10 runners ran 8km to recycle christmas trees into wildlife habitats.

It was 2017 and GoodGym Newham assembled beneath the mighty Aquatic Centre of the Olympic Park.

Spirits were high but Brahma's ankle ligament injury meant he sadly couldn't be with us. Our task was to rescue thrown-out christmas trees and take them to Tower Hamlets (shhhh) Cemetary Park for turning into dead hedges which make great habitats for insects and small animals.

"gliding through the dark"

The way there involved a good bit of exciting canal action. We went through a (new?) gap in the fence North of the stadium and headed South on the canal - gliding through the dark lit by Rodrigo's head torch and expertly guided by Alex's guiding light at the back. We made our way over a floating section of path sending ripples into the darkness.

Bow Flyover is not good for pedestrians. We narrowly escaped the roar of the cars and head along Mile End Road until we were close to the park. We split into teams with roughly the same amount of combined height in each and started to keep eyes out for abandoned trees.

"find as many trees as possible "

Each team had 12.38 minutes to find as many trees as possible and bring them back to the gate. Tearing off in different directions Violeta and Sharon were the victors with an impressive haul of 5 trees including one that was veritably in Norwegian in scale.

All in all about 22 trees were collected.

"the floating path "

At 8pm it was time to head back. We traversed the Bow Flyover with caution and headed through the towpath tunnel beneath it. On the floating path we practiced landing softly and making no noise. (Aside from some clattering metal) we noiselessly glided through the city back to the Olympic Park.

Ethiopian Drills

Once back under the lamplight we did three drills aimed at strengthening our running muscles. They involved rapid movement and trying to keep everyone in time. This sort of thing.

Harder work than it looks.

After a bit of nervousness and worrying about timing, we got going and rapidly got the hang. Everyone even opted to do a third set. At the end, Justin said "You actually looked really good. I'm not joking."

We stretched and shared stories of running plans we have for 2017: Justin mentioned Hackney Marshes parkrun on the 14th - come along! And Sharon mentioned she's doing the Winter 10k in Feb - good luck Sharon!