Need our help? No probllama!

While many enjoyed the sofa, Easter eggs and a holiday film, a determined thirteen took on 7+km, running to help out at Goldsmiths Community Centre.

How heartening to find ourselves welcoming two absolute new-comers along for their first GoodGym group run, on a Bank Holiday Monday! A big welcome and Lewisham Love this week go to Carla and Joana. We also welcomed back Marta, who has been away for a few weeks, having run a half-marathon since we last saw her, well done Marta! We also cheered Eleanor, who ran 20 miles yesterday, as part of her training for the Brighton Marathon in a couple of weeks (having also run a personal best time at parkrun the day before!). The weather had been pretty bad on Saturday, with the Hilly Fields Run Director saying, 'It's not a PB day!' - this didn't stop Bradley from also heading out to run his fastest 5k yet, great work Bradley.

Before our run, we quickly did a little warm up, making use of the area outside our start point, but avoiding the soggy grass. A few knee-tags, leg swings and arm lifts later and we were ready to go. This run is a long one, with a round trip of just under 8km, so Monica, Rosemary and Eleanor offered to back-mark, ensuring nobody was left behind. As we ran, there was lots of talk of Easter weekend relaxation (if you can call PB-chasing and long-running relaxing!) and we were pretty soon heading along the straight road to our task.

We were met at Goldsmiths Community Centre by Lucie, who showed us the various tasks that needed our attention. Last time we visited, a group worked hard sanding the floor in the soon-to-be cafe and shop area. Lucie told us that they will be using a sanding machine on the central area, but it can't reach the edges, so a few people who were happy to do so, got down on their knees and removed layers of grime, varnish and oil from the edges of the room. In the other room, our volunteers carried through heavy boxes of books to be sorted into various categories and genres, a pedant's dream! As always on these kind of tasks, we find some real treasures, with Monica's history of Lewisham book being a rather fascinating find, with photos that we tried hard to place. With our run here being longer, our time is precious, so we were quickly counting down the last ten minutes, then five and so on, until the organised boxes were returned and the sandpaper was put to one side.

Following a question about what the centre is and what happens here, Lucie told us about everything that goes on, with regular classes taking place, including Zumba, yoga, martial arts and so on. There are also socials, meetings, parent and child groups and activities in the outside space. There seem to be lots of exciting plans for the community centre, with Lucie mentioning her dream to have chickens and even a...llama! A few hands went up to volunteer with helping to look after the animals if it happens! Lucie is always looking for volunteers in the charity shop, so do get in touch if you think you might find time to help.

Once we had said goodbye, it was time to run back to Lewisham, always fun, with a nice down-hill stretch towards home. We waved off some of our runners who live en route and rounded off our run with a few push-ups and squats, before a stretch and a chat about next week. The task is to be confirmed (due to a last-minute juggle with dates), so sign up anyway and keep an eye on Twitter (@GGLewisham) for updates. Don't forget the GoodGym Monthly Social is happening this Thursday, a chance to meet runners from other areas, hear the guest speaker and vote for the International Pun of the Month, sign up here.