Painting by numb-ers

It's definitely thermal weather, but not even the icy nip in the air and the prospect of an outside task stopped 13 excellent runners getting out on to the streets of Hounslow to get fit and make a difference.

More about that in a bit, but first - the news.

A massive well done to all you team Hounslowers who did parkrun and missions over the weekend - it's one of those things that you only ever regret not doing, and gives you that lovely warm feeling afterwards! Don't forget that we don't have long left int he January challenge, and although we're doing well - 49 out of 80 good deeds done and 512 out of 1000 kms run - we stil have a way to go and only one group run left!

GoodGym has some £10 community entry places for the Big Half happening in London on Sunday 10th March. If you're interested please email bighalf@goodgym.org. Deadline for applications is Wednesday 30th January. Names will be drawn at random from those who want a place. It's a great race, and very well organised, so if you're after a good half marathon, whether it be your first or if you're chasing that PB, then why not give it a go.

Chilly chilly is the evening time

It was ore important that usual to get a good heart-pumping warm up done last night, so we got stuck straight in and just had time to have a quick discussion on what one description would our friends use about us. Annoyingly never on time, annoyingly always on time, always appropriately dressed for the weather, bashful, amazing and dramatic - what an excelelnt combination, no wonder we all work so well together!

We took the run down to Ealing Church at a good speed, wary of letting ourselves get too chilly and risk injury from cold muscles. So before long, we were faced with our final challenge after a few weeks worth of painting sessions - finish off railings outside the church. This has been a monster of a job, and probably not at the best time of year. Painting black railings black at nighttime was always going to be a bit of a test. But we persevered and after 5 sessions sanding and painting, we got the job done. Nothing stops Team Hounslow when we have a job to do!

Meanwhile Michelle, Luis, Emily and Lindsay were tackling another, no less challenging job -dismantling a dozen chairs with only three small allen keys. No easy task, but indoors at least, and with a pumping soundtrack as well!

After all that work we were very kindly given use of the church hall to do our fitness, so the tough outdoor tabata that I had planned got magically transformed into a cosy indoor core blast. With a series of ab exercises for 45 seconds each we really worked our core muscles, which is really important for form while running.

All that was left to do was take on that run back to base, which we did in no time at all, and stretch it out. Very nice work in not the easiest of conditions, GoodGym, you should feel very proud of yourselves. Next week it's box hedge time again! Sign up here for your Wednesday kicks.