Pew gotta have faith

Goodbye snow and sleet, hello spring! The nights are getting shorter, and we certainly had a spring in our step yesterday when 10 ace runners met up for a short run to do some good in their local area.

We also had a lovely new runner join us for his very first GoodGym run - welcome Carlos! After some dynamic warm ups featuring jumps and floor touches and some high fives that kinda worked, we did a quick poll on what inspires us to lace up our trainers and get running. To explore new areas, for our mental and physical well being and for the rush of it all topped the list, and with that in mind we set off on our run to St Peter's Church. It was only a mile there, so only a few minutes later we arrived to find more of the GoodGym squad waiting for us ready to get stuck in.

Moira, the church warden, had asked us to come and do a deep clean of the church ready for the Easter festivities being put on for the community in the coming weeks. She had a list of jobs to do, including hoovering, mopping, dusting and sweeping, but she also had the added incentive of a tray of biscuits and water waiting for us at the end of the task. With that in mind, we paired off and got cleaning.

With our inventory of spiders and their webs getting longer, and our dusting arms getting a good workout, before long the church was sparkling, so we hung up our feather dusters and had a restorative biscuit. A job well done guys!

Then it was time to flex those muscles, so we took a little jog round the corner to find a lovely stretch of pedestrianised hill which was perfect for hill sprints. Thinking about a particular technical point with each sprint, we took turns to run up the hill in pairs, finishing off with one final fifth rep where we put everything together. The result was some excellent form and lovely - but tough - running.

It was time to head back to our starting point for some stretches, but not before stopping briefly to smash out a few minutes of core work on the benches at the green. A core triathlon is a really effective way to strengthen those abs, which in turn improves form when running and prevents injury.

Great work tonight everybody, and thank you very much for having me! Next week super marathoner Olivia will be back to lead you to a local night shelter, sign up here for some more GoodGym fun!