Jurassic Lark

On the first dry Tuesday in a few weeks, five fabulous runners covered between 3 and 6km, delivering flyers for the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs.

Oh my, it might have been dry this evening, but it was COLD! We were most definitely stalling, by huddling in the entrance to the Bridge House. Louise was telling us all about the community mission she went on on Saturday, where she helped to plant the 100+ trees that had been donated to the Harris Primary Academy on Kent House Road. Having run there, she was in very un-waterproof trainers, so it sounded like pretty hard work, traipsing through long, wet grass and planting little twigs (which will no doubt grow big and strong in the coming years). Great work Louise. Bradley also went on a community mission on Saturday, helping out in our neighbouring borough at Hilly Fields parkrun, where it was also chucking it down.

This week we were heading out for a flyering task (I was so pleased it wasn't raining this time!), helping to spread the word about the campaign being run by the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, aiming to raise enough money to build a permanent bridge over to Dinosaur Island. This will enable access to maintain the planting around the dinosaurs and to allow conservators to care for the 164-year-old Grade I listed sculptures. The campaign has gained momentum in the past few days, as Slash, of Guns 'n' Roses fame, got behind it! Our turn then, to make like rock stars and make some noise around Penge and Anerley!

After a little dynamic warm-up, we ran along Anerley Park, ducking in and out of doorways, running up and down steps and gently cajoling letterboxes to kindly take receipt of our flyers. We regrouped every so often to comment on beautiful doorways, unusual and varied building styles and impressive festive displays. There was a moment where we held our breath, as Tim disappeared completely into a block of flats, only to leap out of the other side, entirely unaware of our concerns.

Once we had distributed as many flyers as we could have carried on the move, we ran up to Crystal Palace Park itself, though not to see the dinosaurs this time (too dark), but to embark on a challenging fitness session. With our runners pairing up, we took it in turns to drive hard up the slope, while our partner worked on some squats. Round two saw the partners doing some (well, a lot of) press-ups, which prompted quite a bit of moaning, I did say to pace yourselves! Then we tackled some mountain-climber/plank combos which, as you can see in the photos, pretty much broke everyone! Result!

It's been a while since we had a monthly challenge (remember 'Planktober'?) and rumour has it that our friends and neighbours at GoodGym Lewisham are doing a planking challenge so, in true festive spirit, we're having a good old sit down. I say a sit down, I mean a wall-sit (i.e. a squat) every day in December, holding the position for as long as you like. Come on! We can do this!

We're VERY excited about next week, because we're off to St John the Evangelist, where we will be getting well and truly into the Christmas mood, by decorating a very big Christmas tree. Make sure you wear all your festive sparkle and don't forget to sign up here.