Getting on like a bird-house on fire!

8 lovely runners ran 5km to help out at the MEfA Montessori!

The sun came out for us again last night in typical Greenwich group run fashion, and what a beautiful evening it was! We welcomed a new runner to the gang - Hannah, let's give her a cheer on her page! Thanks for joining us Hannah, hope you enjoyed it!

We met in our usual spot, I think Steve needed to get a bit of fresh air after a mouse jumped out of his shoe! Would have loved to see that reaction! After we dropped our bags, we began the warm up, or some might say the fitness session disguised as a warm up haha sorry guys. We split into teams, with one twin on each team just to induce a bit of healthy competition. The aim of the game was to squat 10 times, run to the wall and back, squat 9 times, run to the wall and back etc etc until you got all the way down to 1 squat and the team to complete them all first was the winner! Team Triangle took the lead and held it for a while, it was only marginal but a lead nonetheless. Then Team Square picked up the pace and managed to come in at the same time for a big fat draw. Everyone's a winner!

I think it was safe to say everyone was suitably warm so we set off, jogging our 2.5km to the Montessori. There were a few uphills on the way there but that just meant downhills the way back :)

We love Wendy!

We arrived at the Montessori and were greeted by the lovely Wendy who, as always, was looking amazing in her super cute summer dress! There were a few different tasks for the group last night: weeding out in the front garden, repairing the bird table, weeding in the back garden and cutting down some ivy! I think there was a sigh of relief from Tom when he found out that there was going to be no work inside - we covered the place in sweat when we cleaned those windows the first time round - that place certainly doubles up as a greenhouse!

So everyone split off into teams and coincidentally I think it was the same teams we had in the warm up! Alliances had clearly formed haha! Louise, Alex & Tom out in the front garden doing the weeding. Then Steve and Hannah were on bird table fixing duty with an array of saws to choose from, and Vickie & Ben cutting down the ivy with the hydraulic loppers! Great teamwork there everyone!! After just over half an hour, all the weeds were gone, the bird table looked like it had come straight from B&Q and there were two bin bags worth of ivy ready to go out to the trash (ooh that sounds a bit American doesn't it). NICE WORK!

After a lovely group photo in the twilight, we headed off back. Then sun was setting and made London look AMAZING. We had some nice sprint finishes at the end - well done guys! And then we got back to do the fitness session - by this point it was full on dark :(

More squats - sorry... not sorry!

Squats are great because they work your glutes and stronger glutes means you are able to hold better running form, keeps your legs nice and straight and stops knees from knocking together etc. So especially when you are sat down all day in an office, that posterior chain doesn't get a huge amount of work so its really important! Anyway, the fitness session last night was 30 secs of squat jumps followed by a sprint to the path, recovery walk back followed by 30 secs of squat jumps again with another exercise added on, then sprint etc etc. Until we had done 3 exercises. So in addition to squat jumps, we also had bicycle crunches and plank shoulder taps which are both really good for working your core which is also very important for good running economy! Really well done there guys, I know those legs were burning but you did it and I hope you are still able to sit down today! :)

We had a nice little stretch then it was time to go!

Thanks so much for all your help last night! You really made a huge difference and got so much done, just in time for school to start again so really good job! Finally a huge good luck to Ben running the Great North Run on Sunday! You will be amazing!! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Over and out. x