Feeling high on life, 25 runners ran happily through Lewisham, covering 7km and tackling a number of fun tasks at the Wildcat WIlderness.

I'm just going to have a little lie down...

YESTERDAY WAS EPIC!! London was well and truly awash with joy, as tens of thousands of incredible athletes tackled the 26.2 miles of party-central, London Marathon (it was like 2012 all over again). We had a team on the Hilly Fields parkrun baggage trucks in Greenwich Park, helping the Red Start runners by looking after their belongings and giving a last-minute pep-talk, hug, shake, whatever was needed most. We had people cheering around the course, in Deptford, Canary Wharf, Embankment and, most exciting of all, we had runners taking on their first marathon. Representing GoodGym Lewisham were Ali, Andy and Amber (all the As!). Everyone did amazingly, especially when you consider that they had trained in snow and bitter winds, only to find that race day gave them blazing sunshine and 24-degree temperatures. Throughout the day we had updates from Amber in particular, who kept us informed of her progress, giving us the chance to will her on, send her encouragement and remind her of all the hard work she had put into this. We hadn't expected her to turn up this evening then, in her finisher's t-shirt and wearing her lovely medal! Well done Amber, what an achievement!

Stuff!

This wasn't all we were celebrating today. Here at GoodGym, we like to mark our milestones, with 50 good deeds leading to a special black t-shirt and 100 good deeds giving you wings (a red t-shirt with wings on the back). This week we were really pleased to congratulate Emma on this achievement. We met Emma first of all when she came to the monthly social, when it was held in Lewisham, telling us all about how she was running with GG Westminster. By the end of the evening we had convinced her that she needed to join us in SE13. She has continued being a tourist, visiting a few other areas and can often be seen rushing off to a mission to help an older person in their home. My favourite thing about Emma, aside from her incredible enthusiasm to get stuck in, is her awesome laugh, which can be heard from one side of the Wildcat Wilderness to the other :)

What a week to join us for the first time! We had two brand new runners, Kirsty and Patricia and, joining us after having visited GoodGym Greenwich, was Beth - welcome, all of you, here's some Lewisham Love...x

Into the Wild!

Our task this week was over at the (wonderful) Wildcat Wilderness so, after a quick warm up, off we went, towards Ladywell Fields (with expert back-marking by Amber, Conroy and Rosemary) and through the bramble-lined paths, where we met Maria. It's lovely to be back here in the evening light, enjoying the most beautiful sunset as we worked. Since we first started coming here, the wilderness has grown and there are now a number of spaces that need our attention (this means a wider area to cover when gathering everyone up and taking photos!). Across the space, our volunteers tackled:

• weed-bashing (of course, top, number one favourite activity here!), creating new or wider paths

• lopping, cutting back thicker brambles or branches

• gathering, carefully picking up the discarded brambles and transferring them where needed

• turning the soil, putting it into a wheelbarrow and using this to fill a trench (which Maria pointed out must have been the tracks of a vehicle at some point many years ago!)

• picking, uncovering, lifting and removing stubborn and deep bramble roots (evil things!)

• levelling, creating the perfect space for the new polytunnel

• uncovering, pulling up and moving rusted metal, including a very large and heavy tank

• watering, an especially relaxing and restorative task for our marathon runner

All of a sudden it was eight o'clock and we hadn't even started putting the tools away! This is definitely somewhere to come and while away an afternoon or evening (which you can do, on one of the regular volunteer days), but we didn't have the luxury of time, so quickly returned our equipment and gathered for a group photo, whilst hearing about all the amazing plans Maria has for the space. We look forward very much to returning again in two weeks time, ahead of the installation of the outdoor kitchen, sign up!

Our return run was brisk (I'm sorry if we were a little late arriving back!), with the sky darkening slowly and talk turning to what was for dinner (there is always a collective tummy rumble at this point). We also talked, of course, about races and marathons, with the next big marathon being Malcolm's run in Edinburgh in five weeks time. Don't forget, if you fancy trying something a bit shorter or even a bit sillier, we have the GoodGym Olympic Games coming up in June and we really should start planning and working out what we're good at (egg and spoon anyone?). Details are here, sign up and represent!

Next week we will be off to Crofton Books, always a fun task and a nice 5k round trip (with views). Join us, we'd love to see you!