On one of the hottest days of the year so far, GGNewham laced up their trainers and ran to Durning Hall for a spot of gardening. Welcoming new faces is always a great way to start the evening, tonight we had the pleasure of welcoming two; Anthony and Jade - Welcome!

Our task was to weed the flower beds at the front of the premises and plant six new little plants.

Nothing is impossible for GoodGymmers

Orange labels had been attached to the 'KEEP' plants, such as roses, but the rest was weeds and had to go. The soil proved to be very hard, rocky and arid. It was tough to dig, but nothing is impossible for GoodGymmers. We thought that if the earth were wet it might be easier to dig, so the staff provided us with a fantastic hosepipe. Perfect! We got it all connected and set up only to find that the outdoor tap refused to turn on. No water. A hosepipe without a water supply. (Kirsty breathes a sigh of relief as her fears of the pipe coming loose and water soaking all the books lined up below the tap are put to rest.)

We're a versatile lot

Still, Never to be beaten, we armed ourselves with big orange buckets instead. Filling them up with water (from the indoor tap) we carried them outside and tried to soak the ground. At least eight bucketfuls of water and I have to say, it made little difference. The soil soaked it up in an instant and remained just as difficult to dig. Undeterred, we dug, forked, hoe'd and raked that soil until we had weeded out all the weeds and created holes for the new little plants to go in. From hardcore digging to delicately removing little plants from flowerpots, we're a versatile lot. We planted and watered the new flowers and when time came for us to leave, there were no more weeds, no more litter, the roses unharmed, & the new plants planted. This tough little flowerbed should now be a colourful little strip for quite some time.

Celebratory rocky-jig

On the return run we did a few warm-up excersises before running splits all the way to Westfield's: 30 to 40 seconds casual pace, then up the pace for 10 seconds (or until the whistle blows) to at least 80% effort. There was, of course, also the 'Rocky stairs':- the stairs at Westfield's have become a staple ingredient of our return runs, and runners in red racing up the stairs are now a regular sight at Westfield's on Wednesdays. Some of us have even got the celebratory rocky-jig performed at the top down to a fine art (fist in the air, triumphant jump, add a little twirl if you fancy...)

Same time next week, guys!

Andreana