It takes a lot to get your kit on and step our the door when it's cold, dark and raining. But that's exactly what 15 Goodgymers did yesterday for our very first group run of the year, starting 2024 in Hounslow right!

It was fantastic to see some new faces, some we hadn't seen in a little while and our lovely regulars. Everybody will always be welcome at our happy group!

Our job for the evening was to help Wild Chiswick by spreading the word about the need to create hedgehog friendly habitats in the area. These lovely little creatures are in danger of extinction, and they need people to create hedgehog highways to they can find food, hunt and nest. Surprisingly, they need at access to at least 12 gardens every night.

The increasingly heavy rain was not going to stop us in our mission to help keep hedgehogs alive in Chiswick, so despite the wet conditions we set off to meet Jo who runs Wild Chiswick. Anyway, we like to live life on the hedge.

After divvying up the leaflets, the walking group and the running group set off in opposite directions to cover the huge network of streets that Jo had mapped out for us. There was a lot of ground to cover, but we wanted to prove that where theres a quill there's a way.

Between the two groups we managed to disperse hundreds of leaflets and, just to show how effective the mission was, Jo let me know that she had two enquiries about opening up gardens before the end of the evening. Great work team!

For those that hadn't had enough of the rain and wanted to cover a bit more distance, we headed over to Turnham Green for a condensed track session. We've worked out that the loop there is about the same distance as a track, and with various races and PBs in sight, it was a good chance for a tough speed session. We did pyramid intervals with a little recovery in between, with every body showing great form and pace.

Next week we're going to be shoveling wood chip at a local school - it's not very well lit so please bring a headtorch if you have one.

Great to be back GG Hounslow, a very happy 2024 to you, and here's to all the good stuff that lies ahead!