8 do-gooders hit the streets for a 4.2k run along with taking on a push pull arm day task for KORI community centre and charity.

Lovely to have you join us and look forward to supporting you in the future

After a hectic but very productive day at the GG Haringey HQ and a few last minute tweaks to the planned task everything was set and ready to go. We congregated at the Tottenham Green Leisure Centre’s reception area, catching up with each other’s happenings over the course of the week; while sharing nuts, bananas and water. We patiently awaited Chris who I mentioned wouldn’t let us down as he always lets me know in advance if he can’t make it. He arrived in time and we were about to set off as we had a surprise guest in the form of Aidan – been a while dude. Glad you found us ok this week. Grin. We also welcomed a swell newcomer who goes by the name of Charmaine. Lovely to have you join us and look forward to supporting you in the future. Out to those from the core crew who didn’t make it last night - we miss you guys!

close to my heart

So after a quick warm up off we set in search of this weeks light. I was very excited to be heading to a task that was right up my street in more ways than one or you could say close to my heart - home is where the heart is and all that. KORI do fantastic work in the Haringey area. They are based in a small community, youth and community centre near Turnpike Lane but they do some pretty big things and promote positive change in many people’s lives - on many levels. Please do click on here to find out more.

paint the railings GG red to leave our mark plus the task owner is called Poppy

Running to the task was pleasant as the rain had pretty much stopped, giving us a perfect window of opportunity to get the Job done. The temperature was just right for running too. Happy days! The task itself involved scrapping old paint off of the railing around the children’s playground, which backs of of the centre. These are looking pretty tired and in need of some GG TLC. The task is a mammoth one and we hope to be able to paint the railings GG red; leaving our mark plus the task owner is called Poppy. This would really brighten up the area too. Shouts out to Aidan for suggesting this – good shout! We shall see.

we got scrapping vigorously while OBLA set in

On arrival we gathered the tools, extension leads along with drills which I had spent the day / early evening sourcing. The drills proved to be a little loud to use at that time in such close proximity to resident’s properties so we opted to just go down the manual route with chisels. Using our biceps, triceps, deltoids and latissimus dorsi we got scraping vigorously while OBLA set in (onset of blood lactate accumulation) or more simply; that burn you feel in your muscles during an intense work out. Funnily enough the lactic acid cycle is also called the cori cycle. Ok physiology lesson over. We were making good progress with the task in the time that we had. While myself and Ollie worked away closer to the centre the rest of the team worked away at the far end of the playground. Jokes seemed to be a plenty as Paul and the others tackled the railings. Boy did they tackle them well. Myself and Ollie had our heads down working super hard too. We worked so hard we actually went over a little on time and had to pack up sharpish to get back to base then off home before din dins had gone cold. While me and Ollie dropped off the tools etc the rest of the team got to have a little playtime. I must add it was so nice to see Phoebe transported back to childhood. As I looked back at the team heading into the park Phoebe hurriedly yet ever so merrily skipped ahead of the group.

We’ll be heading back there this Saturday

With a brisk run back to HQ we arrived in one piece to stretch then say our goodbyes but not before a lovely Jewish man came up and asked if he could join us in our little stretch routine. He was clearly a regular stretcher, as he seemed very supple. With our stretches done and our goodbyes said Charmaine and myself headed toward our homes discussing our adventures in the Caribbean along the way. I also discovered Charmaine is Canadian and not American. Please excuse my misinformed dialectual assumption. This morning I was up bright and early to go clean up any paint chippings that were left last night. I got to met more of the great people who work at Kori too. We’ll be heading back there this Saturday to put in a little more work as it’ll take a good few visits to complete the job. Sign up here if you fancy joining us.

Until next week folks - be good, stay fit and look out fir the light.

Next weeks task