Acorns to oak trees...

17 runners gathered tonight to head to the Parkview Estate where task owner Catherine was waiting, much appreciatively, for this evening’s visit.

Beautifully prepped, and ready to dispatch 4 teams to four corners of the estate, Catherine gathered everyone in the airy, bright Glasshouse hall to thank them, and explain how much of a difference they make to the Estate, and to the bigger picture plans at foot: to help lay the roots (forgive the pun) for a greener, more sustainable, picturesque, bee-and-wildlife friendly environment for current and future residents.

One team headed by Chris made their way out to the front lawn to start digging a big meadow hole, while Joel, Katherine and Si started on another.

Meanwhile, inside, Team Acorn set up shop on the Glasshouse floor, potting dozens of acorns for future oak trees, while Bryon and Rohan busily trotted in and out of the compost garden refilling buckets for the Acorn Operation.

The runners, as usual, worked tirelessly until gone 8 when the clean-up effort commenced. Shovels, forks and gloves were returned, and the runners gathered patiently outside while Becky D brilliantly performed a speedy mop of the Glasshouse floor.

3 speed sessions in under 30 minutes

Then we said our goodbyes and headed over to Victoria Park where the beautifully-lit, misty, atmospheric Bonner Gate was waiting for us ready for tonight’s fitness session.

The runners spent 20 minutes on a variety of tough speed drills: we started with timed 20-second sprints; moved to several tempo-pace laps and finished with the greyhound-and-hare game! What a mean session! Three speed sessions in one But everyone did brilliantly: kept the pace and their cool.

We then made our way back to Peel Grove railings, a superior stretching spot, where David took us through The Sophisticated Quad Stretch, and Emma informed us of the Official A&P term for the adductor stretch. More of that another time.

And then we made our way back to the hotel room, for a last satsuma and Kit Kat, saying our goodbyes for the week.

And so for our shout-outs...

• Thank you to Kat, Jo and Isabelle for beautiful backmarking.
• Thanks to Chris for our cracking pun, and heading up the Big Dig Squad in advance.
• Thanks to Steve for being a willing and speedy hare.
• Thanks to Bryon for helping plan our running session.

NEXT UP...

• Now next week, we’re running a slightly longer route to Stitches in Time where Paul and the team have got a variety of Autumn clearing tasks for us! You can meet us there, or halfway if you’d like to join the task with less running too. Either way, details and sign up are here.

• And closer than that is THIS SATURDAY’S FITNESS DOUBLE BILL! Myself and Emma Hopkinson, our yoga teacher, are hosting an Improve Your parkrun Timefitness session + Yoga for Runners class, from 2-4pm. There’s a meeting place where you can leave bags, and our yoga will be inside.

You can come for all or part of the session, and all the details can be found here.

Until then, have a brilliant week everyone.