Hello, GoodGymmers! (Or, as the English would say, "Hiya")

Last night eighteen brave souls, plus their coach Tom, met in the Town Hall lobby, there being no room at the inn, for another installment of the Tower Hamlets GoodGym. We ran to Hollybush Estate, a large housing development not far from Town Hall, whose green spaces have been turned into community gardens. Margaret and Michael, the volunteers who head up this big project, directed some of us to weed beds and then turn them over with pitchforks, (or as the English would say, "forks"). They directed others of us to weed boxes and then fill them with mulch, and finally they directed the rest of us to just weed. Similarly, all of us got to help grow the snail collection, which must have numbered in the low thousands by the time we left, which we did only after taking a group picture where we pretended to be locked up, (or, as the English would say, "in gaol"), perhaps in solidarity with the snails, who did not seem to enjoy their being detained.

On a relatively wide stretch of pavement, (or, as the English would say, "tarmac"), Tom led the team in drills, including correct butt-kicks, Can-Cans, and a straight-ankle sort of snare-drum skip, which sounded, as one astute runner noted, "like the world's least intimidating army." It was impressive, though, that all eighteen of us were in unison. Then we ran to another path to do a bit of striding, despite the youths hanging about doing what they do best, namely, being inappropriate to women. And for our terrifying conclusion, or as Tom said, "as much as possible in this little bit of time," we ran to Weaver's Fields, split up into partners, and started one half running about a 100m stride while the other held a squat or, secondly, a moving squat. That was less terrifying than the finale, which was a stride at 90% down the 100 yds or so, and at 100% (or close to it) back. One runner, whose first GoodGym was last night, clearly had a very quick 100%, as he was blurred as he ran by. But each one of us did very well, as the test was not so much about ability as about application. Then we (as the French would say, "en masse") ran back to Town Hall and went our separate ways to enjoy the post-workout high.

Respectfully submitted, Hope Wells