Monday 16th September 2019
Report written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
Whether it was your first group run last night or you've been part of the GG family for a long time, this one is for you -
HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY GOODGYM!
In those years you have all been part of creating a huge movement for good and in doing so you have run a mind-blowing
2.5 million kilometres!
Say whaaat?! That's incredible. Last night's 7kms run by 32 of us is the start of the next decade of doing good and getting fitter, and I'm looking forward to being part of that with you.
To kick off our special birthday run we had a few announcements:
We welcomed Diego and Daniel to their first group run - give them a cheer!
As part of our special birthday week, this weekend it is #SuperSaturday where we attempt to put on the greatest number of community missions than ever before across the UK. In Wandsworth we have a great one helping out with a spot of yurt washing at a local community garden at 10:30 on Saturday morning. Sign up here - be lovely to see you there! Remember, community missions are open to everybody, you don't need to be DBS checked.
It was also a special milestone for Stephanie who last night hit 50 good deeds - what a brilliant thing to do. Next time you see her in her new black tshirt give her a massive high five! Congratulations Stephanie.
We had a very appropriate task for our birthday run last night - helping to assemble and check cots for the amazing Little Village charity in Balham.
This organisation provides for free good quality baby clothes and equipment, donated by local people to families that need them. It's like a foodbank, but for clothes, toys and equipment for babies and children and they're committed to alleviating material poverty in London. They believe no child in the capital grows up without these essential items and promote sustainable living. What an amazing project!
We did a quick warm up back in our usual spot which BAC had kindly repaved and leveled over just for us to use at our group runs (kind of) and did a poll to see how we all like to spend our birthdays. Eating cake was top, along with friends and drinks, brunch, bed, days of work and, of course, GoodGym!
After just over 3km of running we arrived at Little Village to find an amazingly organised Jo there waiting for us complete with flow charts and a list of jobs! It meant we could get straight in with the task, so dividing up into groups we started
Assembling and checking cribs
Checking travel cots
Helping in the stock room
This was one of the tasks where we had to use brain power as well as our muscles, but after about 40 minutes of work there was a wide range of different cots to show for our efforts, many travel cribs had been checked and even a spot of sweeping had been done. Great effort everybody. We were so engrossed with the task that it sadly (?) meant we had to forgo our fitness session, but with a 3km run back we still got in a good workout. Double session next week!
Speaking of next week, we have not one but two tasks on offer. Check this out, choose your preferred task and sign up! Both are shorter runs, so plenty of time for that fitness session...
Great work last night gang and many happy returns GoodGym. Thanks for every run you've done to make our city a better, kinder, fitter place.
Wandsworth
Sorting coat donations