Getting fitter removing litter!

On a brisk Saturday morning, 13 fantastic runners covered around 2km of running and collected 6+ bags of litter.

Thanks again to Oli, our resident punner, for today's rather special title pun and others throughout this report.

Phewee, what a morning! First up, we had Hilly Fields parkrun (or Danson parkrun for Darryl), some running, some volunteering then, once everything had been processed and put away, it was time to switch t-shirts and gear up for some wholesome weekend goodness. We were very pleased to welcome an absolute first-timer, Anna, today and also our first ever GoodGym Lewisham four-legged friend, our mascot, Molly (check out her gorgeous bandana!) Lewisham Love to you both!

The hills are alive with the sound of plogging

Before we got going, we had to warm up, after sitting in the cafe drinking coffee and comparing finish times, with a few fun games (thanks Kim for capturing these on camera!) and a bit of running around. Feeling nimble, we each grabbed a litter-picker (thank you to Jordan at Lewisham Council for lending us this top class Plogging equipment), a few rings and bags and jogged down towards the little nature area, home to the Forest School. This turned out to be quite tidy, but we did manage to engage some very cute and helpful toddlers while we were there.

What a rubbish time

As we worked our way around the edge of the park, we discovered spaces we hadn't previously ventured into, chatted about everything under the sun, compared skills in picking (top marks to Bradley, who seems to be a bit of a pro) and uncovered all sorts of treasures:

• Jacqueline picked up a crystal and a baby's dummy

• Jo found a little skull (maybe a fox cub?)

• Bradley was sorted, with a bottle of red

• Marta made my day by recovering one of our parkrun cones

• Clare was delighted with her roll of good quality tin foil

• Oli got down on one knee to show me his empty engagement ring box (er, thanks)

• Vic. Well, Vic found an intact and fully usable pitch-fork, then revealed her previously unseen puritanical ways

Keep plogging away

Once we had covered a large area of the park and filled at least six big bin bags, we ran down the hill for a Hilly Fields style fitness session. Our drills worked to build muscle memory, encouraging great form and strong arm-drive. We played a couple of games in pairs, working on that powerful arm swing and awesome knee lift. When we knew this was embedded in our minds and bodies, we took it in turns to run hard up the hill.

Great work everyone, I really had fun and the feedback we had from other park-users was so good to hear! Hope to see you on Monday for our third birthday special x