Congratulations to Karim on completing his 50th good deeds.

**Last night 7 of us ran 8.9km to Thornton Heath Rec, to assist the friend of Thornton Heath Rec, with a spot of gardening. The distance is a bit more than our usual runs but each member of the group welcomed the challenge and we stuck together as a group going at a leisurely pace.

When we arrive Pia, was there to greet us, but before she started to tell us what needed to be done she allowed us a minute to recover and thanked us for running that distance to assist.

Our task was in the orchard, the protective barriers around the fruit trees needed to be widen as users of the Rec, were breaking limbs/branches from the trees.

We split into small groups, where some of us worked on removing the grass and widening the area around the trees, some transported the grass we had dug up to the compost heap and others worked on replacing the barriers once we had cleared the grass. We only had one mallet to drive in the stakes for the chicken wire, which decided to call it a day after we had used it to drive in 5/6 stakes then it broke which rendered that part of our task over. But we continued to tidy up around the other trees until our time had come to an end. Pia thanked us for the amount of work we had done during the time we had been there and informed us of how good it is to have us there as her group of volunteers would not be able to complete the amount of work we were able to do due to there various mobility frailties.

If anyone is interested in some solo missions by assisting they meet on Sundays at 2pm they would like your help and if you have any gardening tools you would like to donate they would gladly accept them too.

Next week we will be celebrating our 6th birthday the task will be at Park Hill, then we'll be heading to Box Park to celebrate 6 years of GoodGym Croydon. Come and join us either by the group run or out for a drink of your choice.

5 GoodGym Croydon runners ran over 7km to plant at Thornton Heath Rec

Apparently there was some football match on the TV tonight which lowered our numbers somewhat but still 6 intrepid runners turned out in this never ending heatwave to do their bit for the Friends of Thornton Heath Rec. Well 6 turned up at the start and unfortunately due to a sack race injury incurred at the GoodGym Olympics I decided not to run in the end as my knee is a beautiful rainbow of colours and swollen but Ellie stepped in and led the team and also wrote the rest of the run report - thanks Ellie. We also welcomed Ercole who was doing some GoodGym tourism - hope you had a great night here in Croydon and we'd love to see you back again.

After a quick warm up outside the local Tesco, we set off to Thornton Heath - being careful to manoeuvre ourselves into the shady spots of the pavement! When we arrived, we went round to the flowerbeds on the edge of the Community Garden where we have previously planted some bulbs. We were greeted by Atul and Caroline who had laid out 80 plants for us to plant into the flowerbeds, so we put on our gloves and grabbed our towels and got to work. We each worked our way down a section of the flowerbed, planting them all in record time! Afterwards, Atul gave them a good drink of water and thanked us with some delicious scones!

We then did a quick set of circuits down the path, covering off some walking lunges, squats, jumping jacks, skipping and balancing. We then headed out into the deserted streets for our run home - clearly we were the only people in Croydon not watching the football!

Next week we are heading off to work with Pam in the Mayfield allotments where we will be helping look after the Community allotment she has created for local people and schools.

Finally........If you have time tonight (6-8pm)Josi from Park Hill Rec is looking for help watering the plants in the Peace Garden as they are starting to look a little limp and parched. Here's the link to the event and bring a watering can if you have one. Hope to see you there.

7 runners ran 7km to clear leaves and pull up weeks from the Thornton Heath Rec flowerbeds

Despite being still a bit chilly, it was great running weather for one of our longer runs - seven brave runners headed out to our regular warm-up spot where we received many interested glances as we high knee-d, side stepped and stretched our way round in circles! We headed out as one group with the faster runners looping around brilliantly, before all arriving together ready for the task.

Unfortunately we were unable to complete the planned task of digging a trench, as after a quick check it turned out that the ground was still completely frozen after the snowy weather at the weekend. So Atul from Friends of Thornton Heath Rec found some new gardening tasks for us, which he explained when we arrived at the park. We made a start by filling a huge bag with fallen leaves from the flowerbeds and picking up some litter from around the garden. Then we moved round the corner to the flowerbeds that we planted with bulbs last year – excitingly the Tulips we planted are growing really well! We cleared more leaves from this area and then weeded around the plants, so that the flowerbeds are ready for sunflowers to be planted soon.

Powered back by some delicious chocolate eggs kindly given to us by Atul, we upped the pace on our run back with some ‘Fartlek’ interval training. Everyone took turns to choose when we started the next sprint and there were some very impressive accelerations from all the runners. The calls of ‘Fartlek’ definitely received some interesting looks from passers-by! We then finished up with some stretching and cool-down when we got back.

A big GoodGym Croydon welcome to new runner Claire who got stuck right in to the task and the run - hope to see you back soon!

As I mentioned, next Tuesday we will be heading to Good Deeds in a Lovely Garden at White Horse Park - It's also the last Tuesday of the month, so time for the BoxPark social – see you there!

We ran around 3km to deliver leaflets for Croydon's Bring and Take sale in March

I spent much of the day checking the weather from the office - it alternated between cold crisp blue skies and snowy whiteouts so by 4pm Atul and I made the decision that digging frozen ground with a pick axe in the dark and having to run through the icy streets of Croydon wasn't a fantastic idea so Plan B was put in place. A hurried photocopying job was undertaken and very quickly we had extra leaflets to distribute locally to promote the Bring and Take event in surrey Street in March. In all 6 brave/bonkers runners turned up in the freezing temperature and treacherous conditions and off we headed for a quick warm-up then on to the streets off Addiscombe Road where we delivered around 150 leaflets. The trick seemed to be to keep running and if you had to change direction or stop then to allow plenty of time -seemed to work as we had not skids or falls during the run or task.

After we'd finished leafleting we still had quite a lot of time to spare so we headed to the benches near the stasion where we tricep-dipped, press-upped, stepped-up, lunged and squatted. We finished up with a "who can hold a squat the longest" competition. Narrowly won by Andy - well done.

Welcome to Sam who came out for his first ever GoodGym run - we were all very impressed he showed up and really hope to see him back next week.

There was a smaller than normal gathering for the social at BoxPark tonight but that was to be expected with concerns over transport home but as usual the food was tasty , the heaters were warm and the company was good!

Next Tuesday evening’s run will see us heading to Park hill Rec for some fun in the walled garden.

Report written by Juliet Stevenson

We ran around 7km to sweep leaves and eat toffees in a community garden in Thornton Heath Rec

Nippy and a bit breezy tonight but good running weather all the same. Thirteen brave runners headed out tonight on a longer run than expected after a last minute change to the task but nobody was daunted and there were the normal smiles all round. So we headed off to our warm-up spot outside Tesco's where we received many 'admiring' glances as we high kneed, butt kicked and side stepped - although there was almost a pile up when I didn't explain well enough what I meant by change direction! Luckily they are all nimble and avoided each other! Once we were all warmed up we split into in two groups with Amatare and Ellie leading the first group and I followed closely behind with my chattier group.

Once we arrived at Thornton Heath Rec Atul explained that he's changed the task slightly as he was worried that there wasn't enough good lighting for us to dig a trench in the dark with pick axes - probably a good decision - so we cleared 3 huge bags of fallen leaves in record time spurred on by the two boxes of toffees brought by Atul. Next week however there will be better lighting and we will get to (carefully) wield the picks in small groups.

A big GoodGym Croydon welcome to two new runners Roy and Annegret who got stuck right in to the task and the run so hope to see you both back soon and also welcome back to Jen who has come back faster than ever after injury.

As I mentioned, next Tuesday we will be heading back to Thornton Heath Rec and combining it with delivering leaflets and collection bags for Croydon's Bring and Take event in March. And of course don't forget it's the last Tuesday of the month AND Croydon's 100th good deed since we started so a perfect excuse for a BoxPark social.

It was a cold dry night nevertheless 13 runners made it all the way to Thornton Heath Recreational Ground

13 runners ran a total distance of 8km to help the local park gather the leaves that had fallen down into giant 1-tonne bags. A special welcome to our two new runners Sam and Robert who were fantastic last night and we look forward to having you with us on more group runs.

We set off bang on time at 7pm from Solutions Fitness and made our way to Tesco Saffron square where we did our warm up session. After the warm up the group split into two and the faster runners set off led by the duo of Andy and Phil while the rest of the group led by me made the journey at a much comfortable pace.

At Thornton Heath Recreational Ground we met Atul and his team and got to work on the task. In the process the team devised an ingenious way of cramming more leaves into the tonne bags by runners stepping into the bags to compress the leaves making room for more leaves. Due to the efficiency of the team we completed the task ahead of schedule to the satisfaction of the recreational ground team and proceeded to the fitness session.

The initial plan was to hold a time trial around the recreational ground but due to poor visibility and safety concerns we elected as a group to have a fitness session running in pairs along the well-lit passageway by the park fence. The pairings through up some interesting combinations but in the end every one participated and enjoyed themselves.

We arrived back at HQ- Solutions Fitness as one big family and after the regulatory stretches some of the team proceeded onto Boxpark for the end of the month socials.

Next week we are returning to Park Hill Junior School to help out with the garden. Please do not forget to sign up if you have not already done so.

Finally, on a personal note I want to thank everyone for helping me with the task of leading my first GoodGym Group run.You are all amazing yesterday and I enjoyed myself very well in your company.