London's community half marathon went red this year! 🔥

A huge congratulations to the oodles of GoodGym folk who caught well-earned happy mornings under a hot-hot-hot late summer sun ☺️

It was the biggest joy seeing you all!

Please send me your photos (!) and I will pop them up here (alexmurtough@goodgym.org) ❤️

The rain had gone by the time we all arrived at Camden Square, but we were hoping the earlier downpour had softened the ground a little, because our task today was to prepare the ground for bulb planting, by removing leaf cover, clearing the weeds and churning up the ground a bit

Emilie turned up looking fit from recent Big Half training, while newbie Susannah (sponsored by Google DeepMind) arrived from Texas, USA, via a nearby road where she now resides. Rhonda also attended her first ever task, and similarly had minimal distance to travel to this task. Hope to see you again at distant tasks a whole mile or two away...

By diligent clearance of unwanted foliage and plantage, we were in a position to hose the ground so it was nice and soft, helping us to disrupt the earth and various small creatures living therein with a variety of implements

We were kept busy for an hour, until the ground was in perfect condition for bulbs to be planted. Bags of debris were taken away at such a speed, my picture was all blurry!

There's no truth in the rumour, however, that the snail sitting on Alison's running shoe was a comment on her pace...

Nine wonderful GoodGym folk make a difference in Camden Town!!

Tucked within Camden Town's bustle is an estate with a very special communal courtyard 👉 and this lovely group gifted 60 minutes to make this green space much healthier and nicer!

Emilie, Jackie, John, Steve, and I started out in Somers Town and we took a social conversation-filled run up and over to Camden 👉 where we met Christy (on their first good deed – a huge welcome!), Imogen, Michael, and Vic who had all made their own journeys by bike and foot :)

Welcomed by Dan, Vic, and other residents, this special team split into a bundle of good-deeding efficiency:

❤️ We targeted the raised decking 👉 pulling weeds, grabbing fallen leaves, and sweeping everything into a pristine shine!

❤️ We scraped the weed-filled gaps between the paving slabs 👉 leaving the courtyard a shining advert for block paving!

❤️ We shaped the larger bushes 👉 cutting back the dead wood, gifting freedom to the buds yet to come!

And over everything else, last night felt like a community coming together 👉 our lovely group and four local residents 👉 it was a special hour :)

Here's to next time!