Pulling it out of the Charity Bag!

8 speedy runners ran 5km to deliver charity bags in Greenwich to encourage donations for the Greenwich and Bexley Community Hospice!

Another hot evening in Greenwich last night! We welcomed a new face to the GG Greenwich family, the lovely Kat, give her a cheer and make her feel at home! As for the rest of you, I love that you are all becoming so regular, it is great! Keep up the good work!

I'm trying to get a little more creative with my warm ups (can you tell?) because, let's face it, running drills are soooo BORING. Anyway, nothing gets the heart going like a good old fashioned game of IT! So one person was IT and then, once they had tagged someone, that person took the IT powers off them. Alex volunteered to start us off and I didn't even have to say go and everyone shot off like a rocket!!! Loved the tactics and mind games everyone was playing! Like getting someone in a corner so they had nowhere to go! And pretending you weren't IT and then pouncing on someone nearby- nice! So a few minutes of that and I think it was fair to say everyone was feeling a liiiiiittle bit warmer!

We set off down into Greenwich for a change, it's nice to run a few new streets! After a few minutes or so, we stopped, distributed the charity bags and off everyone went, like little postman Pats and Patricias. I had, what I thought was, a pretty big bag full of bags to get rid of, but turns out it really didn't last very long at all!! You guys are super efficient!

HILL SPRINTS!

So after the task was completed in record time, we headed back through the park to get a few more miles in. We came to a nice hill so naturally I thought I would inflict some pain on these guys, but it is only because I love you guys! Because I NEVER do stuff like this when I run as it hurts so I would need someone to force me, so I thought I could be your force! Ha. Anyway, everyone lined up with their game faces on. So the idea was, everyone run to the top as fast as they can, and once the first person had reached the top, everyone would come back down, so it lets everyone run for the same amount of time at their own fastest pace.

The first run was a false start (good one Alex!), I could have disqualified but I'm not mean. Second attempt was a go and everyone flew up there! And it was a lot longer than it seemed! King of the hill for the first 2 rounds was Alex so each time we tried to make it harder for him. And I think getting him to start lying on the floor on his back just about worked!

We then went for another little loop round the park. And stopped to do our fitness session.

Lord of the flies

Vickie clearly had something tasty about her as the flies were having a field day. A huge swarm around her, constantly, not anyone else... just her. So we ran back to the warm up point to do the fitness session instead, and luckily it was bug free! We did a nice little circuit targeting some of the most important running muscles. First one was a plank with shoulder tap - great for engaging that core. Second was flipping over into a table position and tapping opposite hand to opposite knee - really good for getting the glutes fired up and lastly a high plank and ankle taps, for hamstring flexibility. But all are really good core workouts too. 3 rounds and we were golden!! Nice one guys!

Wheelbarrow race!

We finished off with a little wheelbarrow race, just for fun. We were equally matched girls v boys so girls went first and Simona absolutely crushed it!!! Well done!! Super speedy!! And then on the way back, I didn't actually see who won out of the boys because I was too busy dropping Tom due to my seriously sweaty hands, VERY sorry about that.... Anyway that is also a great exercise! So if you are out running with a friend, why not give each other a wheelbarrow race (you might get some weird looks but it's all good!), just make sure you engage the core and don't let the back dip!

After that I think everyone was pleased to have a bit of stretching! And that was that!

Well done last night everyone! You all pushed yourselves, there was a lot involved in the end with a decent sized run, hill sprints and all those core exercises but you smashed it as always! See you next week!