Feeling balmy at Salvation Army

On a boiling Wednesday night, 12 runners in Southwark ran to do good by helping out at the Salvation Army in Camberwell.

With Lucy, our fearless leader, on holiday, I jumped in and got to enjoy covering the run. We thought the heat might put people off, but 12 people braved the heat to join us.During our intro we heard that David came in second place in a race in Gunnersbury at the weekend!

After a warmup (which, like the 'hot yoga' next to our start location, sounded a bit redundant in all the heat) we did a headcount and each talked about our favourite ways of keeping cool in the heat. I'm pretty sure I heard naps, cold beer, shade, ice lollies, and water, so a nice selection there!

We then ran over to the Salvation Army in Camberwell, enjoying a greener (if slightly steeper) route through Warwick Gardens. Once we arrived at the task, we met the lovely Catherine who gave us water and jelly babies and outlined the task - some runners needed to give the the toys used by toddlers a good clean, and others were needed to go out front and chop back the shrubbery obscuring the sign so that people could find the centre okay. Catherine told us a bit about the projects going on there, working to tackle issues like food poverty, which gave us a greater sense of what we were contributing to.

The group then got started, those inside scrubbing away with disinfectant-y water, and those outside chopping away. Half an hour later and the sign was nice and visible again, and most of the toys were lots cleaner and safer. After tidying up and saying our goodbyes (and coaxing Nedelina out of her playhouse), we jogged back to the Old Spike for some stretching.

It was great to see so many people out; next week we'll meet same place, same time, and enjoy more (hopefully cooler) running to do good!