We hope the long run didn't make Ewart!

Easter Monday officially rocks in Lewisham, with twenty tip-top runners taking to the streets to cover 8km, paint the walls, woodwork and radiator at Ewart Road Clubhouse, tackle some deep core work and take each other on in an eggciting (sorry) game of egg-and-spoon.

My, how we've grown! I remembered, as I planned this week's session, last year's Easter Monday group run. We hadn't been going very long in Lewisham, which resulted in a cosy gathering of just the three of us (Roni and Alex did get all the chocolate treats though!) and here we were, one year on, a whole twenty of us huddled outside our start point, ready to take on an evening of running and good-doing!

It makes my heart sing!

Our intrepid souls were made up of regulars, visitors and newcomers, welcome to Kani and Catherine, who were trying GoodGym for the very first time and Emma, who was 'on tour' - show them some Lewisham Love by clicking on their names and giving them a cheer.

After a warm-up (our start point closes early on a Bank Holiday, so we were bouncing on the spot outside for a while!) and a name-check, we talked routes with tonight's back-markers Conroy and Caireen. If you've not been on a group run before, you might be worried about getting left behind, we don't let that happen. A big thank you to this week's stars, who encouraged, supported cajoled and (check out Caireen's photos) pulled our runners along. This week's run was considerably longer than those of the past couple of weeks, so this meant a few of our runners smashed their previous distances, so high-fives, loud cheers and whoops of joy to Wisdom, Freda, Amber and Matthew!

A great thing about a GoodGym group run is getting to know some new running routes. This week we went a completely different way, taking in Ladywell, Crofton Park, Blythe Hill and touching on Forest Hill at our destination. A nice, mostly flat route, but you could see the potential for some serious hill training around here! We were greeted at the Ewart Road Clubhouse by Dominique, who had set out dust sheets, trays, rollers, pots and brushes in the office, which was an interesting shade of pale pink. As our crowd of eager helpers streamed in, we wondered if there was enough room for everyone but, as always, people grabbed a tool and got stuck in.

The blinds were taken down, the windows were washed with soapy water, walls were covered in crisp white and the woodwork was freshened up. Every so often Chris was called upon for his long reach and even the corners were painted in this cosy space. Matthew decided the radiator looked grubby against the newly white wall, so a team set to work giving this a quick coat before we had to head off. It really was a tight half hour, but so much was achieved, well done! We will return here in two weeks, to give this room another coat, move on to the hallway and maybe into the hall itself.

Time now to run back. Over this distance, it's inevitable that we will become separated, so well done to everyone for working together to regroup, catch up and keep each other motivated. Our first group to arrive back were treated to some core exercises, perfect for the end of a run - it's good to try and include these in your running week to build strength and your running foundation. We did front planks, side planks and some bridges (don't let that £20 note go!). We were soon joined by the rest of the group, so time to talk all things GoodGym Olympic Games and to try one of the events. The games will take place on June 10th, at Parliament Hill track and promise to be a fun day of sporting splendour, competitive grit and good, hard fun. We are keen to field a strong team from Lewisham, so let us know if you want to get involved.

For now, we couldn't run on Easter Monday without some appropriately themed action. Out came the spoons, followed, of course, by the chocolate eggs. It really hadn't occurred to me that people might not know what an egg-and-spoon race is - is it really that British?! A quick explanation, a quick line up and a reminder that, if you drop your egg, you must go back to the start and try again. Well, what a whirlwind of a race! The tension was high, the concentration was impressive and the competition was fierce. In the end though, there can only be one winner and it is now clear that Scott is our secret egg-and-spoon weapon. Well done Scott, I hope you enjoyed your medal :)

Next week will see another brand new task! Why not sign up now and put it in your diary? This will be another run of around 8km, but with a slightly different route. Marvellous.