Well, what a launch.

The red t-shirts started appearing at about 18.15 and kept coming and coming and coming, until there were 38 of us standing in a circle just outside Highbury Pool who kindly let us use their facilities to change and leave stuff in their lockers.

A few familiar faces in the crowd from other GoodGym areas and plenty of keen and friendly first-timers. Lovely to see an appearance from the beaming Marco - our very first Islington member!

But, the most important stat of the night: there were three Beths and three Lauras (including one who didn't write a book about ginger babies)

We introduced ourselves and then tried to combine swinging our arms about with not hitting anybody in the face. This was followed by a bit of kung fu/karate/leg swings, or whatever you want to call it.

Then, with loose limbs we headed off on the "3k" run to Grenville Gardens, where people had a bit of a chat to each other about whether they preferred cats or dogs. Among other things we learned that dogs are better than cats, but actually cats are better than dogs. Aah, but dogs are more playful than cats. OK, but that's only because they don't consider things like cats do who are obviously more intelligent. But wait! Cats make some people sneeze, and that can't be right. Hmm, at least they don't chase runners like dogs do. Next week: Tortoises or Turtles?

The residents of Islington seemed quite amused at 38 runners in GoodGym t-shirts and reflective gear working their way through the streets. The cars that stopped at the zebra crossing for us on Hornsey Road also seemed initially amused, but started regretting their decision to stop after the 25th runner passed...

We finally arrived at Grenville Gardens where we met the delightful Sarah from FROGG (Friends of Grenville Gardens)who was kind enough to lend us some tools and a few gardening gloves and brief us on the task. We also had another learning experience here: if you buy a packet of latex gloves that says "40" on the box, that means 40 gloves, not 40 pairs.

BUT, nothing can stop a bunch of GoodGymmers keen to clear an area of weeds, so we set about pulling, cutting and ripping up lots of ivy (and the odd beer can) and cramming it into as many bags as were available (another learning experience: ivy does not condense well). After 20 minutes we had made quite the impact. We even discovered a tree hidden behind the mess that looked quite happy at having the chance to finally breathe.

Steve swept up for us in record time, we said goodbye to Sarah, Simon forgot to give out the biscuits he had hidden in the boot of his car (sorry - next week) and we split into two groups: one led by Ax for a nice steady run and one led by Simon for some drills and sprinty stuff. Here we learnt that some Islington residents find the high knees running drill very amusing!

Finally, back on the crescent, we had a nice stretch and discussed how we could make running tights more interesting (turn up next week for a surprise)

Couldn't have asked for a better bunch. Sorry about the biscuits (not that sorry though, nom nom nom)