Get up! Sand up!

In an attempt to keep warm on a fresh and frosty night, twelve tough runners covered 8km worth of Lewisham streets (including a long hill!) and sanded approximately the same number of doors and frames at Goldsmith's Community Centre in SE6.

It's cold! Yes, I know, it's November, it's meant to be cold, but it's suddenly dropped a few degrees in the past week, so this called for tights, long sleeves AND gloves tonight. A few runners were struck down by lurgies and some were struck down by transport delays, but our determined twelve were bouncing eagerly to keep warm in the foyer of Glass Mill, part wanting to go out and get on with it and part wanting to stay inside and carry on talking.

The good thing about a GoodGym group run is that the talking doesn't have to stop! A brief interruption to conversation, with the head-count, name-check and a brisk warm-up and it was back to full, high-volume chatter as we wound our way through Lewisham central. A big thank you to Dave, who took on the role of back-marker tonight, though we did have plenty of traffic lights to force us to pause en route and make sure we all stayed together. Oh, the joy of stopping, looking around and seeing a group of smiling runners, faces rosy and steam rising from our now warm bodies!

Our run to Goldsmiths takes us a little further than usual (so more time to chat!), but we were soon wandering through the entrance, along the hall and crash bang into the middle of a dance class. It was just fine though, because we were given a very warm welcome and a round of applause! Thank you to the woman leading the class, who turned out to be from Community Connections and clearly a fan of GoodGym COLLECTIVE BOW...

Eventually, after a bit of reversing and curtsying out of the room, we located Katharine and were shown to our sanding zone (this is a BIG building!). Everyone grabbed a mask, some sandpaper and gloves, found a door or door frame and set to. It was weird to see everyone focused closely on the task, but not talking - the noise created by the sanding was immense! Last winter, in the early days of GoodGym Lewisham, we had come here to sand the doors in another corridor and, as the sanding continued, Katharine showed me the now painted corridor and I saw how much of an impact our volunteers' help has had.

Before we left, the layer of green dust was swept up (and splashed off faces!) and we had a quick look at some intriguing items that have been uncovered, in what must be a vast loft at the centre. In the summer, some of the items were sold to raise funds and we enjoyed having a look at what was left over. We might just be running with a trolley when we return in a couple of weeks, to cart home some vintage goodies.

The return leg from here always feels like a treat, with a largely flat, then downhill swoop towards our start point. Conversation turned to firework displays, bonfires (and how we miss a good, face-melting fire), sparklers, mulled cider and, as we neared Ladywell, the newly opened Cafe of Good Hope at PlaceLadywell - this space is well worth a visit, to see what can be done with a disused site (formerly the Ladywell Baths) and maybe we will find ourselves here one week, carrying out a task, as part of a group run.

As we stretched, in the welcome warmth of Glass Mill, we wished Stephen and Conroy (in his absence) well, in their upcoming obstacle race at Hever Castle and look forward to hearing all about it next week. We will be heading over to Honor Oak Adventure Playground next Monday, so sign up, bring a head-torch or bike light and get fit by doing good.