Six South-Yorkshirian GoodGymmers ran gentley down the hill and across the roundabout to help H.O.P.E in the community with an almighty clean-up task.

It was such a lovely evening and most GGers came just in their red tshirts! It's been a while since we could do that! After a quick catch up about the long weekend, we trotted off outside to warm up ready for the run...!

We all did some exaggerated skipping across the plaza, warming up the hips nicely! It wasn't a long run tonight, virtually spitting distance from our meeting point, so we took a steady trot down the steps, across the many prongs of the round-i-bout and up to St George's church. As James had earlier pointed out, today was St George's day and we were heading to St George's church, what are the chances! To add a little excitement to our run, we did some 'Indian Running' - the group running steadily in a line and the back person running to the front in a continuous motion. We also added exaggerated skipping whilst crossing the roads on the green man. Sharon's excitement got the better of her, when she excitedly slammed her flailing arm/hand into the pedestrian crossing button as she skipped past! Hopefully won't bruise to much Sharon, fingers (except the bad one) crossed!

When we arrived, Peter was ready for us, having been at the church since midday, trying to sort everything out ready for us to help! Peter voluntarily runs the community group H.O.P.E in the community whilst also being a full time carer to his daughter. He works tirelessly to make group as accessible and welcoming to all in the community and puts lots of time and effort into the project around his busy day to day life. Peter needed our help to finish off a sorting and cleaning project we had started back in February half term see report here - this time helping to clean the soft play, aprons and foam mats!

We split into two groups, mat cleaners and soft play cleaners. As the mat cleaners kicked out the clean foam squares, I set about drying them in a huge house of cards formation - see pics for finished result! Rachael joined us this evening as thankfully no cat's needed an emergency x-ray this week, phew! It was a nice chilled task for everyone to start the week with, James claiming it was a real workout!

Once we'd finished we got a quick photo of us and the letters (see pics) and headed outside for a spot of yoga. Tonight I showed the group some yoga stretches that specifically help runners, these included:

• Downward Dog - great hamstring, calf and foot arch stretch
• Low Lunge - stretches hamstrings and strengthens glutes and quads
• Toes Pose - helps prevent plantar fasciitis by stretching the shins and arches of the feet
• Pigeon pose - releases tension and tightness in the hips
• Reclining spinal twist - relaxes the lower back and stretches the glutes

Here's a handy link to some of the exercises: https://www.runnersworld.co.za/training/8-yoga-poses-for-runners/

We finished with a gentle jog back and said our goodbyes! Thanks to everyone that came tonight!

Tonight was Clair's 10th good deed so let give her lots of cheers here!

Sign up here for next week's task at Lavender Court sheltered housing!