😁 20 excellent souls met on a (ever-so-slightly chillier than it has been) Monday evening for our group run.

👋 We were thrilled to welcome Ailsa for her first York group run, having moved up from London (and had twins in the meantime!)

🥳 Our party pace group partied off while we named, numbered and warmed up in honour of national “eat your beans day”, impersonating our favourite beans. Of course the runner bean featured, along with the hasbean, kidney bean and cocoa bean.

👟 We had more trainers to send to the Jog On charity collection so I did that quickly while our runners and cyclists made their way to Fulford Ings. There, they were met by Jonathan from St Nick’s who provided balsam-based instructions.

🌱 Everyone swiftly set to work, pulling up the balsam and snapping it in half to prevent it from regrowing. Jonathan said this is the first time they’ve tackled that area and they know bashing works (it just might take 3-5 years to rid that spot of pesky balsam). He was very grateful for our help and said their volunteers would be in soon to finish off.

🌅 By this point of the day, the light was lovely (though getting in the way of photos somewhat) so we all had some picturesque fun. And before we knew it, it was time to stop and regroup for a photo. Our two running groups headed off and stopped by Millennium Bridge for some bean-based fitness. We had three glorious winners of our number-grouping game (much to the disgruntlement of certain competitive folk) and set off along a scenic river route back to base.

😎 There, it was time to cool down and stretch, before heading pub-wards or home-wards.

👏 Thanks everyone, great to see you and to get much balsam bashed.