Love is in the Iyer

18 amazing runners ran 3km to tidy up at the GBCH charity shop!

Wednesday is officially my favourite night of the week. I had a crazy day running around London like a lunatic and couldn't wait to see my GG crew who always put a smile on my face! I managed to get 5 minutes to grab a coffee and something to eat at my new favourite place in Greenwich (Waterstones cafe... don't laugh, it's glorious) and I receive a message from Mridula saying "I've forgotten my running shoes" so naturally I then assumed the next part of the message would be "so I can't make it tonight" but OHH NOOO. This one is dedicated. The next line was actually "I'm running to the shop to get some new ones so I might be a bit late".... AMAZING. You don't get much more committed than that! Mridula you rock!!!!!!!!

We welcomed 4 new runners last night. Shanice and her friend Claire. Lucy who actually works for the hospice! And lastly Meg who met us at the task! Welcome ladies! Give them all a cheer!

Who run the world??? Helen.

So yesterday was International Women's Day so obviously my favourite thing to ask everyone this week was going to be who is your favourite woman! We had mums, sisters, Michelle Obama, Oprah, Beyonce (obviously), Paula, the list went on. Kevin won all the boyfriend points by mentioning his girlfriend, great job Kevin! And I think it's safe to say Mridula won all the friend points by saying (AND DRAWING A PICTURE OF) her BFF and our lovely runner Helen who sadly couldn't make it last night!

We dropped off our bags, played a bit of shin tag, and then set off! Manju and Shanice had kindly brought with them some big rucksacks full of donations for the charity shop! Thanks both of you! And thanks Alex for carrying it!

We arrived a the shop and split into groups. Marta, Mridula & Linda got started with the tagging, Lucy did the hoovering, Ben P, Brin & Vickie tidied up the bric-a-brac, Kevin sorted out the books, and everyone else got stuck in with tidying shelves, making sure hangers were facing the right way, putting out clothes that had been tagged, wiping down surfaces. This shop is huge so it's great for a big group like we are now! And there are two floors so upstairs needed some love too.

While all the cleaning was going on, I got photos of everyone with the drawing of Helen, just so that when she saw it, she would see how much we all miss her so we should never be busy on a Wednesday again! Only joking, but we did miss you Helen if you are reading this!

After half an hour, the place was looking immaculate. We had a group photo with an object from the shop and then a girl power pic for IWD. We said our goodbyes to Jane and the team and got going. We ran along the river back to the starting point for a few little sprints to finish off the evening.

ANDY I'M COMING FOR YOU!

Now I know I've talked about Mridula a lot (maybe I should have said her as my favourite woman!), but her running has improved SO much since she started with us a couple of weeks ago. As we were approaching the entrance to the college, she just TOOK OFF! She was hot on Andy's tails but he was having none of it so he picked up the pace which then turned into an amazing head to head sprint race to the gate! INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!

For the fitness session, we split the group in half and sent 2 people at a time off in opposite directions in a big circle, once they met they had to stop, high 5 (or fist bump, or hip bump, or hug, or shake hands) and then turn around and sprint back the way they came. So technically the two people should arrive back at the same time! Meanwhile everyone else was either squatting, lunging, planking, plank shoulder tapping (good job Ben C, despite the shade Vickie was throwing at you!) or resting. Isabella was the last to run and had no partner but after asking if anyone wanted to go for a number 2 (so sorry guys), Andy took centre stage and did his third sprint of the session! Awesome!!! One last final long sprint along the main path of pain and we called it a night!

Excellent work last night gang! We got lots done, and hopefully you all had a lot of fun! Good luck to Alex & Vickie who are running the Bath half at the weekend!! Can't wait to hear all about it. Also a few of us are hitting up Southwark Parkrun on Saturday morning if anyone fancies it! And don't forget to join our lovely Facebook group! See you next week!