Tuesday 22nd January 2019
Report written by Mark Barun
If it's not Raining, it's not training; and if not Snowing we're not going; therefore today's weather was perfect: Sleet is Sweet!
Whatever the weather 13 runners lit up snowy skies and braved the elements to help Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness (KCAH).
We met at Guildhall once more , layered in our running armour against the cold to talk of GoodGym Olympics, The Big Half places and the loss of our very valued runner Nic , who is off to pastures new in Portsmouth. We will miss you Nic!
We braved the outdoors for a much needed warmup that had us learning some essential exercises to improve our running. We then headed off on a 5km jog to the Everyday Church in Kingston, (we had heard so much about this church from one GG runner, Victoria so it was great to finally step inside and help them out).
KCAH have been using the hall at the Everyday church to run a nightly shelter for 30 guests in Kingston. The shelter will be moving on at the end of the month so our job was to leave it clean and tidy to hand back to the church. When its cold outside , there's no kinder place to stay, the staff were lovely and they had a long list of tasks for us to get stuck into.
WHATS THAT YOU SPRAY? CLEAN SOME WINDOWS? WE CAN (broom) HANDLE THAT WITH NO IF, ANDS OR (cigarette) BUTTS ABOUT IT!
We cleaned surfaces, walls, doors, and toilets. We mopped floors and washed windows as well as cleared the outside of any cigarette butts.
This was such an important task, especially on a night as cold as tonight where we could see the real benefit to those without homes who can go to a warm place to eat and rest. It was lovely to be able to make it nice for them.
Well done to Lorena on her second run and great to meet Shonese who joined us for her first GoodGym run.
If you are interested in The Big Half in March GoodGym has some £10 community entry places, email bighalf@goodgym.org. Deadline for applications is Wednesday 30th January.
Kingston upon Thames
Supply baby items to those in need