A Piste of the Action

Seventeen super-volunteers ran 5km and got busy with the brushes and rollers at Voluntary Action Lewisham. Heroes

Sub-zero temperatures, potential blizzards, icy winds, none of this could stop our intrepid team from turning up and doing good. Not only our regular, hardcore, tried-and-tested members, but two brand new runners came along too - if you can withstand all of the above challenges on your first group run, you're made of tough stuff! Welcome to Bradley and Merlin, the Lewisham Love is all yours (Bradley has really got the bug. He volunteered at parkrun the other Saturday, never having run before, saw the roster for this week was full, so ran and then joined us this evening for more running and volunteering!).

Hero we go!

I might have been stalling slightly, not wishing to leave the warmth of the Glass Mill foyer, but there was SO MUCH to celebrate this week! Well done to Nykolette, who ran a half-marathon yesterday, just like that, bagging herself a two minute personal best!! Well done also to Conroy and the rest of the GoodGym Race Team, who took part in the National Cross Country Championships in Parliament Hill - a really hard-going, 12km of hills and mud so hungry, it eats shoes! Tonight was special too, for Anita, who was quietly getting on with her 50th good deed! So quietly, that she hadn't even realised herself! Many of her runs have been to an older person, her coach, for a weekly chat, reducing isolation and making a difference in her community - well done Anita!

As it's the end of the month, we also got to celebrate our Heroes of February, some impressive running and lots and lots of good deeds (correct at time of going to press)!

• Cheers received: Conroy, 321
• Cheers given: Nykolette, 1677(!!)
• Distance run: Chris P, 268km
• Good deeds: Nykolette, 9 (closely followed by Emma and Stephen, with 8)

It's snow fun being cold!

Warm-up time and down came the snow! I have to admit to being a big kid when it snows, I can't help it. Winters in Wales were proper, with big, up-to-your-knees snowfalls and seriously steep sledging, so this little sprinkling filled me with hope for a Snow Day on Hilly Fields! A quick 'Everyone's It' and some dynamic stretching got our heart rates a little higher and we were ready for the off, with Nykolette back-marking to keep us together. As we arrived at VAL, we quickly found our spots of wall to focus on, with last week's painters heading back to finish off the tasks they had started, with the party in the loo in full swing and Conroy wielding the longest paint roller ever, to try and reach the highest point of the stairwell.

This week we expanded into two more rooms (this building is deceptively large, with lots of smaller rooms hidden away down a corridor!), with two teams freshening up some walls that had clearly been Blu-Tacked within an inch of their lives. As we got on with the task, there was a LOT of talk about half-marathons, with the long-awaited Big Half happening this Sunday (and Emma's Bath Half too!). Many of our runners (200+) are taking part and the rest of us will be en route, to cheer, cajole and carry if need be (is that allowed?). We also heard that Conroy will be visiting his coach for the first time tomorrow, we look forward to hearing about this next week.

With everyone scattered across the building, I jogged between spaces, taking photos and keeping everyone updated on time which, as always, went by in a flash. Before we knew it, we were wrapping everything up, grabbing a biscuit (thank you!) and gearing up to head back out into whatever The Weather had in store for us. We will clearly need to revisit the Mulberry Centre soon to finish the work, so good bye for now!

Lots of sharp intakes of breath, a few verbal shivers and we were off along Deptford High Street and all it had to offer on a cold Monday evening. At this point, Emma told me she'd been skiing yesterday, which made my wall-sit seem particularly evil (cackle)! Rounding off with some partner plank hand-tap whatnots, some stretching and a final 'Good luck!' to all our half-marathoners and we were done for the evening. Next week is still being finalised to allow for sore legs (I had scheduled in an 8k run, what was I thinking?!). Sign up here and don't forget we will be going for some food afterwards, to celebrate Medal Monday.