We started our evening GoodGym run slightly differently to most - with a fire alarm! Luckily for us it was not caused by a real fire and we were let back into the building just in time to drop off our bags and set off. In our warm up we had some quick introductions to find out what everyones favourite film to watch at Christmas is, with a couple of very un-christmassy films featuring, before setting out on our run to help the Royal British Legion with decanting their Poppy Appeal boxes. We also welcomed Emily and Natalie to the crew - give them a cheer for coming to their first ever group run!

After a 1.5km run there (featuring a small hill!), we were greeted by Jemma, who got us all signed in and showed us what to do.

The task: The poppy boxes that we filled a few weeks ago had all been returned after a very successful Poppy Appeal and were ready to be decanted and returned to their warehouse. The team split into two and each tackled a pile of boxes in separate rooms - it was a race to see who could decant the most in just 35 minutes - plus Jemma told us there was a chocolate bar in one of them, so the hunt was on! We needed to separate everything into their own bags and boxes - badges, poppies, reflectors etc. Somehow both teams managed to come out even and we sorted through 60 boxes between us all! Did anyone find the chocolate bar?!

Once finished we made our way to St Pauls Churchyard for a tough fitness session to work on the power in our legs. This week we did a set each of leapfrog burpees, squats, lunges and high knees, followed by a short rest and then did the whole thing again!

We made it back to King's by 7.15pm for some stretches.

It was wonderful running with you all - see you next week, when we will hopefully be delivering some flyers to promote the Christmas activities at Aldgate Community Centre.

PS. Don't forget about the GoodGym Christmas Party, Mission (Im)possible, and the King's Neon Run - tonight!

Mm ba ba de Um bum ba de Um bu bu bum da de

Queen was in our heads last night as we were under pressure to complete our task to make sure the garden was safe for the children to use the next day!

Last night was a power women night as we took to the streets and welcomed some new runners to King’s GoodGym - Kaz Joyner and Daniela Mittelstadt - they definitely deserve a cheer for coming out on such a chilly evening!

We started our evening run with a warm up in the quad and some quick introductions to find out what everyones favourite thing about living in London is - with parks and friends featuring! We also heard a bit about the Neon Run that King's have planned as part of their This Girl Can week - you can find out more here. We then set out on our run to help St Patrick's Montessori Nursery with tearing down a trellis in their garden.

After a longer jog over Blackfriars bridge there, we were greeted by Lynnsey, who explained to us everything that needed doing and we got straight to work.

The task: We needed to remove the trellis and plant bed it was attached to - this will make much more space for the children of the nursery to enjoy in their garden. We also cut back lots of the ivy to make sure the garden was safe for everyone to enjoy! We made quick work of the trellis, and after a bit more time we managed to pull apart the plant bed too We found a treasure haul of plastic food toys amongst the mud (wonder how long that had been there?!). It was a struggle fitting it in the bin, and everyone got mud poured all over them, but Kaz climbed right on top and managed to squish it down - great work.

Once finished we made our way (with our trainers and clothes full of tiny grains of mud) to the King's Sport Health and Fitness Waterloo Gym for a fitness session treat with one of the coaches, Connor. He led us on a 12 minute spinning session and we learned that doing some interval cross training like this can really help with our power when running, and is a good activity to do as a workout with less impact on our knees and ankles (which can sometimes cause an issue amongst runners!). Thanks Connor!

Great running from everyone today - see you next week, when we will be heading back to the British Legion to help with dismantling their Poppy Appeal boxes. It's going to be a great task so I will see you there!

This week we had some returners, plus we welcomed some new runners to King’s - Jack, Kelly, Simone, and Carrie - give them a cheer for coming to their first ever group run everybody!

We started our evening run with a warm up and some quick introductions to find out everyone’s best ever fancy dress costume, in true halloween style, before setting out on our run to help British Legion with creating their Poppy Appeal boxes.

After a 1.5km run there, we were greeted by Jemma, who split us into two teams and explained everything that needed doing.

The task: We got straight to work and it was a competition between the bag and box fillers to see who could get the most done in half an hour. The bag fillers were putting t-shirts and information into drawstring bags for the student poppy appeal collectors to pick up. The box fillers were filling Poppy Appeal boxes with badges, wristbands, poppies and more.

In the end it was the bag fillers that won after they filled an incredible 100 bags! Many hands make light work.

Once finished we made our way to St Paul's Churchyard for a spooktacular halloween fitness session made up of creepy crawlers, scared black cats, and of course some scary sprints (focussing on our backward arm drive to help set the rhythm) and then headed back to King’s for some stretches.

Great running from everyone today - see you next week, when we will be heading to a local school to do a stock take of their tools.

PS. Don't forget about the social and christmas party I mentioned!