A shoal of seven saturated super runners squelched nearly 12km on the longest - and WETTEST - GG Liverpool Group Run to date.

After weeks and weeks of glorious blue skies, who'd have guessed that the week we planned an extended run it would decide to absolutely chuck it down! I was stunned that so many dedicated souls joined the run, in spite of the truly awful weather, running hard all the way to Calderstones Park and setting a good pace too.

When we arrived at The Reader - a fab literacy charity based in the park - we were greeted by GG runner and The Reader staff member Kirsty. The original task was painting picnic benches but unfortunately the weather made this impossible. Instead, Kirsty put the team to work cleaning the playground around the centre's "Story Barn". And within no time, the area was free from leaves and grime, but the rain continued to beat down.

We took shelter for a few minutes to discuss whether we should return to base via bus or even taxi. But it was unanimously decided that since we were already soaked through, we might as well finish the run. And so we did! It rained all the way back until just as we pulled up to our Hope Street Hotel base, it finally stopped.

The whole team deserves shouts outs this week for being absolute troopers (there should be a special GG duck badge for occasions like this) but most deserving of a special mention is Mat. Now a regular, when Matthew first came to GoodGym back in April he found a 2.5km run tough going. This week he ran 12km without trouble and in a really decent time too. Mat's "You've just got to keep going" mantra and can do attitude is an inspiration to the whole team. Nice work fella!

Well done once again to all of my soggy runners, and thank you for not leaving me to run/swim alone this week!

Next week I can't promise it won't rain (although early forecasts say it is unlikely) but I can promise a shorter run. We'll be heading to one of our favourite tasks, working with Friends of Everton Park. The run is around 2.4km in each direction and pretty flat so it is ideal for newbies and returner runners. See you then!

Have a lovely week and happy running, Char <3