Paint it black

Enjoying the cooler evening air, eight eager athletes ran 4km (with a BIG hill) to help paint the railings at Baxter Field.

How lovely to be back with my GoodGym Bromley lovelies! While I was away, Louise did her 50th good deed, whilst visiting her coach. Well done Louise, only our second runner to hit this milestone, we really look forward to seeing you in your new black t-shirt very soon. Also happening this week were two first mission runs, with both Bradley and Tim heading out for the first time, to help an older person in their home, well done you two! We also welcomed a new-comer to Bromley tonight, hello to Emily, who ran with GoodGym Lewisham last week for the first time and decided to give us a go this week.

Did you know, GoodGym will be hitting the 100,000th good deed mark in the next few days, isn't that incredible?! I wonder if our eight good deeds this evening will tip us over this epic point...

It was so nice to run in slightly cooler temperatures this evening, which was a relief when we saw the hill that faced us! After a quick dynamic warm-up in Crystal Palace Park, we ran up towards Baxter Field, pushing up, up, up, driving our arms hard to reach the top. At the park, we met Ruth, who handed out cartons of juice and pointed us towards some sweet treats, oh, that hill was worth all the effort! Refuelled and recovered, we grabbed brushes and rollers, filled pots with thick, black paint and got stuck in to working our way along another stretch of railings.

Paint misbehavin'

It's great fun spreading the paint on, chatting, enjoying the evening and catching up on everyone's news. Tim was telling us about a special run he has been organising in Oxfordshire, which will be happening this weekend, Hannah was telling us about an upcoming trip and Louise and I talked about delicious Hocking's ice cream from Devon (it's served with a dollop of clotted cream on top...!). I talked with Emily about running clubs and racing, with our own GoodGym Race Team having a very varied and sociable series of races throughout the year, monthly long runs and the challenging, but fun, winter cross country races. You can find out all about the race team here and feel free to sign up and go along to races, even if you're not on the team - the support is incredible!

As time ticked away, we realised we would definitely make it to the entrance gate, reaching the point we had aimed for this week - smashing! With Tim and Emily on the other side, reaching the bits we hadn't managed from the path, we gave one last push and touched up any last little patches of metal. Some well-earned flapjacks were nibbled, a group photo (or two, or three!) were taken and we were off on our way, back down the hill, phew.

Returning to the park, we had a bit of fun, weaving in and out of the trees, embracing the down hill and paused at the bottom to tackle a quick - but intense - fitness session. Excellent work from everyone, it's not easy pushing yourself like that at the end of a session, but you held your form and looked strong.

Next week we will be painting again, but this time inside, at the Lakeside Cafe at South Norwood Lake, a run of around 5k in total, a chance to enjoy the park and plenty of chat along the way, sign up here to join in.