Painting the town red

With an amazing turn out of 65 runners we fully deserve two run reports this time;

Wow - 65 lycra clad, many red shirted, gathered at Somerset House to run to Victoria to donate a coat for #givingtuesday. So far so goodgym. I want to say how much fun this was. Tom Craggs was on top form, very nearly a Sargent major, but staying on the right side of the line but it was like herding cats at times. Another awesome warm up.

Many old faces, many new. I met Emma, a student at Imperial College and Polly, both first timers. I think they both enjoyed it and will hopefully return for a group run. Running en mass through central London at night is such a buzz. Chatting as you go, avoiding pedestrians in Victoria, sprinting down Birdcage Walk and trotting over Horseguards - virtually no greater fun can be had for free in London, of that I'm sure. A group of us then retired to the Lyceum Arms for a post run beer and non running related chat. Wonderful.

Steve.

Last night, 65 GoodGym runners amassed at the iconic Somerset House armed with nothing but good cheer, spare jackets and a letter signed by PC Mark explaining why over 50 of us were running through rush hour London.

This was no ordinary GoodGym run (if there is such a thing!), this was #GivingTuesday and we were on a mission to give spare jackets and coats to Wrap up London appeal at The Passage in Victoria.

GoodGym news included Patrick receiving his 100 runs t-shirt, which is pretty epic in its own right and even more so on such a unique run. After warming up on the terrace of Somerset House with a few moves and more than few bemused spectators, we set off.

The 3k to our destination was far from dull. Taking in some of London’s most iconic sites including Big Ben, The London Eye and Westminster Abbey, we also headed straight into the centre of a large anti-war protest group at Parliament Square!

No harm done the pace in the group was steady and welcoming, with conversations and friendships springing up across the group.

Once at The Passage, Tom kept us on our toes literally with a few squats and lunges before we entered to donate our coats. The Passage runs London’s largest voluntary sector resource centre for homeless and vulnerable people: helping up to 200 men and women each day. The non-profit organisation makes contact with rough sleepers and reaches out to find out what it is they need and how The Passage can best help. Despite it being a fairly mild December, good quality jackets and coats are always required so as we handed over 70+ jackets, we knew they’d be appreciated.

Sadly we weren’t able to squeeze in a time session, which provoked mixed reactions from the group! We altered our route to not intersect with any protests (but did run by an anti-fracking campaign!) and returned to Somerset House via St James Park.

The run concluded with everyone intact and no AWOLs reported. Congrats to the GoodGym team including Tom, Axel, Ed, Ken, Will and the others for organising and shepherding GoodGyms biggest every group across central London and thanks to you all for joining! It was definitely the best use of both my old coat and my Tuesday evening!

Terri.