22 awesome runners ran 4k to help clear leaves at Ballast Quay Garden!

What a fabulous turn out last night! And we had a whopping SIX new runners join us! So big warm welcome to James, Chloe, Natasha, Jennifer, Paul and Sean! We also had the lovely Jane all the way over from GoodGym Kingston! Nice to have you all with us last night!

After a bit of a shaky start with various run ins with the university security, we managed to do a brief uninterrupted warm up before getting on our way!

Within a few minutes we had arrived and were greeted by the lovely Diane and her dog Tom! Diane has looked after the garden since 1962 and I'm sure you'll agree it's a fab little spot with the most spectacular views over the river. During the winter when all the leaves come off the trees, they tend to make their way onto the flower beds and can inhibit their growth. Obviously it requires a fair bit of bending down to clear them so that's where we come in!

Diane had various brushes and brooms at the ready, everyone got stuck in and began to explore all corners of the garden! A pile of leaves began to form, which we then bagged up and emptied over the wall into the river. This felt a bit wrong but Diane assures me she has been told by Greenwich Council that it's fine as it will all decompose.. fair enough!

After about half an hour, almost every single leaf had been plucked from the garden, nice work!! We took a lovely group photo and then set off again on our run. We did a little loop around the area and stopped for a fitness session which this week was a little leg circuit. Spending even just a few minutes on some strength and conditioning work each week will not only make you a stronger runner with better running efficiency, it will also help prevent injury so it's super important that we all do it! And I'll be the first to admit I don't do enough of it, I would much rather just spend that time on another run instead but take the time to do it, your body will thank you for it!

Anyway enough of my lecture... we did 2 rounds of 3 exercises. Step ups (single leg exercises are great if you have any imbalances), reverse lunges with a knee drive (help with balance and strengthens glutes/quads) and squat jumps (for explosive power)... after 2 rounds, plus the fact that it had started to drizzle meant it was probably time to head back! We had a quick little stretch and called it a night!

Useful links and things I mentioned yesterday...

Facebook Group - to those who are new, we have a GoodGym Greenwich Facebook Group where people often post about races or other running related stuff going on nearby!

Community mission in Charlton - here is the mission for Crisis UK I was talking about. Limited to 10 runners, no need to be DBS checked!

Great work last night everyone! Diane was so pleased with all that you achieved, you've really helped her out so well done! See you next week