On the vernal equinox, ten athletes ran with a spring in their step, covering around 3km and preparing the Penge Congregational Church for painting on our next visit.

A very big thank you to Conroy, who greeted, then led the group to the task, as I had a meeting that overlapped ever so slightly. He had been very organised and had checked out where everyone was up to with their good deeds, discovering there was plenty to celebrate this week. We had Ian reaching his 20th, Hannah and Louise reaching their 25th and Stuart and Louise reaching their 26th! It's great to see what a fantastic core team we now have, all running and doing good consistently. We also marvelled at Louise's achievement in completing the Vertical Rush last week, 42 floors and 932 steps of running in just over ten minutes! Well done!

It was pointed out to me later on this evening, that today was the one year anniversary of GoodGym Bromley but, as I only took on the group (at a new start point) in July, which is also when most people started, we will probably wait until then and celebrate our Pengiversary.

Action stations!

When I arrived at the task, everyone was already busy, with high volume sanding to be heard as I entered the church. Some people were up ladders sponging down the walls and others were using masking tape to cover switches, skirting and the edges of the lovely coat hooks - Tim wondered here how it might have looked in Victorian times, with all the hats lined up...Chris, who had met us here, had prepared everything very carefully, with a platform in the space, to allow us to reach the very high ceilings, ladders, bowls of soapy water and plenty of equipment to keep everyone occupied. Before long, we could see that the space was ready for painting, so we will step back, let the walls dry and return next week to get busy with the brushes and rollers.

Sent from Heaven

Before we left, Chris asked if we would like some coffee and cake. This is rather special and quite unusual at a task, so of course we called out a resounding 'yes'! Chris had baked the cakes himself, beautiful little fairy cakes (or butterfly cakes?), which were absolutely delicious! Thank you. This break gave us a chance to talk a little about the various activities that happen in the church and hear about how the minister's daughter will be getting married here in the summer, hence the need for a fresh and clean entrance :) Saying goodbye for now, we headed down to Royston Field, a new park to us, which had perfectly spaced lamp posts for the fitness session I had planned. Taking a different move between each one, we had runners squatting, frog-leaping (like leap-frogging but without the obstacle), high-kneeing and plank-walking (or crab walking?). This was all rounded off with a nice long wall-sit. Good work, hopefully the cake gave you wings.

On our return leg, we noticed the clear sky, stars all around, looked forward to the clocks going forward at the weekend and talked about our return to Penge Congregational Church next week. You can sign up here - we need all hands on deck to get the painting done.

See you soon!