Meanwhile in Westminster we headed down to see our dear friend at Rhythms of Life to help him hand out food to the rough sleepers in and around the Charing Cross area.

We meet as usual at Westminster University and headed out into the night.

A 1 mile tempo run after a gentle warm up took us weaving as normal through the back streets of our city as we made our way to Covent Garden.

Arriving safely we were greeted by Andrew who took us in to his building sat us down and talked us through what we were going to do and what we were not going to do.

He showed us all of the food that we would be handing out that had kindly been donated by local food shops. We boiled the kettles so we had hot water for the flasks so we can hand hot chocolate and coffees whilst we were out there. We grabbed socks, gloves, toiletries and hats split into two teams both taking two routes and we were off.

We covered some of the key hot spots in Charing Cross and had some great conversations with some of the rough sleepers. We handed out all of the food, drink and clothing we had followed by some emotional goodbyes and we were off with the promise that we would be back at some stage next month.

We ran back to base at pace and discussed on route how often communities like that are often not seen by passers by.

Most definitely some food for thought.

Thank you all for coming, till next time.

Meanwhile in Westminster we made our way back to the homeless charity Rhythms of Life.

I think this is the first time we have visited them in 2016 and they have been sorely missed.

Our task today was as always a simple way, help Andrew move all the furniture on the ground floor and when I say all of it, I mean all of it. Where? Elsewhere lol.

Now just before we left Westminster Uni I explained the greatness that is GoodGym, the fact that it was a little dark and wet and most importantly the route there might be a little congested SO the skill of weaving in and out of human traffic would most definitely be worked on...

Anyhow we set off at peace, back street after back in single file dodging public house patrons, buggies and big bags until safely popping out by Tottenham Court Road. Just a little longer and we arrived safely at Covent Garden where we greeted by the ever chirpy Andrew.

With 30mins on the clock, WE WERE OFF.

I'm talking chairs, tables, lamps, sofas, fridges, freezers, musical instruments, paintings, food and toiletries, the lot, all shifted, lifted and relocated till next time.

As the clock made its way to zero, music pumping and people dancing as they worked, Andrew wondered around handing out refreshments consisting of fine wines and reminded us of last time, the time he had cheese lol.

We said our goodbyes and we were off.

FARTLEK ALL THE WAY HOME...

Till next time.

Meanwhile in Westminster 21 brave brave, oh so brave souls headed deeeeeeeeeep into the darkest depths of North West London aka Queens Park in search of The Avenues Youth Centre where a magical room full of paint and brushes awaited. Why? We were going to paint a room a beautiful shade of white ;-).

Now with a large contingent joining us from Imperial college an extra special elongated briefing was needed about the wonderfulness of goodgym, its history and of course the risks of running on the road.

With that in mind we set off as one but slowly broke up into 3 pace groups, one managed by myself, one by the ever helpful, ever wonderful Lucy and finally one by the Imperial college team.

Now for those of you that are blissfully unaware The Avenues Youth Centre is somewhat of a TREK from where we are BUT we do not let this deter us. With Oysters in our hands just in case, we make it work. 5.5k there and of course 5.5k back BUT we break that up so people can either jump on a bus back or run half way back and jump on a train.

Now we have got the logistics out of the way we may now discuss the joy that painting brought to our hearts.

On arrival we were greeted by the ever friendly Jo who would show us to the tools that were needed for the job. With a quick scramble to find something sharp to open the paint with we were on our way. 20 mins to get the paint out, open it up, distribute it, paint, tidy up and soak the brushes lol.

Did it happen? of course it did with a little help from the paint fairies we got a majority of it done BUT as with all tasks there will always be more for us to do so a small contingent will return on saturday to finish one of the walls and finish getting rid of some paint. YOU could be part of that contingent. KEEN? of course you are.

Now we waved goodbye to 3 quarters of the team and a few of the faster ones stayed behind to try and get allllllllll the paint out of those hard to reach spots then somehow managed to chase down the main pack of runners arriving seeeeeemlessly with in minutes of eachother, another team arrived by bus, another arrived by train.

Now as far as i am concerned THIS IS TEAMWORK.

Thank you all for coming and of course for working both on the road and in the Avenues.

On a beautiful evening in Westminster we decided to take on yet another long run deep into the North of the borough to see our friends at The Avenues Youth Centre.

Our task? To give a room a deep clean in preparation for our return in two weeks where we will be giving it a fresh lick of paint.

A quick briefing about the task at hand, a bit of health and safety and of course a promise to everyone that we would get them back safe.

Now some may be intimidated by the distance of an 11k round trip so ONLY on evenings like this we take our oysters with us and some jump on the train when they feel they have done as much as they can.

We left the uni and headed down to the Avenues at a steady pace all arriving safely, smiling and wishing the sun would come out so we didnt have to wear tights and padded jackets lol...

We were greeted by Marcus and Carol who told us all about the centre and how much they appreciated what we do and we were off.

Jay clothes and special spray at the ready. Walls, wiped and washed, floor swept, skirting boards spotless, windows shining and all was well.

A few sips of water, a goodbye and we were thanked for allllll our wonderful work and we were offfffffff.

We broke into two groups, one running back to base and the other running half way and guess what the plan was? to arrive back at exactly the same time....

Did we? hmmmmmmmmm, maybe ;-)

Thanks for coming, hopefully see you allllll next week...