12 runners ran 4.5km to strip paint for Kingsgate Community Centre

High knees, hill sprints, 'n helping. Climbing was a big theme of this Monday's GoodGym Brent where 12 runners ran 4.5k to help out Kingsgate Community Centre.

Starting from a brisk warmup outside the Queensbury, we jogged gently for 2k before arriving at Kingsgate Community Centre. Kudos to the Brent regulars who prevented me from going the wrong way!

At the Centre we were first told they weren't expecting us - argh! But not to fear! Our lovely contact Louise soon explained to the caretaker that we were there to help out and we got cracking on brushing the paint off the railings to set the groundwork for repainting. This should help Kingsgate when they come to repaint, so a worthy cause! Particularly inspiring to see some extra-pro scraping techniques being practiced including backwards scrubbing (courtesy Joe) and musical scraping tools (courtesy Tabitha). Definitely a visible difference and a good chunk of paint off by the end of the evening!

Whilst one group brushed and scrubbed to get the paint off, another group practiced hill sprints. We learned how to work the arms, technique for landing properly and driving the legs forward, and maintaining good form running uphill, before putting that into practice with either three hill sprints, or a continuous 5 minutes on the hills.

Everybody's form really improved even over just a few minutes, which was really encouraging to see!

But were the GoodGym Brent regulars satisfied with one fitness session? Oh no. We had some serious fitness fans in the mix tonight. Post-task we jogged over to Kilburn Grange park to do an exercise set and some core work with everyone contributing 2 of their favourite exercises. Some particular highlights were: squat jumps, burpees, riding your bicycle on the floor, and 10 seconds of mindfulness. Obligatory sit-ups and press-ups included.

Two fitness sessions down, we ran the rest of the way back before cooling down with a few stretches. Top running and good-deeding from all involved, and a lovely start to the week. Thanks for making my first visit to Brent such a great evening :)

How many?

They didn't stop coming last night. A whopping 43 GoodGymmers - our second highest turnout ever - rocked up to Highbury Pool ready to get fit and do good.

Newbs

Big hand to first timers Cath, Weronica, Dan, Fran, Wendy, Kirsty and Alix and nice to see a couple of last week's newcomers now old hands in brand new red GG shirts!

Tasking

Our task for the evening was to continue putting the finishing touches to the ongoing project at Barnsbury Community Centre, and luckily there was plenty to do: one team worked hard on shifting sacks of soil from one side of the gate to the other; another team weeded and turned over soil around the magnificent centrepiece; we had a group watering the abundance of plants and flowers that are now everywhere; and a final group grabbed dusters and wipes and gave the heaters, sides and windows within the centre a jolly good clean.

Maths

People sometimes worry that 30 minutes or so on a task isn't all that much, but when you consider that 43 x 30 minutes = over 21 hours, which if you include breaks and going home to sleep and stuff is about 3-4 days work for a single person, it becomes obvious how effective the GoodGym style of volunteering is.

Bunch of Planks

As always, we stopped halfway through the evening for a biscuit which fuelled us well for the post-task PLANK CHALLENGE. The plank world record was set at the weekend and we wanted to see how close we could get to the eight hours and change achievement.

Everybody spread themselves out across the garden (a sight to behold) and just kept planking until they could plank no more. Everybody made the minute mark and a majority got to two minutes. Then they started dropping like flies. With five minutes approaching, and the sun going down, only four remained. We decided that anybody who made it to five minutes would be a joint winner and all four did. Core! Big hand to Patrick (still grinning at the end), Oli, Rich and Dan. Plank-off final next week?

Activities Abundant

For our journey back we split into four groups: Patrick led a group for a game of Coney McConeface on the fields; Simon took a group for some sprinty bits, including secret surges, indian file and the tennis ball reaction game, which badly needs a name; Aidan sorted out the long running group; and Kike worked people hard on the hills. For this final group their good-deed-doing for the evening wasn't over since they witnessed a collision with a motorbike and cyclist. Luckily no major injuries and first-aider Kike and co. calmed the cyclist down and got him off to have his scrapes seen to. Well done team.

Town vs. Country Club

Debate for the evening was town vs. country. Do you prefer the tranquility of the countryside or the hustle and bustle of a city? Some of us liked being able to drive, park, leave our doors open, seeing cows & sheep all the time and buying eggs from our neighbours; but the majority preferred a lifestyle that extended beyond Londis staying open until 9pm on a Friday night and the occasional car boot sale.

Next Time

Reckon we can manage 50 runners next week? We're going to have at least three tasks on offer which will be confirmed very shortly, but you can sign up now!

See you soon,
Simon