It’s my life

We all know a runner can never have enough kit, just not enough space to store it all. A runners wardrobe, bursting at the seams, can act like a personal museum of their running journey. Memories of the ups, and the downs. Showing the shape we were, the shape we want to be. Helping us to hold on to our aims and aspirations, remembering where we started and hinting at where we’d like to be.

Just lace up and run

Running is popular due to its simplicity, accessibility, health benefits, and the ability to fit into various lifestyles and fitness levels. It has often been said that at its simplest running is the cheapest way to get fit. Just lace up and run. But not everyone is in the position to be able to access even the most basic of kit.

Community Support

Who better to approach to support disadvantaged groups being able to participate in physical activity than those who both value exercise, and support their communities. GoodGymers never disappoint. 190 items (literally enabling kitting out from head to toe) have been donated, all of which have sufficient life and wear in them to support someone starting out on their fitness journey.

And come on, own up, who has already got their eye on replacements to fill those wardrobe gaps!

The Hot Walls got the meticulous GG treatment: we did almost a fingertip search of the beach, from east to west, from shoreline to the Walls. Not a single piece of plastic, fishing line or bottle-top was safe from capture.

We scanned the beach until the light was too low to distinguish plastic from pebble.

So, then we went to the pub!

A lovely stroll along the new sea defences offered limited litter which was nice to see.

A very clear afternoon afforded some lovely views across the Solent. And Dave and Val climbed to the top of the round tower to have a look around.

Lost count of the amount of cigarette butt's we found after the first 100!

Val and Judy walked a stretch of the small Ham brook, across little wooden bridges, crossing the railway tracks by looking left & right, and passing new housing developments.

We jumped into ditches and stretched to reach litter caught in brambles. After just 45 minutes, there was a full black sack, a full purple bucket and we'd collected bags for life & a bucket for use at future litter picks.

There is plenty more in tributary streams and ditches for future sessions.

We welcomed Andy to his first Group Run this evening - thanks for coming along!

On our arrival at the Pantry, Denise the Manager showed us round the surplus section, and some of us came away with some incredibly bargainous dinners!

We then split into two groups - the fillers and the builders. The filling team got to work high and low, prepping the walls ahead of a proposed painting party in a couple of weeks time.

Upstairs, the builders were assisted by Anna's son, Leo, to assemble two sets of shelves using the famous orange hammers. We got off to a slow start, but once we had got the gist of the process we were very rapid with the Rapid Racking! Katie and Jen both practiced a bit of contortion yoga after supervising the "inner" workings of the shelving.

Thanks everyone for a wonderful evening of fun and innuendo - you're all awesome!