8 do gooders took to the streets ran 7.8k and got stuck into the evenings task.

Dawn was the first to turn up once again this week. A pattern is starting to emerge. Thanks for the help sorting the new gloves I got for everyone - call it an early Xmas pressie. Soon after Ollie, Jenny and Chris arrived too. Shouts out to Chris on submitting your paper. Fingers crossed it’s received well. After a quick catch up and some reassuring that the distance of the run was manageable, we all headed outside for a quick briefing, followed by warm up. Janus arrived just in time for this; we then spotted Beth who had just come out of a yoga class. She had prior arrangements so was unable to join us this week but she did however tell us of her PB last Sunday at the Regents Park 10k. Well done Beth you smashed it.

We set off at a steady pace in search of this week’s light - the Wolves Lane Horticultural Centre - where we would be clearing an area of weeds and bramble that were obstructing a view from the centres cafe. We have visited the centre several times in the past few months making good progress. This was going to be our last visit of the year. On arrival at the centre the gates were open so I headed in first to find Lorenzo who was our contact on sight. He was nowhere to be found and as I wandered further into the centre calling for him I could hear some strange noises coming from the dark poly tunnels, I can’t lie I did get a little bit scared. My mind was thinking of all kinds of scary stuff. This was my face(turn sound off). I found Lorenzo shortly after my mind and eyes had calmed down.

The rest of the group had now made their way inside the building and a lovely tabby, the centre had rescued, greeted them at reception. Lorenzo then led us through the centres poly tunnels and along dirt tracks to a small opening which leads to the narrow area we had been working on. We grabbed the tools needed and gloved up. We wasted no time in tugging, cutting and raking our way through the bramble and weeds, stuffing all waste into big white bags to be composted. We were all happily chatting away while working - as they say time flies when you’re having fun. With only 5 minutes left of the task everyone gave it that extra push before we cleared up, grabbed the tools and bags then navigated our way through the centre without getting lost or too frightened.

We met Lorenzo at the front of the building, he seemed very pleased while thanking us for the work we had done or maybe he was just really entertained by Chris and his antics with a broomstick. We then said our goodbyes and hit the street again but not before a round of high fives. On the way back we split off in two groups to ensure everyone could stick to a comfortable pace for the 3.4k run back to HQ. We all got back in one piece and congratulated each other as we started our warm down stretches. Shouts out to Sarah for the Pilates fun. I’d also like to say well done to Dawn and Janus who ran well and seemed to have made huge improvement in a very short space of time. Keep it up guys. Oh and Dave did you find some blackberries and scoff them done without us or something? Thanks for the pun ;-)

Until next week folks – stay good, keep fit and look out for the light.

This Saturday’s mission

Next weeks task (last task and run of the year)