Proving that we are, in fact, waterproof, eleven eager runners skipped along through a drizzly Penge, covering 3km of running and many walls of painting at Melvin Hall.

No first-timers today, so all regulars to our lovely group! We had a very quick chat about reflective clothing (Helena had some very fancy unicorn/kitten leggings on, sadly not reflective, but wow, imagine if they were!), a December motivator called 'Run up to Christmas', that we might do to keep us going through the party season and the GoodGym social that's happening this Thursday.

Detour

This week we were off to another brand new task, exciting times! It seems none of our runners had heard of Melvin Hall before so, once again, we were venturing into new territory and exploring everything that our area has to offer. After last week's encounter with the gunpowder plot, we felt emboldened to claim back the little green space down the road (after a little unplanned detour, sorry about that, but wasn't that a nice road?!), cutting through to give us a shortcut to our task. Thank you to Rachael for offering to be our back-marker tonight, keeping us together.

At the hall we were met by Councillor Kathy Bance and Maureen Kennedy from the Melvin Hall Community Group. This is a big space, with lots of rooms that are used by all sorts of groups (we tried to work quietly last night, as an antenatal group met in the main hall). The room we were due to work on this week is one that can be used in lots of different ways and, with the doors opening onto the little outdoor space, could be a lovely place to use in the warmer months. The paint, rollers, trays and brushes were all set and ready to go, with magnolia taking the place of a very 1980s peach.

And they're off!

Molly was very keen and set to with the first stroke and pretty soon the room was a hive of activity and chatter. Topics under discussion were the fantastic fireworks at the weekend (some people were able to see them from the warmth of their own home!) and, as it's coming up to that time of year (sorry), we need to finalise the details of our Christmas social! A decision was made that we would like to meet when we're not all puffed out and sweaty, so sign up here to join us for some food and drink at our start point. I also mentioned a starter session happening in January, a great way to introduce a friend, but equally open to regulars who fancy a daytime group run on a Saturday morning!

It's always amazing at these tasks to see how quickly a group of enthusiastic people can transform a space. Apart from a few hard-to-reach spots, all of the room was given a first coat of paint (it will take another session to eradicate that peach!). There was even time to give the equipment a good wash and leave the room as we found it.

VIP fitness

As we chatted, we hadn't noticed just how heavy the rain was, so the planned fitness session was looking like a bit of a washout. I can't remember who suggested it (maybe muttered very quietly under their breath!), but what a great idea to use the space we were in for a quick round of shuttle runs and strength work! A combination of really good heating and really good effort meant everyone was soon red-of-cheek and out-of-breath. Excellent!

As we stretched back at the Bridge House, we wished Stuart a good trip and committed to signing up to next week's group run (T.B.C), for some more of the same good stuff, see you there!