10 runners ran just over 4K to cover a cover undertake some serious multi-tasking at Stepney City Farm

It was with great joy that we headed back to Stepney City Farm for our first visit of 2018.

Claire and Bryde, our task owners for the night, were delighted to see us (always nice to get such a warm welcome on a drizzly Monday night) and set about explaining our first two tasks.

Runners were divided into two groups: the larger group sanding down the classroom walls in preparation for the painting task next week; the second group were tasked with carrying large and heavy plant pots from a water-logged rear garden to the front garden ready to be put on display for the plant shop. Kudos to the pot-bearers for managing to keep their footing on the slowly-sinking planks.

Thanks to Sigrid for passing on her sanding know-how and to the whole indoor team for prepping the entire classroom area in record time.

Upon early completion of both tasks, the team then set about cleaning both inside and outside café windows (big reveal of the night: Stepney City Farm’s amazingly well-stocked and superbly organised Cleaning Product Cupboard. So good, I took a pic for you to see for yourself). And a massive well done to Dave for cleaning the highest of the café windows – Claire suspects this is the first time those windows have been cleaned IN THE FARM’S HISTORY.

We took a speedy run back, taking the opportunity to tackle ghostly-in-a-good-way Globe Road at our ‘comfortably hard’ tempo pace and then taking our final ½ K as a semi-sprint finish. Bit puzzled as to why we all developed racing feet after such a busy task - my theory is that we were so motivated to get home for dinner after inhaling all the heavenly fast food smells as we sped down White Horse Road.

Upon arrival back at base, we used the trusty Town Hall steps for our favourite calf stretch and then headed inside where we took advantage of having the entire hotel to ourselves (long story which could have gone one way or the other) to squeeze in some single leg squats and side planks in the luscious lobby.

Everyone seemed to have a great time and yet again I’m in awe of how much was done. Well done, team, you totally rock.

Lastly, welcome to Shauna, who helped in getting so much done on her first run, and I can’t wait to do it all again next week.

Last night 21 runners ran 3km to Cranbrook Community Centre to shift dirt, lay compost and clear fallen leaves and rubbish.

A big cheer for our 5 new runners last night - Rosie, Matt, Tim and Beth. We have done exceedingly well in the January challenge, particularly with regard to distance - as of this morning we've run 3591kms - solidly overshooting our target of 3100kms by quite a way. Good deeds wise we completed 142 out of our target 174. Never fear, next year we'll smash it!

After a 1.2km run down we were met by Janet at Cranbrook Community Centre who explained our tasks for the evening. We split into two groups - shifting soil/compost and clearing the garden area. We steamed through the task, filling 5 bags with leaves and dead plants, packing a huge bin with tree cut-backs and spread 1.5 bags of compost. A solid task well done! There's plenty more to get done at the Community Centre and we look forward to coming back in the future. We were particularly intrigued by the wormery in the allotment area. Worms just love kitchen waste. They turn it into beautiful soil - a perfect solution to kitchen waste for those without a garden!

We thanked Janet, took a selfie and headed for an easy lap of the centre, followed by a ‘medium’ lap and finishing with ‘hard’. Continuing to discover our paces and become more confident runners!

At the end of the last lap, a plank off was called for - everyone did a fantastic job ranging from a solid 40 seconds up to a stellar 3 minutes 10 seconds (see photo of our plank-off winners shaking hands). I anticipate some aching cores tomorrow...

We ran back the way home and finished with a good stretch and some deep belly breathing.

A great start to the week team, I look forward to seeing you next week!

Last night 19 GoodGymers ran 1.5k to clear up the garden on the Holly Bush Estate

GoodGym Tower Hamlet's old friends at Holly Bush estate needed help! They're applying to become part of the Royal Horticultural Society and desperately needed a tidy up in order to make the best impression. We met at the Town Hall Hotel as usual (this time in a room that had secret doors...!) at 18.45. After a briefing we celebrated Louise Hartley's 50th good deed.

Tower Hamlets are absolutely killing the distance in the January challenge - we've collectively run 2472 km this month! Our target is 3100... we can do this! On the Good Deed front we are a little behind schedule - 81 out of a target of 174. Personally, I think sharing the goodness 81 times in 23 days is pretty amazing anyhow!

It was fantastic to see some new faces last night - show Izzy, Usaid and Fiona some support!

Sally Squat Challenge

After some breath work we headed outside to warm up with hops, skips and frog jumps. Squats were mentioned during the briefing and a couple of people looked a little nervous... So, you need two things - 'Flower' by Moby and space to squat. The main lyrics are 'bring Sally up' and 'bring Sally down'. Guessed the rules yet? Squat down on 'bring Sally down' and come up on 'bring Sally up'. It's harder than it sounds! Give it a go at home and let me know how it goes.

Margaret at HollyBush was delighted to see us again

On well-warmed muscles we went just round the corner to the Rocky Garden at HollyBush Estate. Margaret was delighted to see us and we spent a good 35 minutes getting to work on the garden. We cleared several beds of weeds for her and did a cracking job of clearing up leaves ready for composting. Great work team!

After thanking Margaret and of course taking an obligatory selfie, Bryon guided us round the corner to a green where we did some speed play work - finding our 'easy', 'medium' and 'hard' pace.

An excellent start to the week Tower Hamlets, I hope to see you at our starter session on Wednesday and of course at the same time on Monday next week!