What a weekend this was. The budding enthusiasts that were willing to take on this course were in for a surprise. We had 9 volunteers come down to take part in the 13 k and 6 k obstacle course. While some people turned up on Friday, the rest came on Saturday and Conroy just drove down both days. Conroy being a veteran at assault courses said that Spartan is good one to do. The camping was a Bear Grylls moment with the weather but Marta, Amy and Marjorie came prepared with a stove and food to cook for a filling night. Day one started with us volunteering on different areas of the course at around 9am. This gave some of us a chance to have a look at the elite runners and what cuts and bruises they came back with. The barbwire crawl seemed to be one of the most interesting parts of the course. It was about a 30 meters stretch. Some people crawled and some people rolled it. At the end, a lot of shirts were ripped, people were dizzy and hair were caught on the wire. We had some other GoodGym volunteer in the afternoon who watched the morning volunteer have their race. Dave, myself, Conroy, Jon and Sara geared ourselves up for the 13 k but I think nothing could of prepared us for the weather that we was about to endure. It was like Vivaldi was playing his 4 seasons on us. We were running in hail, rain, snow and strong gust of wind. And that was not even the hard part, it was the hills that seem to feel like we were climbing Mount Snowdon. Most of us walked at this stage due to a mental break needed to comprehend the longevity of the course. Dave powered on with no fear only pausing to do the punishing burpees on failures of some of the obstacles. The good thing is that we all finished the course and had fun doing it with Jon and Sara crossing the line with a stylish dab. Kate and Rob joined us and gave us a mighty to cheer but could not stay any longer due to weather being so unpredictable and challenging.

The next day had me and Conroy contemplating life and weather she should run it again. T was a big no from Jon and Sara due to them running in Sofia the following week. We all volunteered and decided to run after our shift. Marta, Marjorie, Amy and Kapil use their free place to run on Sunday at an earlier time. As Kapil shot off like a bullet, the 3 girls decided to stay together with the massive smiles on their face. Kapil seems like he was ready for the another run with the amount of energy he finished with. The rest of them were a true team and felt good after the finishing the course. Me and Conroy went with the last wave and was thankful we did not have to see the many K steep path again. The Volunteers said they enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to the next one now that have the feel for it.

An eager group of runners gathered to head to one of our favourite tasks - Stepney City Farm – this evening where task owner Charlie was well-prepped and ready with a variety of jobs for the GoodGymers.

A new route to the farm...

We met and mingled in our usual lovely hotel room, giving a usual chatty, warm GG welcome to our new runners, topped up glycogen stores with Orange Clubs and Tunnock’s Teacakes before heading to the hotel steps for some dynamic stretching. Steve then headed up the run to the farm, opting for a slightly longer route, keeping us guessing as to which way we were heading, much to everyone’s amusement. It was a great run out, made for a nice change, and Steve kept not only a great pace, he also skilfully kept all runners in sight.

The Compost Crew, The Gazebo Gang and The Bin Bunch: 3 tasks completed at record speed

On arrival at the farm, Charlie swiftly divided the teams into three groups: one to move manure, one to dismantle gazebos and one to empty every single farm bin. As always, the runners made their way at record speed to the task. Armed with 5 pitchforks, the manure team wasted no time in jumping into the bays and began forking huge amounts of manure. The gazebo team dismantled the gazebos at such speed they were soon tasked with sweeping the yard, after having taken time out to pet bunnies and piglets. The bin team also finished early, such was the speed at which they worked, at which point Charlie whisked them off to a special secret task – pig-stroking (Mars the pig has surprisingly coarse hair, and a bit of a tum, in case you were wondering, according to Becky).

Fitness gains are made from…the greyhound game

It felt like we’d been at the farm a matter of minutes before it was time for us all to gather for our cheerio and final pics, before dividing into two teams to play tonight’s fitness game: greyhound and hare.

Bryon had willingly agreed to lead the greyhound team, while Liz and I led and backmarked the hare team. The hare team were given a 3 minute start to race up Stepney Way and Whitehorse Road before Bryon’s team headed out to catch us up. And catch us up they did. Obviously speedy running played a big part, but my poor traffic light strategy didn’t do much to help Team Hare. And so we were back on the hotel steps stretching glutes, hams and calves before heading inside to finish the last of the snacks.

Shout-outs galore…

What can I say? Another wonderful night at GoodGym Tower Hamlets. It was fantastic to be joined by new runners Sue, Amy and Mercia, and thanks for all the hard work and big, big smiles, and for being such an asset to our team tonight.

Big group thanks to wonderful task force members, Bryon and Becky, for planning the fitness session in advance, and leading the greyhounds. Thanks to Steve for leading the fab run out, and Liz and Becky for beautiful backmarking on both routes.

Thanks to Si, for some brilliant pics this evening, and to the manure group for brilliant pun suggestions and task-team names.

Next week and beyond

Next week, we’re off to Hollybush for several different tasks – both of which are undercover/indoor tasks (hurrah – let’s hear it for indoor tasks on drizzly Monday nights). You can sign up for that here, while an absolute must for next month’s diary is the GG Social, which we are co-hosting with GG Hackney! on Thursday November 8th.

Right, that’s it for now! Have a wonderful week, and see you very soon.