It was a cold dry night nevertheless 13 runners made it all the way to Thornton Heath Recreational Ground

13 runners ran a total distance of 8km to help the local park gather the leaves that had fallen down into giant 1-tonne bags. A special welcome to our two new runners Sam and Robert who were fantastic last night and we look forward to having you with us on more group runs.

We set off bang on time at 7pm from Solutions Fitness and made our way to Tesco Saffron square where we did our warm up session. After the warm up the group split into two and the faster runners set off led by the duo of Andy and Phil while the rest of the group led by me made the journey at a much comfortable pace.

At Thornton Heath Recreational Ground we met Atul and his team and got to work on the task. In the process the team devised an ingenious way of cramming more leaves into the tonne bags by runners stepping into the bags to compress the leaves making room for more leaves. Due to the efficiency of the team we completed the task ahead of schedule to the satisfaction of the recreational ground team and proceeded to the fitness session.

The initial plan was to hold a time trial around the recreational ground but due to poor visibility and safety concerns we elected as a group to have a fitness session running in pairs along the well-lit passageway by the park fence. The pairings through up some interesting combinations but in the end every one participated and enjoyed themselves.

We arrived back at HQ- Solutions Fitness as one big family and after the regulatory stretches some of the team proceeded onto Boxpark for the end of the month socials.

Next week we are returning to Park Hill Junior School to help out with the garden. Please do not forget to sign up if you have not already done so.

Finally, on a personal note I want to thank everyone for helping me with the task of leading my first GoodGym Group run.You are all amazing yesterday and I enjoyed myself very well in your company.