It was one of biggest tasks yet in Wandsworth last night, plus a nice hefty run thrown in for good measure. Nice one, team!

It didn't put you off though, and a huge 38 runners were up for the challenge, including a whole gang of lovely new faces. GoodGym, please give a massive welcome to (deep breath) Nicolette, Gabriella, Alicia, Frankie, Jamie, Laura, Jack and C Bayley! Great to have you along for the run.

There was also a round of applause for all the runners who helped out at the Peckham parkrun takeover at the weekend, and to those of you who went to race in the New Forest. What a busy weekend of running.

Before we started our run, there were highs - happy birthday to our lovely Alyx, hurrah! - and lows - goodbye to Chris who is leaving us for Bristol. Good Luck!

We raced through our warm up last night, finishing off with a rousing rendition of happy birthday while we did jumping jacks, and a quick poll to find out everybody's favourite tree - with 'Christmas tree' topping the list!

We had a 5k run ahead of us, so set off at a steady pace in the direction of Southfields and our task for the evening. With a few squat stops, and a quick break to pose for some photos from a pub window (!), we arrived to find a group of volunteers from Green the Grid, an organisation which aims to plant 200 tree bases in Wandsworth in a bid to encourage wildlife, improve air quality, prevent flooding and improve wellbeing among residents.

Branching off

As well as laying on a selection of healthy snacks and refreshments, the volunteers were also super organised, and we immediately split into four groups complete with tools, buckets and a leader. Our job was to dig over 100 tree bases and remove rubble, which proved to be a pretty great upper body workout. Half an hour of hard work later, we met up again at our starting point, had a quick debate on the best kind of biscuit (inconclusive) and set off back to the BAC. Well done team, that is the osrt of job we can make a huge dent in within a short window of time, but it would have taken a small group of volunteers days to do

Now the route down there was pretty much downhill, so we knew what was ahead of us. Gritting our teeth we attacked the deceptively long hill, and made good time on the way back, finishing off the night with some stretches. We were suitable refreshed after the run with some freebies from Chi who brought us back a whole bag of coconut water courtesy of Pure Lime at Carnival! Thanks Chi, that was the perfect thirst quencher.

Next week we've got two massive tasks to do - half of us will be going on a short run to a cancer support centre in Battersea, while the other half will be going to help with preparation for a community festival in Tooting. It's going to be a busy one, sign up here!