A big Goodgym welcome to Noma joining us for her first Group Run

It had been a busy weekend for some with Keith completing the SVP 50k Ultra Marathon and Sally & Nicola volunteering on one of the checkpoints in the middle of Essex!

The dark clouds looked ominous but despite earlier downpours we managed to stay dry throughout the evening.

Carrying bags filled with food donations to contribute to the Soup Kitchen, we set off on a tour of Ipswich parks with the plan that we would end up at our task with Ipswich Soup Kitchen which was starting a little later than our usual timing.

First stop was Holywells park for a little interval relay - sticking to the paths as the grass was soggy and waterlogged. Then a climb up out of the park and the relief of a downhill (before a another testing "flat" incline towards Alexandra park.

Another stop to carry out a core/balance circuit session focussing on run specific muscle groups. The plan was to complete the parks tour with the challenge of some hills in Christchurch park but we just ran out of time to get to the Soup Kitchen meeting point - some did manage to put a foot in Christchurch park as we passed the gate!

So we arrived to meet Jasmine and her Monday evening Soup Kitchen volunteer team and split our contributions between the team to hand out. Thanks to some vouchers kindly donated by the East of England Co-op on a previous task we were able to bring quite a lot..... in fact we had a bit too much for the numbers attending the Soup Kitchen this evening and it will be stored for the them to use on another evening.

Our evening ended with a gentle run back to the Waterfront taking the mileage up to 3.7 miles for the night. So a really good distance and a very worthwhile task.

Apologies for the lack of photos - Unfortunately my photography skills were a bit rubbish tonight and only a few are not blurred and fit to publish!

Next week we are out on the Elmers Art Trail checking in on the elephants for St Elizabeth Hospice Sign up here