The hot and sweaty runners drifted into the Guidhall in a bit of a heat induced daze this evening. We welcomed Ian on his first run with us tonight and welcomed back Shrey and Grace on their second. While some of us didn't feel the need to warm up as we felt plenty warm enough, we were reminded that our muscles needed a warm up and a stretch before we got going to prevent injury. After some brief leg stretches and a revisit to the ministry of silly walks, we were pleased to see a water pistol come out to help motivate us to complete the stretches properly or get squirted! Thanks Rob for providing the brief relief. And then we were off.

It was a long one tonight and a challenging run in the heat with over 5km before reaching our task for this evening. With an injured Rob on his bicycle armed with the water pistol and our water bottles for relief, we were well supported to make it to the task! Although it was a long one, it was another worthy cause that we came to support. We ran up the hills and slow inclines into Surbiton, weaving through Tolworth and down the Hook road towards Chessington until we eventually made it to Fir Croft Trust. They are a fantastic organisation that supports adults living in the community with mental health experiences or learning disabilities, to live well locally and are the only organisation in the borough providing centre-based support for people with mental health and wellbeing problems. We were pleased to be able to support them in the great work that they do in the small way that we could.

Tonight we were called to do some litter picking, weeding, sweeping and general tidying outside the front of their premises. With only a brief time to make a difference in the heat, we did our best before it was time to run back. Before heading back we were kindly offered ice lollies and freezies which we couldn't turn down. Refuelled by the ice poles, we were ready for our return jog through the heat and back to the Guildhall. Well done everyone! That was a tough one today!

Next week's shorter route is another treat to look forward to!

In the news shared tonight:

Well done to those of you that joined the Fishponds community mission last weekend. It was a great success as a missing pond had been uncovered. Well done to Caroline and Martel for sharing our ideas at the Goodgym Shindig.

There is a community mission to pull some Himalayan Balsam growing along the Thames path tomorrow evening at 19:00. https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/thames-path-balsam-bashing-bonanza

And congrats Jen for finishing your course work with distinction!

It was great to have Dhanesh and Jordan join us for the first time tonight - we hope to see you back soon! It was also lovely to have Grace, Rahul and Shreyan joining us for the second time tonight following last month's Mind Your Head campaign.

We also got to celebrate Georgina's 50th Good Deed tonight just in time before she heads off to pastures new - well done Georgina!

No rain no gain

The hardcore 30 split into two groups. Sally took a group on a shorter run to Faithspace where they helped Redcliffe and Hotwells Development Group deliver leaflets for their Midsummer Fayre this weekend. The run was not as short as advertised as their beautiful synchronised leafleting formation taking them either sides of the river pushed their run to over four miles in all. Nice work!

Thrills and Hills

The rest of the group headed on the hilly (although slightly less hilly than last week) route to Bramble Farm. When we arrived Chris explained a bit about the farm and we got a tour to meet the piglets, goats and load ducks and hens. Once we had torn some of the group away from the Swing Ball, it was time to start leafleting for the area's Get Growing Trail this Saturday which the farm is part of.

Logging a good deed

The group did this in no time so we had the chance to do a hill session in the park on the way home. Impressive sprints all round! With heavy legs we jogged back to Queen's Square where we congratulated Georgina and then celebrated Tim's big birthday early with him and the amazing cake he made!