Last night marked my very first GoodGym Group Run (with 20 other runners) and I was really excited (and a bit nervous) to meet everyone and see what this GoodGym thing was all about!

Our mission? Moving compost for Secret Seed Society, who believe in helping children understand where food comes from and the magic of growing and then cooking your own vegetables from seeds.

21 of us ran to the car park behind the Print House in Dalston and worked in pairs lifting and scooping and compost from a massive heap with spades and packing it into refuse bags. Then we ran, walked, shuffled and wheelbarrow-ed the bags across Dalston Lane and plonked it into another big pile for the team at Secret Seed Society to use.

Once the compost was in another big pile, we ran back to London Fields where Ade helped us work on our arm technique (so we don’t run like T-Rex) before gently jogging back to the station.

First highlight of the evening was the poor guy from Secret Seed Society’s alarmed expression when Ade told him he had to run with us.

The second had to be seeing one of the GoodGym members galloping the wrong way up the road with an enormous compost bag on each shoulder.

As it was my first session, I didn’t know the guy’s name so just kept screaming “Stop GoodGym guy! That’s the wrong way GoodGym guy, COME BACK”, much to a few Dalston hipsters surprise and delight.

All in all, it was a brilliant experience and I cycled home feeling super chuffed and proud of becoming part of something really, really good.

Special thanks to Ade and everyone who was there last night for being so warm and welcoming. Here’s to the next one!

Gabi Mostert