A terrific turnout

A great Tower Hamlets turnout saw us heading punctually off to the beautiful Meath Gardens this evening for an evening of weeding, planting, carrying, wheeling and watering.

Our task owners for the evening, Julia, Joanna and Tunde from Friends of Meath Gardens, were exceptionally well prepared – this was project management like no other.

And so to work...

Teams were soon despatched to clear the areas around the new trees, so the trees were ready to be watered, while other teams headed to the canal to fill oversized buckets and wheel them back on trolleys (or carry, in some cases). Further gardening teams were assembled to tend to borders in need of weeding and plant newly donated shrubs.

So efficient were the runners, Tunde was soon having to dart off and find additional buckets. Joanna quickly stepped in with trowels & gloves and redirected the displaced runners to a nearby border while they waited for more water vessels.

A Good Gym-er without a task needs fixing quick. No wild flower-spotting and enjoying a break for these runners – they like to be busy like no other.

Back to base - at race pace

All too soon it was 8.15 and time to assemble for the group pic. Then we headed back to base at 3 different running speeds: thanks to Becky and Dave for heading up the 8-minute mile lead and navigating the route back; Laura and Izzy for the 9-minute mile pace and task force member Leanne for back-marking, both there and back, and leading us back at an 11-minute mile pace.

Tarmac-toning

On arrival back at base, the team took the news very well that not only were we going to perform some seated stretches on the tarmac, we were also going to squeeze in the Boxer’s Crunch and Captain’s Chair – so our cores didn’t feel left out after all the upper body work of the evening obviously.

And then we headed back to the hotel pretty much bang on 8.30…hurrah!

Well done...and welcome

And so to this week’s other thank you’s and welcome’s… Thanks to Bryon for leading the route out with me and co-navigating (and not even waiting to be asked about navigation); task force members Leanne, Bryon, Sarah and Becky, for being so hands-on, as always: early and available to our new runners, and, along with Becky G, helping to make our Olympic dream take shape and become reality…

And welcome to Ignatius, Ellie, Briony and Ellen, whose first run it was. Thank you for all your hard work, for learning all the ropes so very quickly, and for becoming part of the team so effortlessly. I really hope you’ll join us again soon.

We're a two-task run next week...

Next week it’s a two-task week: we’re needed at Hollybush and Weavers - two, great, fun outdoor tasks, doubling up as a good little workout again, no doubt, so do sign up here.

And, I for one just can’t WAIT to do it all again then.

Have a wonderful week in the meantime!

23 GoodGymers ran 6k to Abney Park Cemetery to shovel, barrow and tip mulch to create 80 metres of woodland foot path.

Great to be back in Abney!! And awesome to have so many new runners along for their maiden GoodGym voyage!!

With January Challenge Miles at a premium we set to work on the 3k Run to Stokey. We must have done something bad wrong last week as we had some bad traffic light karma. The Green people were not our friends! But given the amazing work we put in am sure our luck will change next time!

With the run under our belts we met Park Ranger Tom who locked us into the Cemetery, grabbed a barrow each and followed Tom deep into the Cemetery to find the biggest Mulch pile in London no doubt!!

Splitting into Barrowers and Shovellers we set up a slick system to ensure maximum impact! With 6 Shovellers going like the clappers and 20 barrowers zipping deep into the undergrowth to save the path with much mulch reinforcements! The steam was rising from the huge mulch pile and only served to fire up the squad to work even faster!!

Tipping faster and faster I accurately counted 554 barrow journeys completed in 40 minutes of lighting quick action!!

With 80 metres of path locked in we steamed out of the park (after saying goodbye to Tom) and continued our New Years resolution to get a little stronger by crushing 5 minutes of perfectly performed body weight strength exercises!

With body popping we cranked up the pace for the 3k Run back to base!!

All stretched out and smiles at the end after a top GoodGym evening!! Sign up and come along next week for a trip to the award winning Wilton Estate community Garden!

Anyone fancy joining me on Saturday for Hackney Marshes Parkrun? If you have one get your Red T-shift on and I will see you on the start line!

Have a great week

Smooth Running

Joel