Litter-ally Storming St Thomas

14 runners came out this bitterly cold and wet evening, ran 4 k, did a litter-pick in St Thomas and smashed some circuit training! AMAZING work all around!

A super warm welcome to Dave, Jonathan, Mark and Alex who joined us for the first time. We loved having you with us and hope to see you very soon again!

We started our evening with “letting the chickens out” (this is Exeter code language for a dynamic warm up session. Ask no more!). Once the chickens were out and we felt warm we set off running towards St Thomas. We made good way along the wet paths until we had to wade through an enormous puddle! Well, some of you said you like swimming... Only trying to keep you all happy!

We re-grouped at regular intervals so that no-one got left behind and made the most of these stops by squatting, lunging and carrying out some agility drills. Thank you Rachel and Anna who back marked the whole way!

We reached St Thomas with wet trainers on our feet and big smiles on our faces, and were welcomed by Chloe, the community builder for the area. Chloe quickly kitted us out with high viz vests, litter pickers, bags and yellow rubber gloves.

Oh la la! Pete looked especially good in the yellow rubber gloves! But where were the matching meggings?

To get as much done as possible we then set off looking for litter in three groups, each group covering a different area in St Thomas. It seemed like the timing was perfect for the litter pick- the stormy weather had blown a lot of rubbish around and all three groups found lots of bottles, cans, cardboard boxes, cups, crisp packages. In 35 minutes we filled 7 big bin liners with litter! Great stuff!

First price for weirdest piece of litter goes to Sophie and Jonathan who found a plastic scythe!

On the return run we stopped at the Millenium Bridge, a perfect spot for circuit training. We smashed the following stations:

• Press ups
• Triceps dips
• Squat Jumps
• Reverse kick over lunges
• Sprinting over the bridge and back

The rain was pouring down by now but everyone gave it all they had! Such good work everyone! Totally beats lying around on the sofa doesn't it!

Finally we made sure to cool down properly with a jog and some important stretches. We also managed to lock our chickens back up again! Phew! They will be ready for next week no doubt and I just can't wait to see you then for more running and doing good!

Next week

Next week we will run 4.5 k to Trefoil Lodge and help them redecorate their hall so that this space can be enjoyed more by the many community groups that use it. It will be a bit of a hilly run but lots and lots of fun! Don’t miss out, sign up here!