13 runners logged a 5.5km ran & created three valuable habitats for endangered invertebrates at Wormholt Park!

The clocks have sprung forward and the lighter, warmer evenings are upon us! Well, the former was definitely true, it was lovely to start tonight's group run in the evening light with the thoughts of the many long summer evenings that lay ahead. However, the less said about the latter the better...rain, hail and a bitterly cold wind were what greeted the 13 GoodGym runners tonight. There were no newbies tonight just my wonderful regulars eager as ever!

After strategically waiting a couple of minutes for the BIG grey cloud of hailstones to pass we all headed outside to our regular warm-up spot for a round-up of the weekly news.

Lots of news to log...

1. GoodGym Monthly Social - this Thursday, upstairs at The Court on Tottenham Court Road - join Pritesh & other GG'mers to celebrate GoodGym Camden's birthday, heroes of the months, March's IPOTM (International Pun of the Month) and lots of other fun. Sign up here.
2. GoodGym H&F Social - next Tuesday after the group run at The Hop Poles - food, drinks and games!

And a big well done to Eloise for her parkrun PB at the weekend!

As we had an outdoor task tonight at Wormholt Park we wanted to make the most of the light so had a very quick warm-up and swiftly headed up on our 2.5km run there. Pausing only briefly for our weekly wall sit it wasn't long before we arrived at the entrance to Wormholt Park and were met by Park Ranger, Vanessa.

Log on...

Vanessa warmly greeted the group and explained that our task tonight was to build some loggeries...in a nutshell, digging and putting large logs into the ground, which creates a valuable habitat for invertebrates, such as the endangered stag beetle!

There was no shortage of jobs tonight:

• Dig the holes for the logs
• Move all the logs from the park entrance to the freshly dug holes
• Saw two large tree trunks into smaller logs

Also needed was a quick run down to Vanessa's house to collect more logs and equipment!

A WILLbarrow, that's what we need!

In order to transport the logs quickly from the park entrance over to where the holes were being dug, the group made efficient use of the two wheelbarrows that Vanessa had kindly provided. The Will's used this as the perfect opportunity to create their WILLbarrow photo masterpiece before they got stuck into the lifting and carrying of the logs along with Sophie, Johnny and Jonathan.

A hole logistical nightmare

Rowena, Alice and Arba were tasked with the digging of the larger hole in the softer soil which was logged to perfection; and faced with somewhat harder soil, Helen wielded an axe and began axecellently attacking the soil with axequiste effect!

Logs for dogs...you can't teach an old log new tricks

Despite some questions from some passers-by as to why the group were cutting up some old logs that "had been in the parks for years" the small but mighty group of Catriona, Sapphire, Eloise, Rowena and late to the party, Jonathan, sawed through in both speed and trunk. One minor equipment malfunction setback aside, everyone persevered and the trunks were successfully sawed into smaller logs for the loggery. Even more exciting was the discovery of a black beetle who Sophie keenly adopted and named 'Felicity'.

With all the logs now cut and close to the holes, the loggeries quickly took shape, with the log placement very akin to jenga meets tetris, and it wasn't long before all the logs were placed into one of the holes. The end result, three wonderful new loggeries in the park for the invertebrates that inhibit the park.

Log, log me do....said The Beetle

With Sophie tenderly cradling Felicity the group gathered to watch her place her in her new loggery home. As it turned out, Felicity had obviously become rather attached to Sophie, or maybe her gardening glove as she didn't have the moving day excitement and was resistant to move willingly from her current hang out. However, with some gentle persuasion, Felicity was careful placed into the loggery as the official first resident...a success story hard to beet!

I'm stumped for any more log puns

With the light completely faded all that was left to do was to take a couple of group photos, and say our thankyous and goodbyes to the ever-smiley and enthusiastic, Vanessa - thank you for having us!

Logging off home...

With the group unanimously deciding that the upper-body workout was a fitness session in itself, and with the temperature rapidly dropping and fingers freezing we decided to forgo the fitness session tonight and headed straight back to base. Many of the group pushed the tempo on the way back and we quickly arrived back at base for our cool down and stretch before we called it a night. Amazing effort tonight all, hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for the copious amount of clean and not so-clean log and wood based puns tonight! Expecting to see lots of 'Popeye-esk' arms on show next week after all that upper-body log workout...

Next week we're heading back up to St Mungo's Reconnection Post to help tidy their unorganised flat and revamp their garden. Sign up for the run here.

Have a great rest of your week and good luck to Catriona and Jonny who are running the Manchester Marathon this weekend!