30 wonderful folk in need of a bit of evening light rocked up to Highbury Pool last night, including a whopping six first timers. Go and cheer Jess, Amy, Sam, Tom, William and Alice. Jade and David were back for a second time and great to see some old (as in not been for a while, not aged) faces as well.

Kike and Aidan, fresh from their Leadership in Running Fitness course at the weekend joined Patrick, Steve, Graham and Simon in leading three pace groups on our second trip to Sunnyside Community Garden. A community garden in Archway who specialise in therapeutic horticulture for people with physical and mental disabilities.

As was the case last time, there was plenty for us to do. A large group got involved at the end of the gardens shifting and stacking some very large logs, while bopping their GG heads rhythmically to Patrick's cheerful choonz. Round the corner we had 10 or so sets of secateurs and various other cutting implements chopping and lopping back tangly overgrowth with a couple of folk wheeling the waste away. And another group set about digging up stumps and roots (buried about 20 metres deep it seemed).

Biscuit of the evening was "Nice". Is it pronounced "nice" or "Nice"? Maybe that should have been this evening's debate. They were nice anyway and made us think of Nice and there were a few nice puns. They were also only 40p for the pack.

The time passed quickly, as it always does when you're having fun, but the progress we made was remarkable and Yvonne was delighted. A massive thanks to her and Alan for looking after us.

For the journey home we split into four, yes FOUR, different groups. Philosophers, medium, fast and super hard. The super hard group certainly lived up to their name. There were sprints, lunges, skipping, stair running, obstacle running and hill running. And a lot of panting.

Surprisingly all four groups got back to the pool at about the same time. While stretching we discussed April Fools' Day. On Friday Simon had cruelly told the group that Haile Gebrselassie would be joining us and invented a poetry competition to win the chance to run with him and get free kit. We had a few responses, and good sport Patrick let his submission be read out. It was very good and we may well send it to Haile. We then voted on the big debate: Are April Fools' Day tricks mean? A few hands were raised. Patrick said "it depends", but most people thought it was just a good laugh. Watch out for next year's.

Next week we're heading over to West London Mission. A much shorter run, but fear not if you're up for training hard because we are planning on having another FOUR options post-run on the fields so there'll be something for everybody. There'll also be a longer run option to get there. Sign up here and see you there.

A joy as always,

Simon

P.S. Don't forget drinks this Thursday