Amazing Meath

27 runners headed to one of our favourite tasks at Meath Gardens, this evening, just a short run from our meeting point at the lovely Town Hall Hotel.

We were met by brilliantly organised task owners Joanna and Jane, who had everything prepped for our two main tasks: a litter-pick of the park, and a big watering operation! New young trees have been left a little parched due to a decent British summer, and without any watering points in the park currently, getting the trees watered is a labour-intensive operation, managed solely by the small team of Friends of Meath Gardens.

A canalside operation

And so the biggest crew headed to the canal to load up trolleys with buckets of water, while a team of 3 used the tap by the small Community Centre. And a further team headed to all four corners of the park to gather every last bit of litter.

As always the team worked tirelessly until gone 8, when every last thirsty young tree had been tended to.

Over to The Mystical Fitness Tree

And so we met for our cheerio and pics, before making our way to The Fitness Tree, a favourite fallen tree that acts as a wonderful base for some Bulgarian split squats, to kick our fitness session off with. Then we whizzed through the scorpion push up, some seated core exercises before moving on to some standing balance and strength exercises. The team are strong and focused at the moment. You could have heard a pin drop in the park as they balanced on one leg, putting their bodies through its resistance training paces without so much as a squeak of protest.

We completed our session with a couple of stretches before heading back to the hotel, and onto the pub for a quick drink to say cheerio to our beloved Becky J , whose last run it was with us for a while, as she pursues exciting career opportunities in another part of the world!

So long, Becky J!

Which leads me nicely on to offer a very big thank you to Becky all she has contributed over the last two-and-a-half years to Tower Hamlets. Becky is an active, regular Task Force runner, who shows up early at nearly every Group Run, welcoming new runners with a big smile; helping to plan tricky runs and Community Missions behind the scenes, and just generally offering smiles and support at every opportunity. You will be much missed.

Other Monday shout-out's

Thanks to Liz and Kat, and Jo, for back marking this evening.

And thanks to Dave for tonight's wicked pun - it's a cracker.

What's coming up...

• Next Monday we celebrate GoodGym's 10th birthday with TWO of our task owners, the wonderful Barts Volunteers and Tower Hamlets' Council's Big Clean Up as we head to the Royal London for a clean up in and around the beloved John Harrison Garden.

• And also next week, on Sat 21st, it's SuperSaturday, the biggest day of GoodGym activity, when our very own Kat has organised a variety of activities with the Mile End parkrun team, so you really should check that out here.

Right, that's me for another week. Well done all involved tonight - what a thoroughly splendid night. Thirsty trees are hydrated; the park area is pristine, and your hip flexors are that little bit stronger. I mean, it's official now - you really do rock.

Have a wonderful week, enjoy the start of Autumn, and we'll hopefully see you very soon.

Sun, run and fun

25 runners gathered on what was probably our warmest run of 2019 yet, to head to Meath Gardens for some urgent gardening work.

We briefly warmed up on our hotel steps before heading a short run around the corner where task owners Asia and Julia were ready and waiting with a top plan for the evening...

A treeally urgent task

The young trees which we helped water from the canal last summer are all currently being swamped by various weeds, and so following some expert leafy lowdown from our task owners, runners were divided into three teams: two weeding the bases of the new trees; one on mulch-collection in the far corner of the park. Thistles were plucked, nettles nixed, sticky weed sent packing… But despite lightning-speed work, time went quickly and before long, it was all hands to the pump as we filled the last few remaining buckets with mulch and carefully laid it at the tree bases. This was a tiring task, wading through long grass and huge thistles – and running trolleys full of mulch around a very large park. Steps galore. But we made good progress, and achieved a lot by 8.10pm, and Julia and Asia were delighted.

Top-to-toe before we go

And then we made our way to the centre of Meath Gardens for this week’s speedy head-to-toe conditioning work. Alas, the promised ‘pulsing playlist’ was more of a tinny tunefest in the absence of the usual trusty speaker. But luckily the runners got to hear me talking non-stop, instructing them through this evening’s line up of jack squats (sorry, but they are really good for you); scorpion and grasshopper push ups (again, sorry, but lovely to continue our wildlife theme) and some killer abs exercises. They looked bemused but managed to squeeze out every last rep, which is the main thing.

And so we called it a day, finishing with a couple of stretches before heading back to The Official Stretching Railings in Peel Grove for some final flexibility work.

Amazing. Amazing energy, amazing work, amazing humour, amazing friendliness…Team TH, it's official: you are amazing.

And so to this week’s big shout-out’s

Big shout-outs to backmarkers Leanne and Katherine, and massive thanks for pun fun and suggestions to Bryon and Steve and Rachel.

A big thanks and cheerio to our runner Pauline, who leaves us this week for more travels, but who’s contributed bundles in her short time with us.

And, as per pics, a very big shout out to all our runners and volunteers who put in such a big effort in yesterday’s Hackney Half. Really great stuff. You can read all about it here, in Danny's brilliant report. And, talking of Danny, an extra special shout-out to him, who's helping us find our way with our race volunteering events, and who helped us out with this one with everything from talking me through the sign-up and admin process, to helping TH GoodGymers get their best freebies on the day. Hope to see you soon, Danny!

What’s coming up...

Right, two things to flag up before I head off…

• This coming Saturday (25th May), our Friends of Meath Gardens will be at the wonderful Globe Town Spring Community Fair, which is taking place at Globe Town Market. Running from 11-2, you’ll have the chance to eco-craft with Plastic Free Roman Road, chat more to Friends of Meath about the work they do at the park we were at tonight, and, if you fancy it, you can get your face painted too. What’s not to like?

• And then next Monday, it may be a Bank Holiday but we run as usual! Hurrah! And we’re heading back to Parkview, for more geranium-planting fun, and saying hello to residents with some new seeds!

In the meantime, enjoy the sun, go for a run – and have fun. Have a wicked week, everyone!

Three wonderful tasks

It was an ambitious one. We were torn. Three wonderful task owners, three wonderful tasks but how many pairs of hands could we count on tonight? 28 was the answer. TWENTY EIGHT GoodGymers braved what’s still a chilly Monday experience to come and roll up their sleeves in our beloved borough for the very best causes.

The pic…

We assembled in our lovely, spacious hotel room, courtesy of the wonderful Town Hall Hotel (whose staff always ensure our evening gets off to a great start, greeting us with smiles, endless help, and fulfilling our increasing number of requests, from letting leaflets be left by task owners, to taking our pic on the staircase. Thank you all so much).

And then we reassembled on the splendid staircase to take our pic for the 50th area launch – Tower Hamlets was Area Number One. You’d think this was an easy shape to make, but it was surprisingly hard. So much so that the runners toughest challenge tonight was possibly exercising a great deal of patience and tolerance as I made endless grimaces and position changes. And we hadn’t even warmed up yet.

Three teams, three tasks…

And so to the steps for 3 speedy mobility exercises before team 1, led by Leanne, were dispatched to to Rocky Park at the Hollybush Estate, where they sped around moving from task to task, filling planters, moving mulch and digging and weeding.

And then Team 2 were dispatched to a brand new task, the new Suffragette Kitchen Garden, part of the Edible Bow network, on Old Ford Road where task owner Hester met Redbridge Task Force member Dharmesh and his team, with 3 tonnes of newly delivered soil to be shovelled into planters. The team sped through the heavy lifting work, finishing in record time. Three tonnes was no match for 11 enthusiastic GoodGymers who were then the first team to arrive at the fitness session!

And I was lucky enough to head out onto the streets of Bethnal Green with an all-girl crew, to leaflet businesses and Bethnal Greeners for the wonderful Acknowledging Youths charity. We had a pretty good reception, with everyone from commuters to comedy store managers all coming on board to accept bundles of leaflets to help spread the word. Thank you Bethnal Green businesses – we witnessed a community spirit that’s alive and well on our streets tonight. Your help and receptivity is so much appreciated.

Multi-tasking moves and metabolism-boosting at Meath

And then we all ran to Meath and met by The Fitness Tree (a fallen tree who doubles up as a great base for Bulgarian split squats). We planked, we pivoted, we ran laps at various Parkrun paces, and we tempo-ed and we tackled our tums. And then we ran home. What. A. Night.

BIG thank you’s tonight

On behalf of the group, we have some pretty hefty thank you’s tonight: Thanks to our wonderful task force, who were busy planning with me behind the scenes throughout Monday. And a special thank you to Dharmesh, a Redbridge task force member on loan to us this evening, who readily agreed to lead the new task to the Suffragette Garden, did a splendid job of running the task, and then leading the first part of the fitness session for his group in Meath Gardens. And then led the cooldown stretching back at base. Amazing stuff.

Thanks to Leanne, for leading the big crew to Hollybush, and back to Meath, for taking some great pics and for saving the day with her fabulous pun tonight, AND for planning and executing our group figure-of-1 shot (and putting up with me and my endless changes).

And let’s not forget a massive warm GG welcome to Molly whose first run it was this evening. Really lovely to have you join us – thanks for being such a fabulous flier-er, it was really fun to be out and about on the streets of Bethnal Green with you!

Next week we’re back at The Glasshouse Community Centre for Earth Hour!

Now next week, we’re putting the ‘earth’ into Earth Hour and planting fruit trees and seeds at the wonderful Glasshouse Community Centre. Join us, why don’t you? We’d love you to come along. More detail, and sign up, are here.

Until then, make sure you have a wonderful week!