15 hardy Hackney GoodGymers braved the myriad of weather conditions run 6k to cut in, cut out 8 flower beds in The brand new HUG garden on Hackney Downs.

Following a sprinkling of snow in the day and bright sunshine in the afternoon we knew we would be in for a beautiful yet Baltic evening in Hackney. Meeting at the Bakehouse we got to grips with the new DBS checking then got to it getting mobile in the joints and warm in our muscle fibres. Skipping, squatting, lunging and swinging we burst into life before being expertly lead the 2.5k to the HUG garden on Hackney Downs by Cecilia. We were met by Myra the heart and soul of the garden and driving force behind the project to create a great a community garden and many more projects that will have an uplifting impact on the lives of local people.

We split into pairs with the digger cutting in and digging out the turf or as Myra calls in Landscape Art and the runner carrying the turf at great pace to do Landscape design in the under 5's area of the garden to create an amazing environment for the little ones to explore. With Tom cutting in harder and fast than anyone could imagine there were times when we all stopped and watched Tom in full digging flight in utter amazement!! With supper digging sprint finish we managed to create 8 beautifully shaped flower beds and turf adventure landscape in 40 minutes. The beds will form the base of the garden with vegetables growing as well as beautiful plants in the coming weeks.

A quick rewarm of our running muscles saw us ready to return to base, a swift detour to take back the tools before we split into out regular Speedy and Sexy groups for the 3.5k run back to base. Some really strong running from both groups saw us home in perfect time for a static stretch out and a congratulatory round of applause for a top evenings work!!

Great to see a few signs up for the Hackney Half in 12 days time!! Getting excitingly close now! If you have any questions about race day or the lead up to it give me a shout on email or talk to me next week.

Next week we are off to the Open Barbers to get painting!! Please sign up here for some amazing running fun. We will be doing a little sharpening running session in preparation for race day to.

Good luck to those in the last weeks of training, trust it don't chase it!!

Smooth Running

Joel