Last night 7 cheerful runners braved the cold and busy streets of London to run to the YMCA on Goodge Street to help sort out donations and tidy the shop floor.

We welcomed some new runners (Katherine , Kate and Danielle) so lets give them a warm welcome cheer!! And meet some regulars from other Boroughs with some great Goodgym stories to share!

After meeting at King's Health and Fitness on the Strand we made our way around the busy London streets towards the YMCA, the cold woke up our bodies and the bustling streets of people woke up our minds. Luckily the snow from the day before had all disappeared so it wasn't slippery under foot although it was just a little chilly on our ears and hands.

Arriving at the YMCA we were warmly welcomed by Marie and a little bit of warmth from the heaters, this was greatly appreciated as we could remove a few of the many layers we had on! We got stuck in right away to see how much we could do before the shop needed to be closed up for the night, we decided it was best to split into two teams so we could help with both tidying the store and the donation room downstairs. The group that went downstairs helped to sort through donations, hang them up on the hangers and get them ready to be steamed in the morning. We all loved some of the clothing donated and got some great ideas for future fashion ! (The fairy wings were certainly a highlight find!) The other half of the group helped with the hoovering, folding beautiful winter scarfs and reorganizing the clothes on display. This was a great task for us to all to chat and get to know each other whilst staying warm and helping out! Marie was extremely grateful for our hard work!

Once the tasks were completed and some photos were taken we decided it was time to brave the cold again for our journey home. This time we took a bit of a detour to Russell Square for a couple of relays to really get our heart rates up and have a bit of a friendly competition! I think we all agreed the skipping race was much harder than expected but we all had a good laugh!

We ran back along Kingsway which had quietened down from all the commuters back to the strand and into the warmth for a bit of stretching and a debrief.

It was a fantastic night meeting lots of new people, getting in some good fitness and having a laugh!

I can't wait to see you all again at future runs!