LCC RUNNERS: Hampstead Heath Trail Running [5-6km] ALL SPEEDS

Welcome back to LCC's Trail Running Club! For our next outing we're heading to Hampstead Heath. This is a moderately hilly run, but we'll be making for the uplands and forests at the top of the Heath where the terrain evens out and doing most of our run there. We'll be looking at a roughly 45-60 minute run, covering between 5 and 6 kilometres or thereabouts.

Our route will take us from Gospel Oak Overground Station (on the Mildmay and Suffragette lines) through the east side of the Heath, up Parliament Hill (at a relaxed pace), around Hampstead Heath Woods and its ponds in the north, and then back down through the Vale of Heath into Hampstead itself, with transport at Hampstead tube station (Northern line) and Hampstead Heath Overground station (Mildmay line).

All are welcome - we're a mix of skill levels and leg lengths, so I'll be maintaining a relatively relaxed pace and will make sure no one winds up too far behind.

Afterwards we may hit a cafe or pub to refuel and potentially discuss strategies and next steps for this little project.

I'll be bringing plenty of water along with me, so if you forget yours, fear not. I'll also have some misting sprays and microfibre towels if the day's weather feels over-hot for anyone.

Our standard bit of info about our running group and why it's good is provided below:

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Humans evolved to run and sprint; no wonder then that when we do it regularly (within moderation and with plenty of rest days), our brains as well as bodies thank us. Running has recently been shown to improve neuroplasticity, heal brain damage in affected individuals, and foster better mental health including elevated mood at rest and enhanced task-switching ability. Doing all this in nature, as opposed to busy London roads dodging commuters and street cleaners, also helps deliver the well-known benefits of time spent in nature to mood, anxiety levels, cognition and memory. All these things matter a great deal in an age where burnout and exhaustion are a constant presence either in our own lives or those of the people we care about [who you should totally invite along]. It matters especially for people trying to eke out a percentage of their time and mental capacity for transformative social and political organising: the better we feel, the more we'll be able to do.

In a nutshell, running is great for you and you should do it. Trail running is even better. Best of all is doing all this with a supportive group of comrades, especially one which includes knowledgeable folks who can provide some structure to what can be a puzzling sport to get started with if building up to something, like a 10k or half marathon, is your goal. Part of our running group's programming will be building a series of events aimed at building people up, slowly but surely, towards specific goals, using progressive programmes similar to the NHS's Couch to 5k system.

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Take care and see you on the trails!