Tuesday 17th September 2019
Report written by Mark Barun
What a night to celebrate such a fantastic birthday - GOOD GYM's 10th YEAR!
Whether Ivo knew just how contagious doing good could be and how many would want to contribute we don't know but one thing is for sure he is a legend and so Kingston wanted to hail the hero by paying tribute in his form...that's right we ran tonight Ivo-esque with the trademark cap and glasses (and of course a GG shirt).
As well as trying to pull of the look our challenge was to wave our flag in as many places as we could, get a fun run in and of course help a great community mission - and all before the kitchen closed at the pub.
Did we do it of course .... we did and more. We started the night welcoming three new runners, Jessica, Louisa, and Tish who fell straight into fancy dress and celebration mode, making an awesome compliment to the team - Lovely to have them join us!!
A fast brief, briefer warm up and baseball caps and glasses on we took to the Kingston streets, glowing warmly in the evenings fading sunshine. Rather than take the direct route we wanted to enjoy the run some so headed to bushy park making the most of the daylight while we had it and the great open space - we had a SEIZE the FLAG run which was not competitive at all (except for perhaps the run trainer who shouldn't be allowed to play such games).
Flag seized and a strong pace set we headed to CANBURY gardens to meet the lovely Marilyn and some sleepy chickens. Straight to work and watering, filling butts, emptying butts, pallette moving, path clearing, moving compost, filling the pond, moving tyres and even EATING TOMATOES all took place in a flash! Job done and time to spare...was it the thought of the pub that helped us make great time or just the awesome teamwork of a great Kingston team!!! The latter surely as rather than extra time in the pub we squeezed in a preliminary round of a in-promtu 'MARK SAYS CIRCUIT" in the dark too! Much Kudos to all as admirably done and hardly a burpee in sight!
Goodgym on the run in Bushy Park #happybirthday #10yearsold #birthdayrun #running #volunteering #goodgym #bushypark #kingston #runninggroup #doinggood #fun #celebration pic.twitter.com/f5bH3GAukm
— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) September 18, 2019
So back to Guildhall where surely it was time for a photo as we hadn't had one of the flag in at least 5 running strides.
Finally the pub- Private room of course as only the best will do for a place to hang the great GG logo and toast what makes our Tueday evenings and all the good that has happened in the GG name over the last 10 years. Cheers and here's to many more for many more to enjoy!
Happy 10 years @Goodgym!!!! #birthday #runnersdoinggood #runninggroup #community #celebration #cake #fun #social #volunteering #reason2run #getfitdoinggood pic.twitter.com/9APTPas1TG
— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) September 18, 2019
See you next week for a visit to Citizen Zoo and all don't forget Super Saturday Mission running this weekend Plog along Sunday too!
We are transforming a disused gardeners' yard on the edge of Canbury Gardens, Kingston, into a community space for wildlife-friendly food-growing
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