Run Report brought to you by Claire Thomson AKA Clairey-bell

No need for introductions on this first Brent Monday in July, all six runners were GG regulars, sporting bare legs and summer attire, raring to go.

Once we got caught up about our activities since we last saw each other - which included Glasto, a big family wedding and a stag weekend in Dan´s case, and a Pug Society Convention in Ellie´s case - you can´t say we don´t have varied interests in Brent!!!

Then we were off for this week´s task of sprucing up the surroundings of the Harlesden Methodist Church.

We set off, following our noses - because that usually seems to work! But not this time... Someone had rearranged the streets of Harlesden since our previous visit, no electronic device was up to the task of directing us to where we needed to be so we did some stretches on the pavement whilst we scanned the horizon for clues to tell us where the church might be...

There was nothing else for it, before panic descended, Ellie asked a passer by, who told us that the church was in completely the opposite direction that we had been running!! Whoops - and also on the opposite side of the road to what we expected?!?!? We plan to petition to the council to get them to put Harlesden back to the way it was!! And also - Tip number one - never trust google-maps when your phone gets too hot in the heat!!

Eventually the last leg of the journey was in sight and sighing with relief after successfully locating the church, Marcia greeted us. Unfortunately what we were met with was some bad news............... - There was no thingy to connect the hose to the jet washer, uurgh! No water fights tonight, BOOOOOO.

Undefeated, we set to work cleaning the front of the church with paper towels and soundtrack of Michael Jackson, leaving a community of spiders homeless and ourselves covered in a layer of cobwebs. Coralie and Isabelle bagged an impressive bag and a half of litter with the help of a grabbing stick, and Sadhana got busy sweeping up the paving.

30 minutes shot by, and no sooner had we finished the task than we were feeling the burn in our calves as Ellie taught us how to strengthen them with the help of the steps outside the church. Calf raises to failure were just the ticket, now with legs this sexy looking, they should be il-leg-al

Almost back to base, we stopped to do some quick drills and work on our running technique to slash seconds off our personal bests - great for Catherine and Sadana who are signed up for races in the near future. A quick sprint up the infamous (out of p)Uffington Road giving it 80% and we were back to base and doing some final stretches before heading off home, till next week...

Bw, Claire xxx