Fresh off the back off a smashing January Challenge, 11 amazing human beings came out tonight for a dark task in the park.

We met at the Bridge House, shared our favourite types of cake (no gluten free, egg free, dairy free chocolate party cakes to be seen), and made our way to Cator Park.

⚡️ Hannah, Hannah and Clare did a POWER WALK.

🔁 The rest of us did a stupid loop before heading down the hill (Note to self: Always plan the route beforehand...)

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We met Millie from the Friends of Cator & Alexandra Parks, grabbed tools from the container and got to work on two tasks:

1️⃣ Trimming bush - The path that runs alongside the park is very neat in places but not where we were. There was ivy, branches sticking out and loads of head-height vegetation that meant people were walking on the grass to avoid getting speared. We were trimming it back and making the path significantly wider in the process. Nice.

2️⃣ Slicing the mud pie - Just inside the park, the path was getting swallowed. Equipped with shovels we were slicing the mud away to find the border. Clare did a fine job freeing the bollard (see pic).

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A very satisfying session and 2 paths freed up from the claws of nature. We love nature, but it's also nice to have space to walk/scooter/wheelchair/buggy/run on.

Well done team :) ✨

Our last Group Run of January, and what a way to blast out! 💥 We had a very special milestone to celebrate - read on to find out more....

January Challenge

Plus we were on 87 good deeds and with over 10 signups, reaching our target of 100 good deeds in the January challenge was tantalisingly close. What seemed an outlandish doubling of our 2023 target was now a realistic goal 🎯

A roadblock appeared, however. Winter 🌨️ is a notoriously difficult period to find tasks at times, but not for lack of trying. Mark managed to line up a task for us a couple of days before the run, though it sadly got cancelled on Monday afternoon, requiring some quick thinking 🤔

Best laid plans

Mark suggested we split into two groups - some guerilla gardeners to weed unloved planters 🪴 by Kent House station, and GoodGym promoters 🏃 putting up postcards on noticeboards to tell the world (well, Penge and Crystal Palace) what we do.

After introducing ourselves with a contender for the most odd question of the week ever (Which toothpaste do you use? 🪥), we prepared to divide. The promoters further split into two teams led by Cat and me (Stephen). We fought with rock, paper, scissors for who would go up the hill to Crystal Palace; Cat's scissors ✂️ resigned me and my paper 📰 to the steep incline and won her Penge.

Up the hill, down the hill

I wasn't alone, though, as David, Harry and Renier also volunteered for the harder route, and the band of merry men headed off for higher altitudes ⛰️. Mega shout out to David for pluckiness in seeing if newsagents, restaurants - anyone, really - would host our postcards in their window. We got positive response from numerous places we'd never promoted with before, and this was on Anerley Hill before we got near to The Triangle 😀

Mark's and Cat's teams flew towards Penge, with Team Green (Fingers) getting to work on the weeds at Kent House.

All together now

We met back at the Bridge House to hear each others' task stories and prepared to surprise an unsuspecting GoodGym'er, for it was none other than Mark's 500th good deed, an occasion demanding cake 🎂 and an amazingly augmented card and badge from Hannah!

Congratulations Mark! 👏

100 club

We're now a good deed shy of 100 - our goal is within reach and will surely be toppled before the month is done. Well done everyone who participated and helped us get there 🥳

Puns provided mostly courtesy of Nick, Stephen and beer.

Apologies for the toilet humour in today's run report, but that's what happens when you go down to the loos today...

Urine for a big surprise!

And if you go down to Crystal Palace Park's toilets tomorrow you'll be greeted by some lovely green doors courtesy of a fantastic GoodGym team!

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This evening's run began with a discussion about favourite transport methods (as you do) and welcoming brand new to GoodGym - Catherine and Kate - So lovely to have you along!!

🎵 Paint cistern, Go cistern 🎵

We had a brief warm up before doing a 2k loop of a pretty dark Crystal Palace Park (the clocks change soon 😬). When we got back to the bottom of the park we met Penny (from Penge) who equipped us with paint, gloves, foot coverings and brushes and we got straight to work turning the doors of the ladies loos green!

Penny's desire to get the loos looking lovely for the public was flush with what GoodGym do, so it didn't take long until coat 1 of 2 was applied.

Once we were done, we cleaned up and did a quick round of Rock, Paper, Scissors (with sprints and squats) and a bonus loop of the lake!

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A great time at GoodGym without having to spend a Penny.

Yes, that's another toilet pun... 💩

Great stuff everyone!! 💥

Sign up to next week's alternative Group Run here...