19 awesome runners ran 4km to help at the Deborah Ubee Trust!

Group run number two of the year and it's so great to see so many of you braving the cold and getting your good deed and run done! It's always a lot easier in a group though eh!

This week, we headed to the Deborah Ubee Trust to help out with some cleaning duties around the office. It is a wonderful charity which supports the emotional health and well-being of people in the area and provides counselling and therapies irrespective of ability to pay.

Thankfully the rain had cleared but it was still pretty cold so we headed off for a quick little warm up, getting dizzy running circles. After a few minutes, we set off through the uni and up by the park. Who else can't wait for summer when the park is open again?!?!? After a quick pic we continued our run and arrived at the DUT in no time at all!

It's oh so quiet.... shhhhh

Since there were various counselling sessions taking place, we had to be extra quiet so as not to disturb the neighbouring rooms. We headed through to the main room where there were loads of cleaning products laid out, everyone grabbed a cloth and a spray and found something to clean! Carpets, skirting boards, windows, doors, desks, tables, chairs, door handles, microwaves, sinks, mirrors... you name it, we cleaned it! Alex and Steve even braved the outside taking one for the team to do the weeding... nice one fellas!

After just 10 minutes, the place was looking completely spotless! We tidied everything away, emptied the bins and headed back to the uni a slightly longer way round.

We took a detour which led us to the creek where we stopped for part one of the fitness session.. STRIDES! These are quick bursts of 100-120 metres or 20 seconds of 90-95% effort. It's a really good thing to add in at the end of an easy run, perhaps 6 to 8 repetitions, or you can sprinkle them in during your run, one every km for example. It helps increase stride length and promotes good form, which if done often enough can translate into your normal running as well! Try getting some in if you go for a run at the weekend and let me know how you get on!

After a few minutes, we ran back to the uni for a quick little core burst of 3 exercises. Again, so important to get your core work in, even if it's just 10 minutes a couple of times a week. Do it while watching TV or at the gym, maybe the next time you go for a run finish the run 10 minutes earlier than you were planning and get 10 mins of core work in instead! And strengthening your core isn't just about doing horrible abdominal exercises, it's about your glutes, hamstrings and lower back too so don't leave them out!

2 rounds and then we had a nice stretch and called it a night!

Great work last night! This now puts us up to 46 good deeds and 1851km for the January Challenge! See you next week!