Runners gonna run, taters gonna tate..

This evening’s run kicked off with belated congratulations to Helena for earning her ‘wings’ and completing her 100th good deed with Good Gym last week! Congratulations Helena! We also congratulated Nipun for completing the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge over the weekend and welcomed Phil for his first Good Gym run before getting stuck into some running form training. Remember folks, its shoulders back and down, hips up, and a slight lean forward!

With perfect posture, we then ran over to the Salvation Army in central Brighton to do some much needed weeding and garden work, and survey how the grounds have fared since our last visit in September of 2017. Lin very kindly supplied us with gardening tools and told us about the good work happening in this Brighton community hub which runs a café, charity shop, church and choir, and provides vital services for Brighton’s growing population of homeless. Once a week, the centre offers them a wholesome meal, and the opportunity to have a shower and find community in a safe and comfortable space.

Taking up our tools, we set to work in the garden rooting up all manner of unwelcome foliage including bramble, dandelion and that most notorious of garden menaces, bind weed. And while we can all agree that these latter three are generally disagreeable garden trespassers, it became clear through this task that sometimes, one runner’s weed is another runner’s charming garden treasure! Indeed, this garden played host to some rather random shoots of mint and small flowering weeds (which we mostly left in place), and even a miniature patch of cheeky potatoes (which we dug up). However these taters came to be in this ornamental garden, perhaps they’ll find their way into next week’s meal!

Speaking of garden treasure, Laura uncovered a bit of plunder herself: a fifty pound note……. of play money. Rather than taking our chances with this dubious currency at the pub, we decided, in true Good Gym spirt, that we were better off heading to the Level for a gruelling Tabata session focused on core work (great for your posture apparently) and some explosive jumping. Because what Tuesday night would be complete without some explosive jumping?!

Fit as fiddles after this session, we headed back to base for a leisurely stretch and well wishes until next time. See you next Tuesday!

And a massive thank you to Tabitha for writing this week's run report!