Monday 14th May 2018
Report written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
Another beautiful night in Wandsworth, another massive task for a fantastic new community organisation, another fast and furious fitness session smashed!
A huge welcome to all the lovely runners who joined us for their first group run last night - give a massive cheer for Pablo, Marina, Lou-Ann, Sarah and Kay!
Well done to super speedy Chris who raced on Sunday in Richmond and getting not only a 10k but a 10mile PB for his efforts. Great work Chris!
Another massive congratulations goes to the lovely Judith who reached her 50th good deed last night - that's a huge amount of doing good for Wandsworth. Judith, we salute you!
A little reminder about the GoodGym Olympics. The sign up for events is now live! The deadline is the 3rd June, and there are a variety of events on offer, including egg and spoon, a pancake race, 100m, 400m and relays. The entry page has full list of the events and descriptions of some of the lessor know races (including the GoodGym relay, this year's theme is no one gets left behind...think human caterpillar race). If you haven't been to the GoodGym Olympics before it is a fantastically fun day of competition between the different GoodGym areas followed by a social. C'mon Team Wandsworth!
What item always appears in your picnic hamper?
After a rundown of the week's news we headed outside to warm up ready for the run to last night's task at the amazing Caius House, a youth centre in the middle of Wandsworth. While high knees, lunges, twists and bum-jiggling fast feet got our heart rates up, we debated what is the best thing to take on a picnic. While there was a strong booze contingent (wine, gin, tequila, Karen's mixers and Chi's Boston cocktail shaker), there were healthy options with plenty of fruit, sandwiches and houmous, plus of course Ella's essential cups.
Our task tonight was at the new Grub Club, an organisation which helps disadvantaged families get access to good food, nutrition advice and facilities. It was a short run down to Wandsworth Town, where we were met by the founder, Aisling, who told us a bit about her amazing initiative. It was a super organised start thanks to some great prep by Aisling and her designers, so we immediately split into three groups to tackle sanding, painting and rollering. With so many hands, we made light work and the room was a blur of action. Thankfully we were also treated to snacks, including frozen strawberries, fruit bars and even popcorn - 'best task ever', said Jordan!
40 minutes later, we downed tools - but don't worry, we'll be back again to do some more for this important place. Waving goodbye to Aisling and her team, it was just a short hop across the road to the park, where we embarked on 15 minutes of HIT training, focusing on getting our hearts pumping, working our arms and core. The idea behind HIT is that benefits of getting to cardio peaks continue after you've finished the exercises, and with an active recovery between each peak, it's a total body workout. After a short jog back to base, we only had that last hill to tackle, and by the looks of the power behind everybody's final sprint, you worked super hard tonight, team. You should feel proud of yourselves!
Next week it's DOUBLE TASK NIGHT, with half the group going back to Caius House to do more jobs there, and half the group running to empty a local church basement. Two runs, two different distances, double the fun! See you then, gang.
ps If you'd like to find out more and potentially volunteer for the amazing organisation The Mini Mermaid Running Club that Amy was telling us about last night, then let me know and I'll put you in touch.
Wandsworth
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