I am a fair weather runner! That is what I was shouting to Liz and Jane as we trudged through the mud and sludge on Richmond Green to the secret hut that the run trainer has claimed as his own stating "who would have thought I would have a property on Richmond Green" (I will explain more about that later..)

So despite the pouring rain lots of us met in Wholefoods ready to do good, we were joined by 3 new runners, Gina, Matthew and James, it was great to see some new faces and you guys were brave to venture out on your first run in that weather tonight! During the intro I was summoned to Tesco's in the hunt for bin bags for our task, our other tools consisted of gloves and litter pickers that were located in the Run Trainer's new property on the Green (a hut full of all sorts of weird and wonderful accessories like antibacterial foam and latex gloves!)

Mark loves a warm up!

After the warm up (Mark loves a warm up!) We ran with our litter pickers to the river and followed it towards...I think it was Isleworth, but who knows!" The rain was battering down on us and although we were spread out, running at different speeds we were kept motivated by new runner James falling back to encourage us as well as Gillian keeping the other newbies company. *Love the GG Richmond Team!**

"U-TURN!"

Was then shouted and we all turned around and headed in the other direction as no litter was to be found in these parts, so towards Petersham we went with only Mark's head torch, turning him into a human lighthouse to guide us along ever darker, murkier paths. It was definitely wet enough to feel like we were at sea. A sou'wester would not have gone a miss tonight (thanks Elaine!)

We were then split into 3 groups and loaded with giant bin bags and gloves , along with our trusty litter pickers...(how did you run with them I hear you ask!) and we headed out into 3 different areas, some close to the river, others further towards Petersham Nurseries and a few others sent back on the route we had just ran because James was certain he seen a few crisp packets! Someone else wanted to get in on the litter picking action and we were joined by late runner Tom, who earned Liz her red laces!! Great to meet you

And how successful was our task? Well lets just say that Richmond is a very clean and tidy borough (you should be proud of yourselves) we keep it well us Richmond folk so there wasn't that much to clear up. So as the rain got heavier one team decided to "bottle it" and head back to Wholefoods while another came across a whole different bottle altogether, you see although Richmond is clean, it does like a party as we realised when we found an empty Champagne bottle... Chin Chin!!

To be honest I am surprised I have made it back onto my sofa, my feet and hands just about warming up and writing this run report because if Elaine had her way we would all still be out there...*"Who would have thought litter picking could be so addictive" she said.

Although we got soaked through to our bones I had great fun as always tonight, thank you GG Richmond!

Don't forget the drinks at Victoria Inn on 20th Feb

Thanks for the puns Jane and Melanie Run report courtesy of Jenna

Happy Running

Mark