"Young Man...we cleaned all your windows"

22 GoodGymers made their way 5.0km to help the YMCA Hawker in Kingston upon Thames.

  • Joanna Chauhan
  • Nicky West
  • Richmond runner
  • Mark Barun
  • Jane Yelloly
  • Amy-louise Turner
  • Nicola Cage-Brimelow
  • Kingston upon Thames runner
  • Kingston upon Thames runner
  • Lesley Smith
  • Annabel
  • Anita Solanki
  • Sophie Thomas
  • Toby
  • Xander
  • Peter Dunkley
  • Nicola Offord
  • Kate Haworth
  • Andrew Finch
  • Fionn Mcmanus
  • Laura Waller
  • Jacob
 
Tuesday, 12th of June 2018
 
Led by Mark Barun

What a night!!! "Young men" and young women gathered....22 of them at the Guildhall tonight.

After some fancy running drills and LOTS of laughter alongside , we ran along the river to the YMCA Hawker Centre who are a buzzing family centre in Kingston offering children's activities, soft play, group exercise classes, a great gym and much more. YMCA is a global charity and provides support and accommodation for those vulnerable in our community as well as offering so many activities and education for youth and families.

Our task at the Hawker Centre was to wash their gym windows, staff members Richard, Zoe and Memory were incredibly welcoming and had laid out buckets of water, cloths and sponges for us. We all grabbed tools and got to work recieving some interesting looks from the fitness crowd in the gym as we practiced our plyometric jumps to reach the top of the window pane....no pane no gain eh! As advised by Mark we were working anterior deltoid, pec major, quadriceps and ...I can't spell it so I will just write "Calves" (there were others too). So really, was the gym inside or outside tonight?

Because of "many hands making light work" some of us also did some weeding. We battled some evil looking plants in order to get the flower bed clear and make room for the summer flowers to bloom.

Richard and Zoe were delighted we came, stating they normally clean the windows by "waiting for rain" . They also gave us a sneak preview of a future task which just looks like AMAZING fun! (soft play area is all I am saying!)

As we ran back along the river a few talked about how in such a short time of Goodgym Kingston being set up they are already starting to feel the benefits. These ranged from feeling fitter, more toned but more than this was the feeling of mindsulness from engaging in a task and then also the social aspect of enjoying a good run with a great group.

It was a grear task and a great group doing good...as Toby stated..."we smashed those windows!" (is this the pun to finish?)

In news this week we celebrated some runners taking part in recent races as well as mentioning the Richmond Run Fest in September, places go fast so sign up quick, you can do that here.

Welcome to new runners Laura and Jacob , great to see those back for a second run with us - from memory - Anita, Kate, Fionn, Andrew, Nicky, Xander, Amy. Apologies if I have missed anyone.

Report written by Richmond runner


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Mark Barun
Led by Mark Barun

Run Trainer for Richmond & Kingston. Qualified Personal Trainer & Sports Coach, check out barunfitnessandmartialarts.co.uk

GoodGymers helping out
  • Back marker

    Make sure that no one is left behind

    • Toby
  • Report Writer

    Be in charge of writing the session report

    • Richmond runner

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