24 amazing runners ran 5km to help at Zippy's nursery in Greenwich!

So unfortunately, Clothes 4 Causes charity shop cancelled on us yesterday but THANKFULLY we have the awesome Nina whose mum works in a nearby nursery which needed loads doing so panic averted!

We were joined by two new runners last night! Sharon who came along a few weeks ago for her documents check and Chris who has run with GG Newham a few times and, like Pulin, has finally seen the light and upgraded to Greenwich (sorry Brahma!)

Global Running Day!

Yesterday was Global Running Day and well done to all of you for running on this special day! Under Armour even encouraged people to call in sick at work so they could go running! #runnersdayoff

And because it was Global Running Day, favourite thing this week was kind of linked in that it was favourite day of the year...! We had some wonderful answers ranging from the standard Christmas, birthday, Sharon's birthday which coincidentally was Nina's favourite day too, to some not so typical (but equally wonderful) ones like Summer Solstice, London Marathon day and Australia day..... lovely!

We did a quick little warm up on the grass and then headed off as one big group which was nice for a change :) We took a photo by the Cutty Sark and then a few minutes later we arrived at Zippy's where we were greeted by Nina's lovely mum, Beverley!

We piled into the nursery and it was SO cute. I loved seeing all the kids' names on their coat hooks and it's always interesting to see which names are the popular ones these days. Not a single Tom or Sam in sight, it was all the hip funky cool new names like Noah & Harley & Jasper!

There were two main tasks that needed doing. One was painting in all of the rooms - some of the kids had gone a little crazy with pencils on the walls! And the other job was building a sandbox which was going to be interesting to say the least.

Team sandbox consisted of the 5 people that were simply stood closest to it - Deb, Helen, Amy B, Ben P & Ben C and I must admit I had zero faith that this would get done and I should have been far more encouraging I know, but by the looks I'd received from Amy B and Ben C, I think I was right to have some doubts... they did NOT look confident in the slightest!

Everyone else was given a roller or a paintbrush of varying size but as everyone knows, it's not the size that matters, it's what you do with it... as proven by our resident fine artist Dom who was given the crappiest brush of them all but still managed to conjure up a masterpiece. Who needs a roller eh?

All the rooms were getting a nice little refresh. The twins were painting the bits up high that no one else could reach. Although I wasn't 100% convinced that the paint they were using actually matched the wall but we were hopeful that it would match when it started to dry..... and then they said they were both colour blind.......

By this point team sandbox had actually made negative progress as they decided to dismantle the whole thing and start again from scratch, Amy G managed to lean her whole side of her bum cheek on a freshly painted wall, although I am surprised this didn't happen to more of us! But on the plus side, the place was starting to look AMAZING!

Half an hour later and we were done. The sandbox was sort of built, and the walls were dazzlingly bright and fresh! Pulin took a selfie with the giant teddy and then we went outside for a big family portrait :)

GG TT!

We headed back to the uni for our monthly time trial. This is something we started doing a few months back as a means of measuring your own progress. So if you can remember the time I gave you, make a note of it so you remember it for next time to see if you've got quicker, which some of you definitely have!!! Amy M knocked a huge 45 seconds off her time from last month... incredible!!! There was an epic sprint finish between Ben C and Matt which was amazing to witness. It's always great to see you really pushing yourselves so well done!!! And it will all pay off in the long run, I promise. Sadly not all of the results registered on the Strava segment but it's all a work in progress. If you want to see the official leaderboard, it is here and if you ever fancy doing it in your own time, please do and the results should update automatically.

GG Olympics!

One final shout out for the Olympics on Saturday. We will be at Parliament Hill track for midday and the events are running until around 6pm. If you want to join in with the crafternoon flag making session tonight, PLEASE LET ME KNOW so I can let tell Mridula to expect you. If you have a free Saturday, please come along and support, or volunteer, or even race! I know it's a bit of a mission to get to but it will be LOADS of fun. The other boroughs are taking it quite seriously by the sounds of it... Marta went to GG Lewisham on Monday and was accused of being a mole from Greenwich trying to find out their strategy hahahaha! But we will just have fun :) It will be a great day out, and it would be great to have as many of you all there as possible to fly the beautiful flag that is yet to be made...!

BC takes the reins

Next week, we are going to Ballast Quay to tidy up the garden for an event that they are having and also flyering for said event which is raising money for the Greenwich & Bexley Hospice whom we have helped on multiple occasions... so a double whammy next week! Unfortunately I won't be around but the amazing Ben Cooper will be covering the session so it'll be nice for you all to get a break from my whip. Sign up here! Enjoy!!