"A Brief History of Grime" - we'll take the aBRIDGEd version please

Here in Hounslow we've been helping with a timeline mural project over a few weeks. The idea was that the community in Chiswick wanted to replace the walls of Turnham Green bridge, which had been covered with graffiti and fly posters, with a beautiful timeline of the area's history. We were only too happy to help with such a great project. Our first step was to clean down the walls, giving them a wash and remove the posters, which we did before Christmas. This part was strangely satisfying, especially when the paper came off in great swathes which one GoodGym runner likened to peeling off sunburnt skin. The next bit was to transport some of the panels across town so that they could be displayed ahead of the installation, while last night's job was the final stage of the project before the great unveiling on Sunday.

But before that we welcomed back a tanned Andreea and Ross from their honeymoon and cheered our own progress in the January challenge - just a few more good deeds to go until we meet our goal! We said well done to Andy for a cracking number of good deeds, and thanks to Natasha for supporting us all with some lovely cheering, while it was great to see Remy join us for our task.

Don't forget that if you want to get some long run practice in then we have an informal paced run coming up on the 11th February for which you can sign up here, plus the opportunity to enter the Big Half on the 4th March - let me know if you are interested in a place.

We started off our run for the night with a warm up while finding out everybody's favourite board games. There was no monopoly or snakes and ladders to be seen, you're a much more adventurous bunch who like Risk,Battleships, Cluedo, the Game of Life and, erm, Camel Up. Board game and pub night anyone? It was just a short run to Turnham Green, so we set off at a brisk trot and arrived at our task in no time. Before long Karen, who organised the mural, met us with gloves, bags, scrubbing brushes, scoopers and duct tape. One team set about taping up the mural coverings, while another group tidied up the litter around the bridge ready for the party on Sunday. Natasha had perhaps the grimmest job collecting the ciggie butts off the road, and, unlike the cigs, was on fire. Before long, the area was looking ready for the big community shindig, and so we set off to do our fitness session.

We started off with a warm up where everybody chose their fav exercise, including, or course, the newest move the(soon-to-be-patented) Michelle's highkneegallop. No burpees were permitted though. We then moved on to a tough pyramid drill, which saw us frog jump, sprint, and lunge lunge lunge our way to super strong glutes and quads. After a quick run back to the town hall we did a very brief core session - much more on this next week - before a few floor based stretches. Hope to see you on Sunday for the unveiling, and of course at next week's run!