Absolutely raking it in!

17 lovely runners ran 5km to tidy up the garden at St George's church in Westcombe Park!

So at about 6 o'clock last night, it was absolutely chucking it down in Greenwich, but THANKFULLY the sun came out just in time for our run!

We were slightly thinner on the ground than usual but we're joined by two new lovely ladies who both work at the university, Emma who has run with GG Southwark before and Gemma! Hope you had a good first run with us ladies! And it was a great day because Andy was also back, woohoo!

A quick little warm up to get the blood pumping and we were good to go! We set off through the park, not up the usual hill, but up the shorter (and slightly steeper one) up the left hand side. 15 minutes later and we arrived at the church!

We were greeted by Janet who had got everything laid out for us. Rakes, gloves, bin bags, loppers... the lot! There was loads to be done! The biggest job being a huge pile of branches (which were all the size of small trees!) that needed cutting up and put into the skip. Leaves were to be raked and bagged up. And the whole area in general was to be cleared of litter and other bits and pieces.

Everyone got to work! It was quickly getting dark so we needed to make the most of the little light we had left!

Vickie and Kerry found a set of loppers each.... but unfortunately they were a bit on the small side... they weren't going to do much damage with those! So they started clearing leaves instead... nice choice ladies!

After half an hour, the place had been transformed!!! The skip was overflowing with shrubbery, a dozen bin bags had been filled with leaves and the garden looked SO much tidier! Sadly it was full on dark by this point so it was difficult to appreciate how much had actually been done but it was an INCREDIBLE effort!

Not quite bliss for Bliss

Sadly the first aid kit had to come out for the first time in a long time! Bliss had clearly been working SO hard that she nicked her ankle a little bit. Luckily Janet from the church is a trained nurse so Bliss had some proper care rather than unsympathetic me with my inadequate plaster!

We had a little group photo and set off back to the uni for a fitness session in the form of MEET & RETREAT! The idea being that two people run around in a circle, setting off in opposite directions and at whatever point they meet, they then turn around and come back the way they came.. so that, ideally, they both arrive at the start at the same time regardless of any difference in speed/ability. And everyone did amazing!!! With some really speedy running going on!! And it was a lot further than you think too so well done!

Once everyone had had a go, or two goes in Lee's case, we headed up for a stretch and called it a night!

Excellent work last night gang! You got a day's worth of work done in half an hour so you should be super proud of yourselves!!! Hopefully see you all next time! for an old favourite!