Whipton Up A Storm!

13 runners came out this evening and helped deliver a community magazine in Whipton! They also ended up doing a surprise good deed and whipped up a storm smashing some of Exeter's longest hills.

A very warm welcome to Robin who joined us for the first time. It was great having you along and we hope you come back soon again!

We started the evening at the Phoenix with a dynamic warm up session, involving a lot of animal actions. I thought it was time to add a bit to our usual chicken themed warm-ups! Ready to run we set off towards our task location, Whipton. It was a hilly and long run this week but everyone did amazingly well! We had two fantastic back markers, Nic and Lucy R who made sure no-one got left behind, THANK YOU! We also stopped to re-group at regular intervals and made the most of these stops by giving our legs that extra little work out (squats, lunges and press-ups) that will make you so much stronger come race season! You can all thank me then he he!

Once we arrived to Whipton we quickly divided the group into smaller groups and set off to deliver the magazines in different areas. It was amazing how much we got done! In 45 minutes we managed to cover the full area set out for us, despite loosing each other and getting slightly mixed up about roads a couple of times! I am positive that this had a lot more to do with all the laughing and chatting going on than with our map reading skills!

On the return run focused on our running technique, especially when climbing the long hills. We all imagined we had helium balloons attached to our heads, pulling us up into the right running position and ensuring we didn't lean into the hills. We also made sure we moved our arms in the right way, and that we increased the speed of which we moved or arms in order to increase our cadence and smashing the hills without getting too tired by taking too long steps.

The lovely return run unfortunately had a rather dramatic ending to it. Nearly back at the Phoenix we found a man lying on the street, close to unconsciousness. A big shout out to Anna and Nic who checked him over in a very professional way and to Rachel, Nonny and Nic who stayed with him until the ambulance came along! That was certainly a double good deed session for you guys!

Although the evening didn't end quite the way our sessions usually do it was still a great night- we ran really far up and down some of Exeter's longest hills and we got so much done at the task! Fantastic work guys! You are all amazing! A lot of you got races coming up soon so a huge good luck to all of you and I can't wait to hear all about it next time I see you!

• Next week we will return to Whipton for a final push getting the remaining community magazines delivered. We will make sure we leave a bit earlier too so that we get time for our monthly core session, so don’t miss out! Sign up here!

• Don't forget to check out the website for all the exciting Community Missions we have coming up! So much happening in our area over the next few months! YAY!