16 speedy runners ran 4km around Greenwich to help sort out bags of clothes at Clothes For Causes charity shop!

It was the first group run since the clocks went forward and how lovely it was meeting everyone in the light and actually being able to see people's faces! You're all a lot better looking than I thought!

We had one new runner join us, Laura! Give her a cheer! Hope you had a nice time Laura! George was back looking strong after his injury. And we also welcomed back fair weather runner Stacey after a little break over the winter!

Name, number and your favourite....

Do I make them up? Do I plan them in advance? I guess you'll never know. Favourite thing this week was kitchen appliance. After I said mine (blender), Vickie chimed in and thought it was far too upmarket, forcing her to upgrade from a spoon to a kettle. We had lots of lovely weird and wonderful things, from coffee machines to turkey basters to egg poachers. Everyone clearly loves a kitchen gadget!

Warm up time! Being able to run around in the light was great! We could actually see the holes in the grass instead of finding them with our ankles this time. Always a plus. A few laps followed by some faster intervals with the person at the back sprinting to the front, which James gave me the name for but I have already forgotten :/

Top banana!

We played a quick game of "it" but with a twist. If you got tagged you had to stand with your hands above your head like a banana, and to free someone you had to peel their arms down... like you do with a banana. But wait, bananas don't have arms...

After a few minutes, everyone was suitably warm. Vickie was back marker, sensibly saving those legs for Manchester marathon this weekend!

We headed around the uni and through Greenwich Park hooray! It's so nice that it is now open later, it certainly makes a change from running along that boring main road. And I bet you all can't wait for the hills!

The faster lot sped off and did a nice little loop back around us so they got a little more distance and meant everyone could go at their own pace. Great job! We took a little group photo while it was still light. So nice to see so many red T shirts! I guess now it's warm they don't need to be covered up by coats!

We arrived at the shop and somehow all managed to squeeze in. Veronique explained to everyone about the task which involved sorting clothes into categories (women's tops, dresses, trousers, mens, kids, etc) and had lots of bin liners jam packed full of donations for us to sort through.

We split the group in half down the middle so some could go downstairs and the rest worked upstairs! Penny was involved in this last time we did it so she was team leader for the upstairs team and immediately installed a super organised system! James, Marta, Deb, Penny & Matt sorted the big pile of clothes and then passed (or in most cases, threw) the article to either Vickie or Ben C who would put it in the correct pile.

Is this kids or womens?

We saw some questionable items of clothing last night. Is it a skirt or a top? Amy and I couldn't quite suss it out but Doyin soon confirmed for us! Is this a pair of mens red velvet pants or a ladies crop top? James certainly couldn't tell. Greenwich clearly has some sassy residents, sassy yet charitable :) There was also a nice little (or not so much actually) denim number that Ben P had his hands on, trying to work out which side the flap went. I heard he went back for it this morning.

After 20 minutes the guys downstairs were finished with their bags and the upstairs crew had 3 more to go so we split up the remaining stuff and sorted out the last few bits! 5 minutes later and BOOM we were done! A group photo outside and then off for the fitness session!

We headed along the river towards the Cutty Sark and got cheered on by the Trafalgar pub-goers on the way there! I guess because it's such a big group now we can easily get confused with a mass participation event. We split into 3 groups and did a little circuit. 3 exercises: single leg squats onto a bench - it is a great one to practice at home, really good for your balance and ankle strength and those glutes which us runners need to be switching on more to power us forward! The second exercise was plank shoulder taps - one of my fave core exercises, simple yet so so effective. And the final one was a little shuttle run up and down using the bollards as markers. 60 seconds on and then we switched.

Left foot first

Vickie, Ben P and James were having some serious coordination issues with their squats. "Left foot first" Vickie said but did that mean left foot up or left foot down? Who knew. After 2 rounds, we headed back to do some nice stretching, looking up at the sky this time!

Next week as part of the fitness session we will be doing a little time trial around the grounds of the uni. Ben P has kindly made a Strava Segment which is a 1km loop. So if you have Strava, it will give you a time for running that particular loop! The plan is to do it once a month to track your progress. You don't need to have a fancy running watch, you can get the Strava app on your phone or failing that, I can time you with a good old fashioned stopwatch :)

Ben is currently top of the leaderboard but Helen maybe your hubby can give it a go to give him a run for his money! Although saying that, it is not a competition or a race at all! But more of a way to challenge yourself and compare yourself against yourself! So join us next week for that! It'll be fun, I promise :)

Great job last night everyone! Some super speedy running going on which was awesome and it's great to see you all getting stuck in with the task! That sorting job would have literally taken hours with just a few people so really well done!