This morning the blossom trees were out and the sun was shining - it was the perfect morning to get out and do some litter picking!

Big shout out to Benedetta who did her first community mission and it was Natasha's first time back with GoodGym for a little while!

Looking forward to getting to know you two better in future community missions and group runs when they return.

The park wasn't as full of litter as it has been recently - there's obviously some other neighbours getting out to do a good deed or two. Still plenty to keep us busy for an hour and the time went quickly as we enjoyed chatting and being thanked by others in the park.

Lovely to see you all - enjoy the rest of the weekend and see you soon!

22 fantastic runners ran 3km to fix punctures in airbeds at St Marks Church!

Another beautiful evening down in Greenwich last night! We had one new runner who joined us, welcome Adelaide to our wonderful running posse! It was also cause for celebration for the second week running. This time it was the marvelous Pieter who was celebrating his 50th good deed! Pieter has been running with us for less than a year and has already clocked up 50 good deeds which is truly amazing. He does group runs and missions week in week out, proving that once again consistency is most certainly key! It's been awesome having you in this group Pieter, keep up the fantastic work and here's to the next 50!

Due to an event happening in the university, we couldn't use our usual warm up spot so we settled with a light jog and headed straight to the church via the park. We were greeted by the lovely Tony who took us into the room full of airbeds! It was rather warm in the church and there was the option of some gardening outside to be done which I think was music to a few people's ears!

For everyone else, it was time to take mattresses into our own hands (see what I did there???)... we paired up, grabbed an airbed, plugged it in and started feeling around for little puffs of air. Then it was just a case of sanding it down to create a rough surface and sticking a bike tube patch over it!

There were lots of different techniques being adopted. It was far too loud in the room to listen for the punctures but the best method seemed to be to just rub the bed all over until the puncture was located!

I was genuinely quite surprised at how quickly it was all being done if I'm totally honest! Some groups were getting through them in no time at all! Sadly we didn't have time to do them all but we managed to get through about 25 of them which is AMAZING!!

About the night shelter

During the winter there is a night shelter for the homeless which is open every evening at different locations around the borough and on Thursday nights it is held at St Marks. All the beds that were in that room had been taken from all the different locations so it wasn't just St Marks you were helping, it was the other 6 locations too so that will be hugely appreciated! Over the next few days they will be redistributed and ready to be slept on next winter! NICE WORK!!!

We took a little photo outside and then headed off for a mini running lesson in the park!

Foot strike

We often don't really think about the way we run, we just run! Which is great but as we run more and build up more miles which I know a lot of you are, it is really important to be doing it in the safest and most efficient way possible. One of the easiest way to make improvements is by focusing some attention on how your foot lands on the ground. We want to be aiming for a mid-foot or FULL FOOT strike on the ground to maximise the amount of nerve endings stimulated on the foot to gain as much feedback from the ground beneath us. If we run on our toes for example and the ground is a bit rough underfoot, there is limited stability there which can very easily lead to all sorts of lower leg injuries. There is a video here with Shane Benzie who is a movement specialist and he explains it all in a far more articulate way than I did yesterday! So give that a watch if you're interested.

I am becoming a bit of a foot nerd recently so don't be surprised if there is more of this kind of stuff heading your way! But it is all for your own good of course!

Everyone had a go at running with this new knowledge in mind and I could see improvements straight away, especially with those of you who I know usually run right up on your toes.. and I'm one of them too so I appreciate how difficult it is to alter your gait just like that! But well done for giving it a go and bear it in mind for your future runs!

We jogged back to the uni, had a little stretch followed by some chocolatey Greenwich Goodies to celebrate Pieter's big milestone!

Great work last night everyone! Tony was absolutely delighted by all the work you did! Next week we have a new task over at Natalie's school! Hope you can join us!

18 awesome runners ran 4km to help out at Ballast Quay Garden!

Another wonderfully successful evening down in Greenwich! It was a bit of a special day as the wonderful Claire was celebrating her 50th good deed, proving consistency is most certainly key! Claire is genuinely one of the loveliest, happiest and is most certainly the smiliest person I know! Nothing can bring this girl down, even after realising she had a flat tyre on her bike she still managed to run to Greenwich and make it on time! We greeted her with her very own finishing tunnel and whipped on her cape!!! Claire is the Parkrun queen and has got to be one of our most improved runners amongst us. When she joined GoodGym she was recovering from knee surgery and then last week she smashed out a 5k PB of 20:28... super speedy and no doubt was smiling the whole way round! Super proud of you Claire, it is an absolutely pleasure having you in this group, can't wait to see you break 20 mins and follow you on your journey to your first marathon!!! WOOO!

Since I was out of action last night and feeling sorry for myself, run leader Ben took everyone for a nice gentle jog the long way round to Ballast Quay. Everyone arrived suitably puffed after CHOOSING to run up the hill.... nice one everyone!! See, deep down you know those hills are good for you ;) Can't get enough of 'em clearly!!

Diane had lots of things for us to do. We had three big bushes of ivy to cut back, railings to paint and leaves to sweep! Everyone grabbed a tool and got to work! All of this is to help Diane put on a wonderful day at the London Open Gardens event in a months time. Anyone and everyone is welcome to attend and is in aid of the Greenwich and Bexley Hospice which is "where we will all end up anyway"... Diane's words, not mine!

After half an hour the garden was looking great! The ivy had all been chopped down and thrown in the river along with all other green matter that had been collected. The railings were looking fab, there was a bit of paint on some hands but nothing some white spirit and San Pellegrino couldn't help remove! That's SO Greenwich isn't it, washing your hands with San Pellegrino.. HA!

We took a quick pic, grabbed a biscuit or two on the way out and ran back to the uni for a few little exercises before it was time for BURGERS!

Thanks for a lovely evening everyone. I'm not really one for public announcements or speeches but I just wanted to say that I really am so overwhelmed with what you've all been up to and achieved over the past few weeks and months, whether it's been a cracking result at a race, or just consistently turning up to GoodGym, doing countless missions and group runs and inspiring each other, it really is amazing so well done one and all!!!

Also thanks to Chi, Sara and Ben for sending me some photos for the run report :)

Great work last night guys n gals. Diane was absolutely delighted with all the work you did, a lot of which she absolutely could not manage herself so she sends her sincerest thanks. See you next week where we will be fixing some airbeds for the night shelter at St Marks!