Snow pane, snow gain

As big fluffy snowflakes fell, eight eager runners covered around 3km and cleaned all the windows at Melvin Hall.

Yes, snow! I was a bit excited, not just by the snow, but also by the fact that the stretch of road outside our start point was closed, so we would be able to do our warm-up there instead of cramped onto the pavement! Small things. This week we were very pleased to welcome a first-timer, Reece, into the fold and to welcome back Claudia, who joined us last week and, on just her second visit, came up with our really rather good title pun!

Before we ventured out into the freezing cold weather, we talked a little about missions, since Louise took on her first weekend mission on Saturday - well done! You can read the run report here and check out the before and after pictures! So Louise has contributed an extra good deed to our January Challenge there, but we need to get things moving, being in third place. Conroy from GoodGym Croydon has given us the perfect opportunity this Saturday, with a GoodGym takeover mission at nearby South Norwood parkrun. He's looking for pacers, marshals, barcode scanners and so on, or you could just go along and run, of course (don't forget your barcode)!

Oh, what fun we had, doing our warm-up in the middle of the road! It featured snowy cones, ins and outs, shaking-all-over and some high-knees. All the good stuff to get your body ready to run. Stepping carefully, we ran down the slippery High Street, remembering the run in February last year, that turned into a walk, due to ice! As we arrived at Melvin Hall, we enjoyed the warmth and gathered all that we would need to clean the windows - thank you John. We had decided that the outside probably wouldn't happen tonight, so got on with the windows in the halls...then in the kitchen and the entrance and the corridor, then the mirrors... We then noticed that it had stopped snowing, so went out into the little courtyard to give the outsides a shine. As we cleaned the main hall windows, we had some fun on the stage, getting into our band pose - any ideas for a name? The tables were set out for tomorrow's lunch, which happens every week on a Wednesday. You can see all the other activities that take place here, including a Rock Choir, on the Melvin Hall website.

We might have been stalling slightly, but we had a fitness session to do, so ran up to the little park, where we partnered up for some shoulder-tag, a game of 'everybody's it', then some really tough shuttle runs, interspersed with strength work. Well done everyone, it's even harder when the ground is wet and cold!

Next week we have a brand new task, with G-Max Trackstars, who are setting up a new space not far from our start point. Expect a run of around 4-5km and a good upper body workout! Sign up here to join us and have a great week!