process of compiling the Greenground Map of Sheffield! I love this city and the running opportunities that it offers, and look forward to exploring further with the aid of the map.
– Stephen Birch, Sheffield
DIGITAL DILEMMA
The Next Steps article in your July issue was a fascinating read. I could feel myself getting excited for all this new tech, dreaming of the day when it comes to market…but I couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy that focusing so much on data and anthropometrics leaves us at risk of missing out on the joyful parts of running – new routes, beautiful scenery, chats with friends, the sheer joy of getting lost in the woods and stumbling home covered in nettle scratches at the pace of a narcoleptic tortoise.
I’m a certified wrist-watcher, eyes glued to my Garmin, but my favourite runs have always been the ones where I forgot about pace and goals, and just ran for the sheer joy of it. I can’t say
I’m not tempted by the promise of all this exciting new tech, though…
– Lucy Boucher, via email
PUB RUNNERS
Sam Murphy’s article Why am I Running? Because I Need to Buy Milk
[RW, July] made me smile. A friend and I have embraced the run with a mission by regularly meeting for afternoon drinks after running to our pub of choice with a full change of clothes in our backpacks. Not only is this legally (I gather drink-driving is not the done thing!) and environmentally responsible, it is also physically and mentally beneficial for us both.
We live over 15 miles apart, so the cross-country journey can be quite substantial. Thanks to my husband coming to pick me up at the end of a messy afternoon, I don’t have to run the journey home! Cheers!
– Ali Shankland, via email
BENDS WITH BENEFITS
The recent Tonky Talk on yoga [RW, August] made me break out a wry