Menopause Cafe News

2026-04-14

#ReluctantRachel sounding less reluctant in #Wick today.

Sponsor her to run 10K for our charity and show that menopausal women can learn to move.

You can read more about Rachel’s training on her JustGiving page. Do share!

2026-03-27

#ReluctantRachel is even more reluctant to run this week. Or is she?

Mixed feelings.

If you want to read about her Dad, click here: https://www.icr.ac.uk/about-us/icr-news/detail/remembering-professor-robin-weiss–a-pioneer-of-viral-oncology-and-former-icr-director

If you’d like to sponsor Rachel to run 10K at Edinburgh Marathon Festival in May go to her Just Giving Page

#MenopauseOnTheMove

2026-02-23

Reluctant Rachel finds a gradient in a strange town.

Sponsor her to run 10K for our charity and show that menopausal women can learn to move.

You can read more about Rachel’s training on her JustGiving page. Do share!

2026-02-20

Breaking news – Reluctant Rachel has run 10 kilometres for the first time!

We are now hopeful that she WILL manage the (hillier) Edinburgh 10K to raise money for our charity in May. Fingers crossed!

“I ran 10K!!! Admittedly it was in very flat Norwich, and I stopped numerous times to walk for a bit, and it took me over an hour and a half, which I think is the maximum time allowed at Edinburgh Marathon Festival. But I did it! And I survived. Next up a shorter run in Wiggle Bottom Park, because I think it’s such a funny name!”

You can read more about Rachel’s training on her JustGiving page. Do share!

15th Feb 2026

Reluctant Rachel is training in Norwich this week. But it’s been snowing!

She’s aiming to run 10K for our charity in May at Edinburgh Marathon Festival .

Her longest run to date is 6.8K, will she break the 7K barrier today?

Norfolk is flat, which should help. Edinburgh is not.

Inspired by Norwich strong women, Julian Of Norwich and Edith Cavell, and by the generous people who’ve sponsored her on Justgiving , off she goes!

Rachel is also channelling “Mind Over Mood” by @popupcbt , since there is a distinct lack of endorphins.

Cheer Rachel on to 10K and help make menopause part of everyday conversation by donating to Menopause Cafe charity HERE

Yay – Menopause on the Move team has reached 5% of its fundraising target!

Yay – Menopause on the Move team is no longer a team of one. Rachel has been joined by Valerie!!! Valerie is also a middle-aged woman, showing that women can learn to move more.

Our bone and heart health decline post-menopause, so it’s important to move more, preferably raising our heart rate and bearing our own weight. What do you do to move more?

Photo of Rachel at the St Andrews Parkrun last weekend, with bride-to-be Zoe. Zoes’s hen party weekend included doing the parkrun on the morning-after-the-night before!

Cheer Rachel on to 10K and help make menopause part of everyday conversation by donating to Menopause Cafe charity HERE

7th Feb 2026

Reluctant Rachel is feeling cheerier this week, as she manages the St Andrews parkrun despite the wet, windy and cold weather. Not as hilly as last week’s Oakhillparkrun Route B, thank goodness! But not as flat as her home turf at Perth parkrun.

Sponsorship now at 2%, so we’re gaining momentum! Cheer Rachel on to 10K and help make menopause part of everyday conversation by donating to Menopause Cafe charity HERE

31st Jan 2026

Rachel thought she’d try 5K with a slight incline at Oakhill Parkrun, London this morning, a step up from her home run at pancake-flat Perth Parkrun.
But, due to mud, they were using Route B, with a steep hill, that she went up THREE times!

After this Rachel thinks the 10K at Edinburgh Marathon Festival will feel like a breeze!

Cheer Rachel on to 10K and help make menopause part of everyday conversation by donating to Menopause Cafe charity HERE

30th Jan 2026

January pay day at last!

It’s been a long month. We’re hoping you’d like to share some of your pay with our charity, to help make menopause part of everyday conversation.

Donate here on Rachel’s Just Giving Menopause on the Move page

Our founder, Rachel Weiss, has signed up to run 10K at the Edinburgh Marathon Festival. She’s only ever run 6K before, so this is a challenge!

Rachel will be wearing our new Menopause Cafe Active T-shirt, here she is modelling it, whilst doing “cross-training” ie avoiding running by doing yoga.We need £20K each year to keep the charity running. Rachel is aiming to raise £6K, which is ambitious.

Thank you, Michael, for getting the ball rolling and being our first donor.

Donate here on Rachel’s Just Giving Menopause on the Move page

#EMF #5Kto10K #ReluctantRunner #CrossTraining #MenopauseCafe #menopause

25th Jan 2026

Meet Lovely Lisa from Letham4All!

Reluctant Rachel was Properly Paniced by last week’s post, announcing she’s going to run 10K at Edinburgh Marathon Festival in May, to raise funds for our charity. So, after Sunday’s 5.8K run, she got herself down to Letham4All for some Cross Training!

“Cross Training” and “Training Plan” are two phrases Rachel learned this week. Cross Training means training for a run by not running, which sounded great to Rachel, until she realised it means doing Other Exercise.

Lovely Lisa runs a class rejoicing in the title “Legs, Bums and Tums”. Reluctant Rachel knows she needs strong Legs to run 10K by May, so she went to Lisa’s class. There were colourful objects called Weights, and also big Rubber Bands. Reluctant Rachel didn’t know what she was meant to do with these. Lovely Lisa showed her. Reluctant Rachel couldn’t do it, even with the smallest, lightest Weight and the most elasic of the Rubber Bands.

But Lovely Lisa is Very Encouraging and told Rachel to do the exercises without any Weights or Rubber Bands to start with, and then introduce these gradually. So Reluctant Rachel will return to Lovely Lisa’s class next week for another go at Mission Impossible.

Donate here on Rachel’s Just Giving Menopause on the Move page

Have you tried Cross Training?

What do you do that’s Not Running, but helps you run?

It’s another gloomy, dreich Sunday afternoon today, for Reluctant Rachel’s Practice Run. Maybe she will make it to 6K today, with a small hill???

Watch this space.

#ReluctantRachel#LovelyLisa#5Kto10K

Donate here on Rachel’s Just Giving Menopause on the Move page