Oh how the lighter evenings are so much nicer for running...if only the warmer weather would follow suit!!! Tonight we were a smaller but perfectly formed group on a very fresh April evening. Amongst all my brilliant regulars, it was lovely to welcome along Helene and Mia for their second H&F group run, welcome back Lucy and GoodGym Lambeth tourist/mole (delete as appropriate!) Frances - thank you all for coming along!

It was also great to see Sapphire sporting her new shiny red GoodGym tee and weird to see Will in a GoodGym tee that didn't have his name on, how Will we know his name?! Good news, he'd like to be called "GoodGym"!

Without further ado, the news:

Firstly, a BIG BIG well done to Catriona and Jonny who both ran their first marathons in Manchester at the weekend and absolutely smashed it, both finishing in a sub-4 hours time and giving their legs a well-deserved rest tonight. Well done to Frances for got a parkrun PB at Dulwich parkrun and well done to Arba who ran the adidas 1-hour race. Some superb racing all round! 🙌🏼

1. Take the Bridge on Friday 26th April - the idea is that you hit a certain number of checkpoints throughout the city with your team on a 5km run - there are some great cash prizes on offer and a lot of fun to be had!
2. April London Long Run - Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath join Catriona on Saturday 27th April from 10.30am as she leads a scenic run loop around Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath followed by lunch.
3. Bath Two Tunnels Races 2019 and GG West Summer party on the weekend of 17th August we're looking to get a big group of us down to camp and run in one (possibly two!) GoodGym H&F 50km relay teams - post in the Whatsapp group/speak to Catriona if you're interested in being part of a relay team (other races are available if you don't fancy the relay), come along & join the fun, we'll also be celebrating Sarah's birthday month!

Two much of a good thing

Tonight we were going to be helping out TWO community organisations that provide wonderful and valuable services in the Hammersmith & Fulham area:

1. St Mungo's Reconnection Post - deliver the 'No Second Night Out' service and provide 25 beds to vulnerable and homeless adults with complex needs. They also work with the residents to get them reconnected in the community or repatriated back to their country.
2. Acknowledging Youths - a project that was set up to raise the aspirations and make a positive impact on the life of disadvantaged young people in London. They provide education and training to help prepare the young people for interviews and ensure they are ‘work ready’.

With the name and number count and short pulse-raising warm-up completed we headed up on our short 1.5km run up to St Mungo's Reconnection Post. Stopping briefly for our weekly walk sit where Johnny was very much ‘Johnny no mates’ on the wall he chose, we arrived in super quick time at St Mungo's Reconnection Post. Once inside we were met by one of the Reconnection Workers, Chris.

There were two tasks that we were going to be lending a hand with tonight:

1. Tidying & sorting a room full of unorganised clothes donations 👚👕👖👗
2. Revamping their garden aka weeding 🌳🌿🧤

To room it may concern...

The group efficiently divided up into teams and Chris led Team Room into the room that I can only describe as “the gift that keeps giving...” - those that have visited before will know what I mean!!

What do you weed to know...

Once Chris had gathered the gardening tools it wasn’t long before Team Garden were pulling up weeds from the flower bed left, right and centre, and clearing the moss from in-between the patio cement.

GoodGym didn't start the flyer...

While Team Room & Team Garden were getting stuck in, Team Flyering set off down Goldhawk Road to deliver some flyers for Acknowledging Youths 🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏻‍♂️📃 - they may have actually flown as they were all back, pretty much all empty handed in super quick time! In a case of 'many hands make light work' team flyering split into two and joined up with team room and team garden for the final ten minutes of the task.

Half an hour flew by as always, and with the light rapidly fading and temperature still dropping we decided to call it a night. Flyers delivered, a markedly improved and tidied room, and a wonderfully weeded garden, definitely a success all round! The group posed for the ‘much-loved’ jazz hands 👐🏼 group photo before we said our goodbyes and thank yous to Chris.

Running technique as per the brook

Once we were all warmed-up again (sort of!) we headed off on our short run down to Brook Green for the 1km time trial around the outer perimeter of the Green. We headed to the start of the Strava segment so that everyone's times could be logged and progress tracked. Andrew and Frances led the way, everyone displayed some excellent 'pockets to sockets' technique and good postures throughout, and post-lap everyone had significantly raised pulse rates, heavier breaths, with noticeably redder and sweatier faces. Brilliant effort all!

Off to our hoppy place

Time trial lap completed all that was left between the group and the monthly social (or home!) was a very short but gentle cool down run back to base, and a stretch off.

For most of the group post-run refreshments were in order as we headed to The Hop Poles to round off the night, where we joined by Catriona who was thankfully not hopping post-marathon. Great night all, thank you for all your hard work, energy and smiles!

Too cool for school?

Next week we’re heading back to Flora Gardens Primary to finish off the final coats of paint in ‘The White House’. Sign up for next week’s run here. Have a fab week!