Oh it was a cold one tonight, a few of us were soaking up the memory of last weeks sunshine by running in short sleeves and actual shorts , for the rest, well we were just cold just looking at them!

13 of us huddled in Wholefoods tonight and welcomed Catherine on her first GG run as well as celebrating races that took place over the weekend - well done everyone! There was also a big applause for the first Richmond GG male to reach 50 good deeds too!!! Way to go Jon!

Once outside and in desperate need of a warm up , we started walking into one another, no seriously! We did! These warm ups still manage to surprise us.

We then set out on our almost 7km round trip to Ham as destination was Ham and Petersham Scout hut. They had a pathway open to the public and used by both the Scouts and school children and it needed a fair bit of TLC to get it clean.

Along the towpath we were guided by the stars and some poorly lit head torches, jumping over puddles (and in them) as we went but once at the task we met Russell and Karin carrying a good size lamp to light our way. They were lovely and gave some good instruction on making the path more presentable. They also informed us that the Scouts had been there since 1907 and were still growing strong! Great to have some history to be part of in the community!

We chose our weapons - rakes, spades, brooms, great green scoop things and now ready for "mud, sweat and clears", we began raking leaves and scooping them up and onto some ready laid tarpaulin that was to transport the leaves - (think magic carpet but lifted by 6 strong GG runners) to a pile at the end of the path. That in itself was quite a mission, "PIVOT" calls were needed as was strength to lift the heavy loaded tarpaulin without getting completely covered in mud.

Right GG! Lets shift some leaves! #running #goodgym #volunteering #scout #scouthut #richmond #ham #petersham #towpath #mondays pic.twitter.com/pOoQqn7KqE

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) 5 March 2019

In addition to leaves there was lots of mud/ (clay)! It ended up on our hands, half way up our legs, in our shoes and even on someones chin as we loaded it into wheelbarrows to clear the path. It was a great workout even the wheel barrows were wilting under the load but we managed to get the wheels back on them!

Heave!!!! Who would have thought leaves weigh so much! #goodgym #volunteering #running #scouthut #ham #petersham pic.twitter.com/ahwOXa000c

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) 5 March 2019

All that was left was to give the path a good old sweep before heading back into the darkness for our run home - to add to the spookiness, a number of head torches didn't last the leg home! So we headed to the star - the star and garter that is! And to get there we took on a short but steep hill with the prospect of coming down the other side as our only reward! We arrived at Wholefoods for a much needed stretch.

To round off the night we headed to the pub to say a big congratulations to Jon for achieving 50 good deeds and to welcome the newest members of the task force (Holly, Africa and JP).

Great running and doing good with you all tonight