Three GoodGym runners helped committee members and volunteers from CREOS to clear the area of litter, redefine the edges of the walkways and top up the woodchip paths. There was also a picnic!

Prima, Hazel and I were all multi-missioning this weekend. Prima had volunteered at the Night of the 10,000m PBs and Hazel and I were both back-to-back on this fine sunny Sunday

Divide and conker tree

Jacky was in charge today as Glenys was away.

We had a full team, sunshine, tools and plenty of jobs; so we knew we were going to achieve lots today.

Prima was already on team woodchip on my arrival and Hazel was given a grabber and bag to start a long solo litter pick.

I bumped into Prima a few times and caught up as we'd not seen each other at a group run for a while, especially as she'd "defected" (her words not mine!) from Islington to Barnet!

Anyway, I was tasked with redefining the logs at the edges of the walkways which is usually an annual task but it was overlooked last year. This meant the logs had lost their definition and were losing the fights against rot and weeds.

100 club

I was lucky enough to be partnered with local handyman Bob who recognised​ me from Finsbury Park parkrun and it turned out he is a member of the 100 marathon club and the vast majority of those were sub 3h! What a superstar!

I enjoyed learning about his experiences of running and how races have become more formal over time, how technology has changed, and that 10ks and half marathons were side shows for 10 mile and marathon races.

He also enjoyed my stories and hearing about my accidental foray into running after a shoulder injury and he was very interested in how 10k and marathon times had progressed.

We chatted a lot which passed the time but also got loads done. We switched rotten logs for new ones and cleared pesky weeds from the sides.

Lunch and a conker tree anyone?

We all reunited over a picnic where we offered delicious food to eat (including a homemade quiche and three types of cheese!) and a conker tree to take home. That was the reference above!

Sunny AfterJune

CREOS is meeting and eating again in June. Sign up for hard graft and a big feed!