26 runners shifted 15 tonne sacks of leaves, 40 bags of copost and filled a van with wood for Myatt's fields. Run report by Kathryn:

"for the first time in my life"

I’m the kind of person who doesn’t run….apart from running for the bus ‘action hero’ style. Although, I’ve recently started running, or shall I say ‘slow jogging’, because I’m training for the PruHealth triathlon in June this year. And although I’m an extremely active person, I’ve never been one for doing group activity – a mix of fear of being the least agile / least stealth, and preferring the freedom that comes with going solo. So, when I found out about GoodGym and learnt that some of the runs are a mere 4km, with a nice bout of doing social good, I decided…albeit…hesitantly and for the first time in my life, to dip my toe in to group running.

"chattering"

First thing I noticed when everyone arrived at the meeting point was that there was a good mix of guys and girls, high-tech running kit and old-pair-of-tracksuit-bottoms kind of gear. With 30- odd people signed up there was a relaxed atmosphere of smiles, chattering, people introducing themselves, and Ivo briefing us about our route and what we were going to do on the other end.

"no one ever gets left behind"

As we set off, the group more or less stuck together with a few up front and a few (ahem, me) at the back…with the assurance that no one ever gets left behind, which was of great relief. For beginner runners, being part of a group is definitely incentive to run faster and harder than you do on your own. And running in the dark means you’re not so conscious of how un-stealth you look.

"many a plank of wood:

Arriving at Myatt’s Fields we were introduced to our Streetscape project – to shift a whole pile of decaying autumn leaves and many a plank of wood. Gloves issued, head torches on and we were at one with the muck and the damp of the great outdoors, all while getting to know each other. After our 20 minutes were up, the gloves came off and a sense of virtuousness spread across the group. It’s quite surreal that after only 20 minutes on a Tuesday evening you can feel you’ve achieved something and supported a really great community organisation.

"agile on our feet"

For the run back, we split into three groups but even those of us in the ‘steady pace’ (slow) group seemed to be a lot lighter and agile on our feet. Not sure if it was the virtuousness or the fact that our bodies were warmed up, but either way it felt good. And I guess that’s why it’s called GoodGym!