27 runners ran 5km or 10km to sort materials at the Work and Play Scrapstore

'Monday runny Monday' as a famous Irish band once did not sing. 27 runners gathered at Battersea Arts Centre for a run, some fun, and probably at least one pun at 18.30 last night. After a briefing we set off into the Wandsworth night with our trusted front and back markers keeping the group safe and together.

5km is a long way and we arrived at the Work and Play Scrapstore sweaty but smiley and were put to work by Rachel. GoodGym Wandsworth has visited the Scrapstore before and it's a treasure trove of materials that have been saved from landfill to be re-used and re-purposed by all kinds of groups within the community.

'There's no right or wrong - make things look pretty!' Rachel

We split into groups taking on different tasks to help Rachel out:

*Tidying the overflowing fabric section

*Bagging up glitter and removing fabric samples from their boards

*Sorting tiles

*Measuring and wrapping fabrics

*Cutting wire into measured lengths

*Flattening boxes for recycling

It was like some kind of Apprentice task! Whilst the fabric-measurers were busy perfecting their methodology and dubbing themselves 'master tailors'; the tile-team were showing off their knowledge of shapes using their previous experience sorting carpet tiles. Everybody got sew into their tasks that there was some surprise when suddenly there was only five minutes to go. Last night team GoodGym Wandsworth weren't so much fabric conditioners as fabric high-commisioners but unfortunately these material girls (and boys) had to leave their material world to get back to base.

Some runners headed directly home from the Scrapstore, some ran to Earlsfield station to get the train back to Battersea Arts Centre and the rest of us went boldly into the night to nail the 5km home. A brave choice by all accounts! As the front runners disappeared at alarming speeds, we settled into the run home. You know those deceptive inclines where everything feels really hard and you're not sure why because it doesn't look like a hill? That was about half of our run home. Not to be daunted, GoodGym Wandsworth fought bravely on and there were many congratulations when we arrived back at base. What did we find back at Battersea Arts Centre? The front runners had actually beat the public-transporters home! Maybe you guys should think about racing another train in August... You know what they say - no train, no gain!

Everyone deserves a huge congratulations on a brilliant, bold run - whatever distance you chose - and another excellent task.

Join Ana next week for a shorter run to St Barnabus Church for a spot of maintenance work. It'll be another corker and there may or may not be burpees...

Lucy J