Despite it being the end of the January Challenge, we still had plenty of GoodGymers keen to run on a Wednesday night and do good in their local area! Sam opened up Old Spike to meet the friendly faces of Daryl, David, Isaac, Lucy, Maria, Nelly, Roberta, Steve and Tim.

Sam went through his usual GG intro speech and tonight, he only had an ice-breaker snap-poll, which was to do with National (deep-pan) Pizza Day (in the US) and Lunar New Year happening on Saturday. He asked which one you would order when having an food app up: deep pan or Chinese?

Winning by a few votes was Chinese!

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Brushing up on our painting skills

After a quick warm-up in the alleyway, Sam led the group out back onto Rye Lane with Lindy backmarking as she was carrying her work items with her (as she wanted to make her way back home after the task). Speedy Sam rushed down Rye Lane, Surrey Canal Walk and into Burgess Park (with a slight diversion) before 500 metres later arriving at St. Mary Newington Close to find James, Paulin and Phil already tucking into a tub of pink paint and applying it onto a wooden bench. Yes, we came over to Southwark Communities to apply another lick of paint on the donated garden furniture as Spring is just around the corner and the residents will be out and about enjoying the garden. At the task, we met Lottie (task owner), Folarin and eventually, after taking the bus over, Louise.

With loads of paint tins and paint brushes, Sam split the team:

• As mentioned, James, Paulin and Phil applied pink paint to a bench and had to quickly sand a mossy chair before quickly putting pink paint on it.
• Daryl, Isaac and Lindy painted two wooden chairs pink.
• Folarin, Lucy and Steve initially had to sand a bench before applying a grey-ish green paint.
• Louise, Maria and Tim concentrated on one wooden bench and painted it blue.
• David, Nelly and Roberta applied blue paint on two wooden chairs.

It was such a therapeutic task and we had plenty of time (40 minutes) to apply a good coat of paint. Once it came to time, we took back the paint and paint brushes to the kitchen to wash up before taking our mandatory group photo.

On the way back, we said goodbye to a couple of runners as they peeled off home, but those who stayed until the end got a lovely stretch!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! It was a chilly night, but hopefully running faster than usual helped with warming the core. Thank you to Daryl and Lindy for backmarking on the run. We're off to Salvation Army Camberwell Corps next Wednesday for more painting on Valentine's Day!

Rushing from Heathrow airport, Sam and Maria just made it in time to Old Spike for the group run. Just having enough time to get change before welcoming in John and newbie, Alex!

It was also a first for our contact tonight as this request came through a few weeks back and we managed to convert it into a group run for tonight. The location was just above Burgess Park, so it would take over 20 minutes to run just over 3.5k to get to Southwark Charities, so Sam opted to skip the warm-up and get there on time as runners were coming into Old Spike for 18:45 on the dot. Yet, since Alex was the newbie, we had to do the GG intros and the all-important ice-breaker question.

Since it was National Teddy Bear Day in the US, Sam's ice-breaker question for tonight was about teddy bears and plush toys: Tell me the name of your first teddy bear/plush toy and do you still have it?

We had popular names like bunny (rabbit with floppy ears...) and classic ones like Teddy and Ted, but Lindy had photos of her "pass me down" teddy bear, who is 36 years old...before and after in the photos...

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Brushing off our mid-week issues

Despite the lack of a headtorch, Sam lead the way whilst Mikhail backmarked as we ran through the busy Rye Lane before going into the quiet Surrey Canal path and unlike last week, we turned left to go towards Burgess Park. Through the north side of park we went (over the lake bridge), arriving close to Surrey Square to meet Lottie at St. Mary Newington Close. We did meet Lindy just outside too as she ran from home. Inside already getting on with the task, we had Andrada, Elena and Folarin who were painting away as they all came by foot (either running or walking).

The task tonight was a two-fold. We had to split the group according to the amount of paint brushes as the other task was to sand down and prepare three more benches and two more chairs for painting next time. Newbie Alex, Clare, Gemma and John all opted to sand the benches and chairs. Whilst Emma, Emma, Maria and Steve ganged up to paint the bench blue, we had individual and duo efforts from Andrada, Elena, Folarin, Lindy and Paulin to paint the chairs a multitude of colours including green, pink and yellow! Mikhail, as he has been for the past few GoodGym group runs, was our resident photographer as Sam went around talking to people and coordinated two more group run sessions with Lottie in 2024!

During the 40 minute session, we managed to put a coat of paint on four chairs and a bench whilst sanding down three benches and two chairs ready for next time. We will be back in the new year for another coat (possibly two) and there's even talks about painting the community space.

After our customary group photo and a quick DBS check, we said our goodbyes parted ways. Most ran back to Old Spike with a few dropping off at certain points as Maria backmarked to ensure no one got left behind! Another successful group run and can't believe we only have four more until the end of the year!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! Firstly, we welcomed Alex for his first GoodGym session. It was also another first for everyone as we arrived at a new contact, Southwark Charities. Who doesn't like a painting task and we have to be grateful that the weather stayed dry. Thanks again to my backmarkers for running the 3.5k run each way. We will be back to St. Mary Newington Close for more!

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Thank You to Lottie

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lottie for preparing all the tools for us in advance and giving us an achievable task! We will be back in February and Spring for more painting!