The patter of teeny feet

Welcome to your first run report of 2020!

It was great to see 20 runners kick off the decade with a run to help set up a new teenage drop in centre, an abs blast and a fitness session. It's already shaping up to be a fantastic year!

We started with a roundup of the news:

• Need some motivation to get out there on those damp and dark January days? Then look no further than the January challenge. This month every GoodGym area is trying to rack up as many good deeds and as much distance as possible - we've got a bit of a way to go in the bronze table, so let's try and get in as many good deeds, missions and kilometres under our belts as possible!

• As part of a day of good with loads of community missions taking place, GoodGym Ealing is doing a Gunnersbury parkrun takeover on the 18th January. There are loads of roles to fill, and it's a great way to give back to the brilliant parkrun which really serves our community. It also counts towards the monthly challenge, as if you needed any more convincing!

• It was wonderful to see three new faces for their first group run last night - welcome to the group Katherine, Kaye and Alanna. Give them a cheer, GoodGym!

After our warm up outside where we also discussed New Year's resolutions (we have pledged to run more, come to GG, drink more, slow down, sleep and lots of other good things) we set off for our task for the evening, which was to help set up a drop in centre for local teenagers.

The direct route was very short, so we opted for a slightly twisty turny longer route which saw us stop along the way for several squat and plank breaks. We soon arrived to find Meg, who runs the place, with a list of jobs and split up into teams to handle the painting, shifting furniture, taking down tables, putting up boards, cleaning and other bits to help the centre open on Monday.

After the jobs were down there was a small pause while the painters finished doing their thing, so 'we' (ahem) decided to do a quick abs blast to fill the time. With 30 seconds per exercise, we knocked out a few planks, v crunches, reverse planks and shoulder taps, and then regrouped to run back to Turnham Green for fitness.

After showcasing our dexterity and dancers legs with some ABCs, we moved on to a competition which saw us divide up into groups and run several different distances (oops) while the rest of the group knocked out a conditioning exercise. It was ultimately declared a draw because it is new year, and we jogged slowly back to the Town Hall for some stretches. Next week we're back to finish the task we started at the end of last year digging beds to protect the trees, sign up here to get your weekly dose of doing good and getting fit! Until then, run happy.