Last night 20 runners ran 6.5 km to Waterside Adventure Playground to make it safer for the children who play there

While Paul Bown rested his weary legs last night in the aftermath of an absolutely THUNDEROUS London Marathon (read his inspiring blog post about it here!) I popped over from Southwark to lead Islington out on a run. It was great to see familiar Islington faces and plenty of new ones. Big shout out to Morgan and Francesca who joined us for the first time last night. Kudos to you! And a big old hoorah for Kike who did her 200th good deed last night. Blimey o riley!

After an intro and a briefing we set off with Speed Steve Coman leading us on a scenic tour of Islington on our way to Waterside Adventure Playground. There we were greeted by an always enthusiastic Dawn who set everyone to work in groups. Most of the group were tasked with forking over the bark around the structure itself in order to make it softer for the children who land/throw themselves on it. Others were turning over the earth in flower beds and generally tidying the whole area up.

Much hard work was done and we finished in 30 minutes what would have taken Dawn on her own the best part of a day!

The playground is now safe, clean and looks fabulous. Great work team! Dawn particularly enjoyed Kike and Graham racing to finish their section of ground before we had to leave. We’re nothing if not committed!

Before leaving we (obviously) had to take advantage of being on a giant climbing frame to get an awesome group photo.

We thanked Dawn and off we went, pausing at Highbury Fields for a strong sprint all the way across. Stopping to catch our breath using belly breathing we then carried on back to base where Graham crept in stealth-like with a packet of hobnobs whilst we were stretching.

Thank you Dawn, we can't wait to come back :)

Next week Islington are off to help Age UK tidy up furniture. Sign up here.

Thanks for a great evening! Come see me in Southwark sometime!

Keep running happy, Lucy J