After extending a warm welcome to his gang of 16 willing volunteers, including several inspired newcomers, Mark gave us the low-down on the evening's goal: to paint garden furniture at Cecil Court Care Home in Kew, while burning some calories in the process. A brief warm up outside Whole Foods got the party synchronised, and no sooner were the shoelaces tightened and hamstrings loosened (or perhaps vice versa in some cases) than we were under starters orders.

Weaving through the evening's commute called for a novel gymnastic agility seldom required on quieter trails, topped off with a discombobulated photo op in front of Richmond Station. Now militarily tallied with name and serial number the crew forged along the remaining 2Km Eastern Boundary of Kew Gardens until the dim lights of Priory Road beckoned.

The task before us required entering a pitch dark shed, wearing latex gloves and yielding builders trowels - don't ask, such steps are a standard precursor for the suburban dawber to achieve artistic fulfilment. Not only did bench painting prove to be a most relaxing team building exercise (you could catch your breath for starters), but also participants gained a sense of wellbeing from giving a little of their time to support the community under Mark's encouraging flashlight (hint - bring head torch next time on account of darkness). And even though it may have felt at the time that we might have been creating wondrous masterpieces as fetching as the benches shown below, I suspect that the reality will be a little more humdrum when viewed in daylight. Still there's always the option for that second coat. As they say when you have the Bench Blues: Run, Paint, Repeat...

So it was a night of first's, or "First night" (if you will) - as well as trying to paint with white spirit and paint for the first time, we had two runners having their first go at being back runners and they bossed it, thank you Jenny and Talia! We also have a big hello to our first timers, Holly, Mark, Anna, Jon, Freyja and Izzy. All this for the first run in October. Let's just take a moment to appreciate and congratulate the (other) Mark on his first run AND his first time writing the run report which we agree is awesome on the first run of October.

Good luck to Talia who has a half marathon on Sunday, and it's well done and good luck to Katie who completed one half marathon yesterday and has another this weekend.

This Thursday there is a GoodGym wide monthly social where you get the chance to vote for your favourite pun. 5th October, 6.30pm at the Blacksmith and the Toffeemaker , EC1V 4PA (5 minutes from Angel)

There are 3 missions in Richmond this week, and we need runners for them:

Helping out with Wandsworth Schools Cross Country event, *Doctor Johnson Avenue, London, SW16 1RT Marshals, time keeping and course set up Wednesday, 04 Oct 2017 9:30 AM - sign up by Monday, 02 Oct 2017 6:45 PM *

Helping out at Wandsworth Schools Cross Country event, *Doctor Johnson Avenue, London, SW16 1RT Marshals, time keepers and course set up Wednesday, 04 Oct 2017 12:30 PM - sign up by Monday, 02 Oct 2017 6:45 PM *

Volunteering at a walk to raise money for Trinity Hospice, *London, SW4 A variety of roles up for grabs! Sunday, 08 Oct 2017 9:30 AM - sign up by Friday, 06 Oct 2017 6:30 PM *