Wednesday 20th March 2019
Report written by Sarah Moore (She/her )
A small group of Goodgym Haringey runners met tonight for one of our longest runs to date: across the borough to Campsbourne Community Garden for a total of 8 km. Shout out to Lindy for her longest ever run! Head on over and give her a cheer.
Given the distance of the run, we did a brief but very warming warm up (jog in a circle, if Sarah calls "one" jump in the air, if "two" touch the ground, if "three" change direction) and we set off, at a brisk but conversational pace. Our route took us along the New River Path for a taste of dark trail - luckily most of us had head torches! We arrived right on time, according to task owner Clare.
The garden is in a former coal yard and consists of a load of square raised beds - raised high enough for wheelchair access if required. People form all over the world have plots in the garden and a variety of international plants are grown there. Clare set Lindy and Carolyn to work weeding half of one bed, while Niamh and Liam got sweeping accumulated debris. There was also compost to be spread and weeds growing between cracks to be sorted out. Niamh kept befriending worms while she weeded - a sign of healthy soil at the site! We spent half an hour at the task before saying goodbye to Clare and heading for home.
Upon learning this was Lindy's furthest ever run, chat turned to setting goals. Niamh needs to sign up for a triathlon (any recommendations?), Carolyn wants to get back to full fitness following a running injury and Sarah wants to qualify for London marathon. She recalled running her first marathon after getting a reminder email about a goal she set on the Goodgym site. You can set goals by clicking on your profile picture at the top right corner of the screen - go ahead and give it a go!
Liam and then Niamh peeled off on the way back when we ran past their homes. Carolyn, Sarah and Lindy combined a fitness session into the rest of the run back with a fartlek in the last kilometer. Using lampposts and corners as landmarks, we alternated speeding up and slowing down for a bit of speedplay (that's what "fartlek" means in Swedish, in case you thought we were being rude!).
We got back just in time for stretches and a round of Haringey High Fives.