'Three is the Magic Number' was being hummed as we put our heads down and battled Storm Katie on our way to the Calabash Centre in SE13, to weed, prune and manicure the front garden area, whilst getting in a good 5k of running

After a day of fallen trees, tipped-up wheelie bins and sideways rain, the sky looked promising on the way to Glass Mill, golden sunlight beamed through and Lewisham saw the finest and sharpest double rainbow in a long time. With it being Easter Monday, the leisure centre was closing early, so warming up and name-checking happened in a huddle by the bike racks, with lots of talk of chilling out, film-viewing and chocolate eating. By now, the wind had dropped considerably and we ran easily towards Lewisham Hospital, on quiet streets, noticing the fantastic new temporary homes on the site of the old Ladywell Baths. These will soon welcome homeless families in the area and give life to a patch of ground that has been derelict for the past few years.

On arrival at the Calabash Centre - a day centre for older and disabled people - we got stuck straight in, donning our gardening gloves (Roni came prepared, running in her own gigantic gloves, too cool) and setting to with the weeding and tidying. At this point, we wished we had a tiny, pointy implement to get between the cracks in the paving and, no, a discarded cable-tie will not do the trick! We showed our extensive gardening knowledge, doing the 'Is this a weed?' question every so often and steering clear of anything that looked slightly fancy. We talked cats, work, running and travel and time flew by as the light grew dim - it had been an utter joy to start our run and task in bright daylight, the first of months of lighter and hopefully warmer Monday night group runs. Before we gathered up all the weeds, we borrowed a giant brush from the centre to tidy the path and leave everything spick and span for the week's activities.

After all that crouching and bending, it was time to straighten up again and get high in those hips for some good, hard running drills and strength training in Ladywell Fields. We took a longer route around the playground, injected some speed with a quick bit of fartlek and paused at the small wooden playground near the (closed) cafe. Time to really get warm, with some step-ups on the bench, some good, strong press-ups, tricep dips, squats, lunges and side lunges. All excellent stuff to build strength, stability and to power you up those hills next time we swing by Hilly Fields! The runners now jogged a lap of a nearby circuit, while Adele set up a little Easter Treat Shuttle Run Game.

Will run for chocolate

Four bowls, two full, two empty, spaced out on the grass. The aim of the game: to see who could collect the most chocolate eggs and deposit them in their empty bowl in three minutes. Oh, the competitive spirit! Oh, the concentration! Oh, the determination! Oh, the groaning! They worked hard, they breathed heavily, they got hot and tired and they got a bag of chocolate eggs to take home. Well-earned, with Alex just taking the lead by one egg. Once our breathing had steadied, we took the mile or so back to Glass Mill to give our glutes, triceps and other bits a good, deep stretch. High fives were most definitely exchanged, with a chorus of 'See you next week!'s before heading into the night.

See you next week, for some more gardening/running/squatting action.