Cleansing Our Soles

Thank you Sara and Neil for your teamwork and input for our run report title....very witty and punny! Definitely one of our better ones if we do say so ourselves!

12 of us got together at Flirt Cafe for our last meet at the place...the lovely owner told us this evening that it will be the last time we can leave our bags there. I will arrange for a new meeting spot, most likely going to be Brewhouse just up the road, for now. However, please check the group run listing on the day for confirmation. There's lots of free parking up the road on St Michael's and West Hill Road for anyone driving.

Our task this evening was to enter the hallowed ground of St Peter's Church. St. Peter’s was built between 1844 and 1879 by the architect G.E Street and is the mother church of Bournemouth. Though mainly an ecclesiastical architect, G.E. Street is perhaps best known as the designer of the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand in London.

Sue was our historian for the evening, pointing out that Mary Shelley's mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was also a famous writer and philosopher. Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).

It was great to have Katy and Sara back with us since we last saw them at the beginning of the year. Don't leave it so long this time! Katy, hope your ACL recovery continues. Look after yourself!

And so nice to have Claire back running and joining us more often again! We missed you Claire!

Keith and Sue were sporting their new GoodGym t-shirts which had arrived in the post. Keith's one arriving in record time!

There were lots of achievements to celebrate over the week. Sean and Neil celebrating birthdays. Neil running a half Marathon in memory of his friend who had passed away, with minimal training and getting a great time too....obviously one of those people who used to say in school they hadn't studied for an exam at all and were going to fail...only to pass with flying colours.....delightful! hahahahaha! ;-) Well done Neil and you raised a lot of money too!

Sarah ran her longest ever distance of 12km. Amber smashed her 5k PB, Sue beating her previous PB by over a minute! They're not just pretty faces, they're pretty fast and strong too!

We went on a bit of a detour to get to the church and it wasn't because we were avoiding having to step foot in it, honest, it was because we need to catch up with each other. So off we went along the Overcliff, down to one chine...then up some lovely stairs to the next Overcliff. SOme beautiful views from the top. Sounds of waves and some lovely fun new prom lights they have installed every 50m or so. Fun colours of the rainbow! Although running through the red part of them did give us images of the red light district.....not that any of us have ever been to one!

We headed back towards town and up the last hill. Stopping here and there to regroup and take some photos. We arrived at church bang on time after exactly 5km. Jane had lots of cleaning products for us and cloths and the gang grabbed one each and set off to clean all the pews, including choir pews.

Some overstepped the line and will be reported to God....

Lots of great photo opportunities in the stunning Grade 1 listed building. We're not all fans of church and what goes with it. But Jane is a lovely lady, and she's always very grateful for our help. I've just sent her some of our photos and she has replied with this:

Amazing. You are all fabulous and please know I am eternally grateful for your help. The church which is one of our very few Grade 1 listed building in Bournemouth, is a Victorian Gothic architectural beauty and looking after it a job i find a challenge on a good day so please let everyone know how much they are appreciated xx

And with that we can feel that little bit better about the world and the community we are a part of you. You guys do make a difference and I hope you know it!

Having left the place spotless and with dirty cloths to show for it, we packed up said goodbye and set off back to Flirt for a stretch and cool down.

Thank you to Sue, Claire and Fredrika for backmarking for us. Such an important part of the group run, so I'm super grateful for your help!

Next week we're back at the Foodbank! Don't miss it!

Good luck to Keith this weekend taking on over 28 obstacles in an obstacle race in Yeovil!!!

See you next week!