Red painters to a wall

The time for the final Newham run of the year snuck up on us this week: rain, frost and even the wind all seemed to have called a welcomed truce and left us to get on with our journey to Wanstead Flats.

• The distance: 4k there, 4k back
• The task: repaint as many walls as possible inside the Sports Pavilion.

On arrival we met with James, who briefed us on where to paint, provided us with equipment, some refreshments and then joked as to wether we offer a domestic decorating service - after analysing how we handled those edges, I'm seriously looking into it ;-)

30mins whizzed by as we taped up the important do not paint areas and painted the entire entrance and made a start in the toilets. As the walls got visibly brighter once recoated in white, we constantly reminded one another 'it's water based paint' - aka you can go out of the lines a little, but don't go overboard.

We downed tools, packed up and as we departed James provided us all with bananas (a potassium boost is always good). So armed with bananas and looking something like Banksy's Pulp Fiction we set off back to base. The fun part was running with said bananas without accidentally squeezing the life out of them. As mentioned, the weather wasn't as cold as we have been used to in recent weeks so running with tight fists was not prerequisite.

• The result: all runners and bananas made it back in one piece leaving behind numerous neatly painted walls in the pavilion

Thank you to everyone who has taken part in a GGNewham run this year or offered some support. We are the newest bow on the GoodGym ribbon and will continue to go from strength to strength in the new year. Exciting times ahead, watch this space!

See you back at the Aquatics Centre on 7th January for our first run of 2015. Let any tentative newbies know we have a Starter Session just for them in January.

Seasons greetings and best wishes for the New Year.

Kirsty