As the dark, autumn evenings draw in, 14 runners gathered for another week of GoodGym fun and frolics. Tav, had kindly agreed to lead the group whilst Angela was covering in Chelmsford and he took his leading responsibilities very seriously – even if he did forget to do the head count!

After a slightly unusual warm up that saw the team dancing the Charleston…ok just Michelle, and us all punching the dark night sky whilst drawing some intrigued looks from passers by the team set of to the community allotment to help Colchester in bloom. We welcomed new member (2nd time runner) Katherine Rose, synchronised our watches and head torches before Tav led the way and Ian kept pace at the back. Keen to keep us all moving (and ignoring our pleas for a rest) Tav got the group running up and down the stairs whilst we waited for the others to catch us up.

Once at the allotment the team regrouped whilst Pam explained the task – the towns flower boxes had been collected in and needed to be emptied, saving the red geraniums and adding the rest to the compost heap. Ian, Tommy and Bob heaped soil into the wheelbarrow, whilst David and Lisa sorted and stacked the empty pots. Michelle and Crissie, continued to shine light on us all, whilst Suzzie led a team of re-potters.

We shared news after our green-fingered exploits including Tommy Bond's Half Marathon (1hour 54), Colchester Half Marathon's inclusion in the BIG 6 - join the Race Team here - Fay Sibley's coat exchange for homeless people and Pam from Colchester In Blooms amazing achievement to become a nationally recognised Community Champion. #proud

Happy and muddy the team waved goodbye to Pam and headed back for a fitness and inTAVal session – which had us bunny hopping over the station bridge, lunging back down again and sprinting around our usual 400m circuit and polished off with partner abs work. Well I guess we had to work off all those Halloween treats!

PS Chrissie Smith found a snake and Bob got peckish and ate a root vegetable he found. #standard