Mon 16th Apr 2018 at 6:45pm
Lewisham Report written by Adele Prince
Smiling happily at the blue sky and sunshine, 30 joyful runners took on 7km of hills, moved furniture, cleaned chairs and organised the cellar at Seniors.
A big thank you to Caireen for this week's inspired title pun.
We are now well into Medal Monday season, with a weekend full of incredible achievements.
This evening was extra special, because our very own Mission Machine, Monica, was completing her 100th good deed! Monica joined us in January of last year and has been a really supportive part of the group ever since, encouraging her fellow runners, visiting her coach once a week and taking on many missions (even doing more than one in a day!). Monica is also valued amongst the group for her baking skills, having won the Bake-Off at last year's GoodGym Olympic Games :) Well done Monica.
I must admit, all this excitement, combined with a bit of sunshine rendered me a little delirious, add to this a fun game with a ball and a competitive element and I am pretty much tipped over the joyous edge. Just as well we had a longish run ahead then, with some tough hills to calm me down. It really was a fantastic feeling to be running through the park, chatting away and not dealing with driving rain, ice, or dampening mizzle. Great work from everyone, taking on those hills with determination, scooped up perfectly by our top team of back-markers, Nykolette, Jacqueline, Rosemary (and possibly some others, it was a party at the back tonight!).
When we arrived at Seniors, we were met by Cathy and Phyllis (who thanked everyone for the work we put into putting up (then taking down) the Christmas decorations back in December - we really enjoyed those tasks!). There were a number of very different jobs to choose from this week, with a large group stepping up eagerly to clean the chairs in the cafe and the rest of us heading downstairs to the sprawling cellar, to lift some heavy items out of the way, move some shelves and other furniture and to clear out a dusty cubby hole. Some trestle tables were taken out to a storage space, the chairs were put neatly back under the tables - gleaming - and the mangle was moved to one side (I had to explain what a mangle was to one runner, having played happily for hours with one in my Nain (that's my Welsh grandmother)'s garden). Cathy thanked us and said she looks forward to welcoming us back to work in the garden soon and off we headed up the hill.
This hill is hard work. All talk pauses for a few moments, with hard breathing taking its place, until you reach the top, dip down and around the corner and stop to take in the views of a sparkling London. I love this place.
From here we stepped down towards Ladywell, sweeping along Marsala Road and sprinting in to the finish. As Monica turned the corner, we stood together to form a guard of honour, cheering her through the last few meters of her 100th good deed. We had hoped maybe to see Chris J at this point, to wish him well on his next adventure, as he heads to Canada to start a new and exciting life. Good luck Chris, you will be missed, but we know you will be back to join us on a Monday night in the future, full of tales of your new landscapes and new friends. To celebrate Monica's achievement, we took some time to enjoy a few sweet treats and to look forward to Sunday, when we will be lining the streets of London, to cheer on our very own Amber and Ali, who are both tackling their very first marathon. Some of us will be volunteering, then heading out to wave banners, spot our friends and to encourage them to put all their hard training into practice. Good luck both of you.
Next week we are off to see our friends at the Wildcat Wilderness, sign up to join us for a - no doubt - delightful outdoor task.
Mon 30th Apr 2018 at 6:45pm
Monday 2nd April 2018
Julia Pavey completed 5 good deeds with GoodGym.
Julia is a now a pretty committed GoodGym runner. They've just run to do good for the fifth time
Mon 16th Apr 2018 at 6:45pm
Mon 2nd Apr 2018 at 6:45pm
Lewisham Report written by Adele Prince
While many enjoyed the sofa, Easter eggs and a holiday film, a determined thirteen took on 7+km, running to help out at Goldsmiths Community Centre.
How heartening to find ourselves welcoming two absolute new-comers along for their first GoodGym group run, on a Bank Holiday Monday! A big welcome and Lewisham Love this week go to Carla and Joana. We also welcomed back Marta, who has been away for a few weeks, having run a half-marathon since we last saw her, well done Marta! We also cheered Eleanor, who ran 20 miles yesterday, as part of her training for the Brighton Marathon in a couple of weeks (having also run a personal best time at parkrun the day before!). The weather had been pretty bad on Saturday, with the Hilly Fields Run Director saying, 'It's not a PB day!' - this didn't stop Bradley from also heading out to run his fastest 5k yet, great work Bradley.
Before our run, we quickly did a little warm up, making use of the area outside our start point, but avoiding the soggy grass. A few knee-tags, leg swings and arm lifts later and we were ready to go. This run is a long one, with a round trip of just under 8km, so Monica, Rosemary and Eleanor offered to back-mark, ensuring nobody was left behind. As we ran, there was lots of talk of Easter weekend relaxation (if you can call PB-chasing and long-running relaxing!) and we were pretty soon heading along the straight road to our task.
We were met at Goldsmiths Community Centre by Lucie, who showed us the various tasks that needed our attention. Last time we visited, a group worked hard sanding the floor in the soon-to-be cafe and shop area. Lucie told us that they will be using a sanding machine on the central area, but it can't reach the edges, so a few people who were happy to do so, got down on their knees and removed layers of grime, varnish and oil from the edges of the room. In the other room, our volunteers carried through heavy boxes of books to be sorted into various categories and genres, a pedant's dream! As always on these kind of tasks, we find some real treasures, with Monica's history of Lewisham book being a rather fascinating find, with photos that we tried hard to place. With our run here being longer, our time is precious, so we were quickly counting down the last ten minutes, then five and so on, until the organised boxes were returned and the sandpaper was put to one side.
Following a question about what the centre is and what happens here, Lucie told us about everything that goes on, with regular classes taking place, including Zumba, yoga, martial arts and so on. There are also socials, meetings, parent and child groups and activities in the outside space. There seem to be lots of exciting plans for the community centre, with Lucie mentioning her dream to have chickens and even a...llama! A few hands went up to volunteer with helping to look after the animals if it happens! Lucie is always looking for volunteers in the charity shop, so do get in touch if you think you might find time to help.
Once we had said goodbye, it was time to run back to Lewisham, always fun, with a nice down-hill stretch towards home. We waved off some of our runners who live en route and rounded off our run with a few push-ups and squats, before a stretch and a chat about next week. The task is to be confirmed (due to a last-minute juggle with dates), so sign up anyway and keep an eye on Twitter (@GGLewisham) for updates. Don't forget the GoodGym Monthly Social is happening this Thursday, a chance to meet runners from other areas, hear the guest speaker and vote for the International Pun of the Month, sign up here.
Mon 2nd Apr 2018 at 10:48pm
Cracking header! Will defo come back, enjoyed the experience, 5 stars to all! Thank you
Tue 3rd Apr 2018 at 7:35am
Great pun
Mon 2nd Apr 2018 at 6:45pm
Mon 11th Sep 2017 at 6:45pm
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