Tonight we were unfortunately missing our much loved Run Trainer. Mark had been taken ill by a horrid bout of food poisoning so was unable to lead the run. At the last minute recently qualified Run Leader Samia gallantly stepped in to fill Marks trainers, and they were a good fit! You did a great job Samia, thank you.

We welcomed new runner Kathryn tonight who had been brought along by Aran (good job Aran!) We also welcomed back Africa and Elliot on their second run. Also welcome back to Rich, and thank u for taking the awesome photo of the sun setting on Richmond riverside (see photos).

The news section was bursting with missions this week as I talked about my first mission in Richmond on Saturday and both Samia and Kate talked about their missions over the weekend too...the famous duck made another appearance from across the pond in Kingston. For more info about missions check out this link.

We headed to Richmond Yellow (formally known as Richmond Green) to warm up. We all had a go at trying to remember Mark's warm up techniques - "the ankle thing" , "the one where we go in to out." "Kicking our bum" (Personal Trainers in the making eh Mark!) Samia also took us through a core workout depicting all sorts of animal like moves - we know how to have a laugh on a Monday.

Stravas on we headed off on a scenic route through Richmond. Africa braved the bridges even though she has vertigo! Trooper!

Well done to Lewie for back marking , he got everyone safe to ETNA ready to plant some flowers. Hampton Court Flower show had kindly donated plants and flowers to ETNA for their front and back gardens. There was also bamboo and other foliage that needed a home, so we got to work. But not before we were introduced to the mattock , this contraption got all the men excited and they all insisted that it needed to be used for the particular job they were doing. The girls had fun too , Susan posed with the hose for a photo not realising that it was turned on - I was hot but not in need of a shower quite yet!.

What's the MATTOCK with me? What's the MATTOCK with you?!@goodgym @ETNACentre #richmond #volunteering #plantingflowers #doinggood pic.twitter.com/T1SLUjTz60

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) August 6, 2018

Like with all great GG tasks we ran out of time but we gave it a good spruce up, even making the cigarette pot into a new flower arrangement - whoops!

Off we trotted back to Wholefoods via the river with Sian and** Vanessa** from ETNA cheering us on as we went.

Well done everyone on tonights run and special thanks to Samia on leading her first run. Thank you to Susan and Kate for the pun

See you next week for Balsam pulling round 2! Dont forget longies.

In other news GG Swindon launches tomorrow, the 45th Goodgym area!! Wohoo!

Have a good week everyone