15 runners ran to Interact Charity to complete some garden tasks

Our group met in our usual Wednesday night spot, welcoming new runner Paul, as well as Richard and Katie who hadn't been for a while. We congratulated James and myself who completed the Baddow 10 Mile race at the weekend, as well as those who couldn't make it tonight. We also congratulated Leanne on running Colchester 10k at the weekend.

After a brief warm up, we ran through the city centre and along the river to Interact, with James leading and Rachel back marking.

We got to Interact where we went through the list of jobs and split up to get them done. One group set to work straight away with the weeding, while a few went to start on sanding the shed. The rest of the group tidied up the compost area and dismantled the second compost bin as much as possible. After completing that job quickly, everyone split themselves between the sanding and weeding. So many weeds were removed that the compost bin was overflowing, and there was only one thing for it - Leanne bravely took a leg up to push the pile down. Unfortunately, this wasn't quite enough to get much more compost in.

After having become accustomed to a biscuit and squash break post-task at Interact, we were at a loss for what to do. We decided to jog to Central Park and have a quick relay in groups of three. There must have been a miscount at the start of the run, as there were only 15 runners instead of the 16 we believed there to be. I reluctantly took part, and took the longest relay. With the lighter weather here for summer, there's going to be lots more fitness fun on a Wednesday now! Everyone gave it their all, and after one round we headed back to ARU with Richard and Katie leading the way.

Thanks for coming along everyone, see you soon!

Laurie

15 runners met at Anglia Ruskin University on a nice summers evening. After a bit of a Goodgym hiatus on my part it was good to meet a few new faces to myself with Beci, Kate K, Adam *and Vicky. This weeks task found us heading back to the *Interact charity house at Moulsham Mill, helping to do good in the ASPIRE *garden again. We set off from the Uni led by *Rich and tail runner Laurie with some warm up exercises along the pedestrian pathway, walking lunges, with ankle raises then some hip mobility leg swings to get ready for the run to Interact. We had to stop at traffic lights near the police station so a great opportunity to use the time wisely with some squats. On we went down the high street and eventually a left turn to follow the river and a photo opportunity on a bridge beckoned. Arriving at Interact, David met us there. Task owner Susie also was there to meet us and explaining what tonights task was to be. First task was to move some wooden flower beds off some hard standing concrete. 10 runners lifted both beds with ease. The first task was to paint the concrete with outdoor paint so that it can be prepared for a BBQ area, James G, Laurie, Joel, Beci, Vicky set to work with rollers and trays and did a great job. Catherine, Vic and Vicky decided that watering the garden was a great choice of job on this lovely evening. Meanwhile David had a sweep around the new patio area. Adam, Rich, Richard, James C moved paving slabs, bricks, fence posts to different areas of the garden and assisted by James G after he finished his painting. Soon it was time to clean up and grab a biscuit or two kindly provided by Susie and a final group photo. Rich had to head off for a paddle somewhere so David led the group out towards the town centre and once we arrived in the pedestrian area on the high street we set out two groups to do a caterpillar run all the way to the end of the high street. After a little breather, Vic headed home and the rest of us back to the Uni. Again the lights stopped us at the police station so some impromptu Start jumps were in order but luckily only a few as the lights changed! We stretched down and spoke a bout the Goodgym group volunteering at parkrun this Saturday and the Baddow 10mile on Sunday, bets wishes to Beci on the first of the 10k trail races at Hylands on Sunday.