8 runners ran 8k to move compost for estate allotment

It was a dark and stormy night. Ok, it wasn’t exactly stormy, but it was raining and it was definitely dark, but as always this didn’t put Goodgym-ers off. Eight runners turned up in London Fields to tackle the 8k run (in total) and compost shifting task. We were particularly impressed by the two new runners who joined us despite the unpleasant conditions.

We set off towards Stoke Newington at a decent pace, taking a less direct route along the canal path to make sure we got a good run in. Sadly, as we got to Stoke Newington it became clear that despite our run maps we were well and truly lost. Cue frantic smartphone map searching and a rather twisty route through Stokey’s residential back roads to get us back on track.

We arrived at the estate to find six tonne bags of compost that needed shifting via bucket, wheelbarrow and cargo bike to the centre square of the estate where the residents are building a vegetable garden. We got stuck in for 20 minutes hard shoveling and wheelbarrow racing to get as much of the compost moved as we could. Sadly, our usual eagerness to get started meant that most of us didn’t notice there were gloves to wear until after we’d covered ourselves in a thick layer of compost.

We managed to fill about 4 vegetable beds ready for the gardeners to start working on before downing tools and heading back to London Fields, via a rather more direct route than we came by. 

We were not a pretty sight running back through the rain all caked in mud, but we got our heads down and all set a good pace on the way home. It was great to hear that for some of our new recruits it was the furthest they’d ever run, hopefully they aren’t put off by this morning’s inevitable aches and pains and will be joining us again next week!

Lauren Garland