The recent rain had inconsiderately left large puddles and muddy areas all around the course this morning, so inevitably anyone wearing their shiny new(ish) trainers to the Fields was going to find they were going home in a slightly darker, more mottled, pair.

However the conditions didn't seem to keep the crowds away, and it was great to welcome 49 runners under the big tree this morning (including at least 4 first timers), along with 13 volunteers keen to don the Hi Viz, including GoodGym regulars Rue, Hilary, Louise, Sarah, Sooz and Nick who all performed their respective roles perfectly to ensure everything ran to plan (and received a number of high fives from our runners by way of reward).

The conditions underfoot also didn't seem to be a hindrance to performance, as we saw a super speedy winner, 5 PBs and 49 shiny happy faces cross the finish line - a great way to start the new month. More of the same next week under the big tree - join us if you can.

Another glorious day at Mrs A's lovely garden .... Not too cold and the sun shone to brighten things. An abundance of cuttings to be bagged and some more stumps and weeds to clear but the coffee and biscuits were plentiful.

Epic ! 😎

Volunteered at Hackney Night Shelter

It was a gloriously muddy morning at London Fields junior parkrun, with 28 young runners lining up despite wet and muddy conditions. We welcomed two first timers to the course — one of whom took part in an incredibly close photo finish for first and second place, edging it on her debut!

GoodGym was out in force, with Lobo, Anna, Sarah and Rue supporting the event, and Nick expertly taking on the role of Race Director. Huge thanks to the whole team for keeping things running smoothly in tricky conditions.

The mud didn’t slow anyone down, with some super-strong finishes, impressive determination, and even a few joyful slides over the finish line. Some may have slipped on the course too, but as Nick said it was all character building! (and definitely not an incident)

As always a brilliant display of effort, encouragement and community spirit from start to finish. All the mud, all the smiles, all the reasons we love junior parkrun — we’ll be back for more next week.

We had a lovely day out in the sun in Ms A's back garden today. Kevin, a former professional gardener was the man with the plan. Myself and him got to work on uprooting the many tree stumps in the garden while Ilana took on the prickly task of putting part of the large pile of thorns and branches into garden bags so they can be removed. Several stumps later and with 3 full garden bags Ms A treated us to some lovely coffee and biscuits to top off the mission. Some return visits will definitely be necessary.

Volunteered at Hackney Night Shelter