It was a perfect morning for a half marathon: mild, not too sunny, not too cool. The Richmond RunFest Half Marathon fell on day 2 of the festival and 3 goodgymmers took on this year's Peter Pan & pirate themed course.

The first 6km saw us take in the beautiful scenery of Kew Gardens, twisting and turning along the tarmac paths. Then came a change of terrain: the tow path along the Thames to Teddington Lock, then back around Ham House (with a spot of grass running) and returning to Old Deer Park along the towpath. Richmond GG runners Kate and Holly provided some much appreciated cheering along the course (and as we passed them twice, that made for double the cheers) - thank you guys!

A stunning route, friendly atmosphere and FLAT, it made for a lovely half. Only glitch was the hard-to-identify pacers (I was looking for ones with the flag pole things on their back but turns out they just had a sign on their vests - I found them AFTER I'd crossed the finish line). But, on the plus side, it showed that a trusty watch can do the job just as well!

Richmond RunFest, you served us well - brilliant half that I look forward to running again

So I asked gently “who would like to write the run report” ….no reply. Let me try again I thought, a little louder perhaps “WHO WOULD Like to ….” I could see where this was going and so here I am with my journalistic hat on and here is the rundown of a great evening spent with some truly wonderful people! Richmond was beaming in the sunshine and outside wholefoods one could easily be forgiven for nodding off in the warmth as the commuters lethargically shuffled by on their homeward journeys. Red shirts started to gather though and so did the huge smiles that accompany them as we started to anticipate the task ahead. Tonight, was destination SPEAR in Twickenham to get to work on the windows. The awesome Spear serve the community in helping the homeless and it’s always a pleasure to assist them in any way we can. It has been a while since we last gave their windows a clean and if memory serves me well it was a lot colder and darker on that visit but man, did we leave them gleaming. So, with a lot to live up to we got to it after some cool warm up drills and exercises that I am certain all the runners thoroughly enjoyed…yes, I am sure that was the look of admiration in their eyes for the choice, complexity and intensity that I was instructing. That was the look alright or was I misreading the signals…hmmmmm They all coped well anyway or at least gave it their all and soon we were chatting about the best cleaning methods for washing windows and how lovely the evening was as we ran our 4km to Spear. Arriving there with a barely broken sweat we operated with the GG team work that makes Richmond so strong. With minimal soap and barely a few cloths we made use of the local rag to make those panes sparkle in the sunlight. We were smiling at the results of our efforts, reflections shining back at us, such great gains eh! Jane and Jon made the task all the easier with the buckets otherwise…well where would we be without them, so thank you! All that was left for us to do was recycle every material we used that was possible to be recycled and of course for the runners to humour me as I pretended to be a great photographer on an android phone (alas it’ll never happen I feel) To the eight runners tonight I salute you and thank you for such a lovely evening too! Well done at the task and I am certain Spear will love the extra light pouring in the office tomorrow! A big shout to Sally on her second run with Richmond – Well played Sally and all the best for half marathon at the weekend. Great to see Jenny back too after her awesome Marathon achievement last month Next week, we are in training for tug of war so don’t miss out as we are looking at team tactics and choices as well as huge fitness drills whilst supporting the volunteers in Richmond council and the Poppy Factory (who are to run with us too). Sign up here https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/spreading-the-news-volunteer-fair-and-trumpeters-house-garden-party Have a great week! Oh and did I mention our neighbours Kingston kick off tomorrow 😉

21! 21! I think Mark might be saying that in his sleep tonight. It was amazing to see runner after runner walk into Wholefoods and one who even changed his mind mid-run to come and run with us! Great to see you Al.

Amongest the army tonight were also 3 GG Hounslow visitors, Andy, Remy and Michelle. So great to see you and well done to Remi who will have done her 50th GG run by Wednesday this week. We also had Louisa and Chris back for their second run and newbie Sally introduced to GoodGym by Holly (lovely to see you and Jon back Holly!). It felt like even more of a reunion when we were also joined by Salwa, Victoria and Jane. Great to see you all!

Before we set off, Richmond residents and commuters got an eye full as we showed off our warm up skills in front of Wholefoods to the rhythm of our thumping feet as we fired up our fast twitch agility skills.

Richmond taking the warm up - up a gear! @goodgym pic.twitter.com/TWUkk86KlR

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) April 30, 2018

Tonight we had a new task and a new task owner and what a task it was. We ran 4.5km along the river, thankful that the heavens had closed for the day! Some of us took a detour and shortcut, keen to get first dibs on the adventure playground and pick their activity (no names mentioned)....only to be disappointed that Mark wouldn't allow us on the swings until the end.

So, we got to work, after a brief chat from the lovely Esther the Senior Playworker at the** Adventure Playground at Marble Hill Playcentres** about the fantastic provision they provide for 5 to 15 year olds of Richmond Borough. More info about the great work they do can be found here

We were asked to turn over wood chips, create a compost pile ready for growing vegetables and organise the inside of the Playcentre so that the little ones to the teenagers had somewhere to hang out. It was a fulfilling and rewarding task and one we all hope to return to. Finally after all our hard work was done...we got to have a go on the swings and get an ice pop!! Wow what a step back in time!

We took a gentle 1.5km run back over the bridge as we witnessed a beautiful sunset. Thank you for the photo Remy

There was a warm glow for GG Richmond as they completed the task tonight. Even the sky went a colour far from the grey. A scene we had almost forgot. pic.twitter.com/4VMJUwrMpe

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) April 30, 2018

Back at Wholefoods we cooled down and headed for our suppers, proud of all we had accomplished!

Well played all (no pun intended). Next week is tree felling, mat laying and some other goodies, sign up. here