A good-sized group on another balmy August evening

16 of us headed out this evening in a last minute task-change to Weaver's Adventure Playground, a short run away.

Jobs aplenty

On arrival, task owner Alex had quite a list of jobs for us to get involved with, from constructing tables from previously discarded furniture, to measuring, matching and sorting large planks of wood along with a variety of painting tasks.

The teams were soon dispatched to all four corners of the playground and, as usual, were soon getting stuck in. It soon became apparent one of the toughest aspects of the task was going to be seeing and freeing large nails firmly lodged into wood. Alex quickly came to the rescue with a crowbar crash course and Gabrielle wasted no time in showing a particularly stubborn nail who was boss.

The team worked quickly and effectively, exchanging drills for saws, as they motored through the large wood piles, with the painting crew barely stopping, other than pausing for a brief colour consultation.

Before we knew it, we were out of time and posing for our final pics before saying cheerio to Alex.

I feel the need, the need for speed

And so we headed to Weavers Fields to begin our speed session of the day. Brilliantly led by Chris, and speedily paced by both Bryon and Chris, the running task tonight was 400m intervals. This was broken up into 2 x 200m spurts: the first 200m at “your 7/10 pace” and the second 200m at “your 9/10” pace. The team sped through a total of three of these sprints – no mean feat as the temperature was hitting 26 degrees again – and we enjoyed some active recovery with our Ab Attack session, in between each lap.

We then sped back to base before heading to the pub for a quick drink.

Shout-outs galore

Great big thanks and massive well done to Chris and Bryon for leading the speed session again, and to Chris for distance-calculating and lap counting. Great back-marking this week from Becky and full credit goes solely to Clare for this week’s wicked pun.

And it really was very lovely to have Sam from Hackney join us tonight, and Nina from Islington back again. What a treat – please come again soon.

Next week: a Bank Holiday bonanza...

Next week, we’re set for a two-task Bank Holiday bonanza, when we’ll be finishing this week’s work at Weavers, as well as meeting our friends at Meath Gardens for more summer gardening and tree-watering from the canal, followed by a flexibility masterclass to keep those injuries at bay. Not one to miss, so sign up here.

The recent, much-needed rain was great news for plants and wildlife; less good for last night’s task…

Tunde to the rescue

Nice for nature, disastrous for our deed: the trees no longer needed watering by us last night. Thank goodness for Plan B’s. Our task owner, Tunde, from Friends of Meath Gardens, willingly found us a perfect Plan B, swiftly planning a big litter-pick of the gardens. The team were very willing to run through a variety of time-honoured lower body moves while we waited for Tunde (“Glute work’s good for your running.”) before teams were dispatched to all four corners of the park to fill multiple bags to bulging with a huge amount of litter. From coffee cups to cigarette butts (“It’s all going well, thanks, apart from the cigarette butts which are really fiddly.”) no stone was left unturned (literally).

Trash Stash of the Night went to Ruth’s cash-find (20p but don’t knock it – acorns & oak trees, an’ all that) and Anna’s slightly creepy, buried toy horse-head.

Time-honoured Tower Hamlets speedwork

Tunde was over the moon with the sheer volume of rubbish Team TH collected, and in true GG style, we celebrated with a little more exercise. Chris resurrected a terrific, time-honoured, TH speed session, introduced to the team in the earlier TH days by legendary Alex Eggs and Tom Scraggs. The session consisted of partnering up, and forming two teams to tackle a large lap of the park, high-fiving one another in the middle. A tough-but-fun end to trash-collecting.

Pilates follows plogging

We then headed to ‘the big bit of grass’ to finish with our Pilates for Runners part of the evening. Well done to the team for mastering the TVA vacuum (Friend: “What did you do on Monday?” TH GoodGymer: “So, I went to Meath Gardens and found my Transverse Abdominis muscle.”). After an already-tough evening of fitness, the team dug deep and performed some beautifully-executed Inchworms, Leg-Pulls Back and Front, Roll Ups and The Saw (“This game is called ‘Who’s got the tightest hip flexors’ ”).

We then raced back to base, stretched, ate some biscuits and headed home. What a wicked night. That rubbish, that care and attention to picking every last can and cup… What a contribution to the community. Team, you are truly terrific.

Thank you’s – and welcome’s

A massive welcome to Nazma, who joined us for her first ever GG run. Thanks for getting so much done, and for being so flexible with the Task-Plan B, and working so hard on your fitness. Do come and join us again very soon.

And what a pleasure to be joined by Lucy (by no means new to GG, but new to me) – please come back to TH soon.

And the thank you’s… Brilliant work from Chris for coming up with the idea and for leading the evening’s running session. Beautiful back-marking, there and back, from Leanne as usual – never out of sight - and hurrah for Chris, Bryon and Dave for leading the speedy runners back to base.

This week’s brilliant pun was brought to you by Bryon, and hurrah to the whole team for plenty of laughs getting us there.

And a big pat on the back (you’ve saved the day a bit) to Becky J, Gabrielle and Leanne for ideas and planning for next week’s task, when we’ll be helping out the utterly brilliant Acknowledging Youths charity, playing a running game and drinking, so sign up here to avoid missing out.

And lastly, 2nd September sees us heading to The Coborn with our newly formed quiz team, Let’s Get Quizzical (credit goes to Si for our ace team name) for some more school night drinking (and brainstorming). Do come and join us.

A hot-and-happy group headed back to the lovely Glasshouse community centre on the Parkview Estate this evening to complete the painting and decorating of this beautiful communal space.

Setting the tone

Catherine, our meditation teacher and task owner, started the task with five minutes of mindfulness meditation to set the tone for the evening. A subtle shift in the usual frenzied GG pace made for a pleasant change, as the temperature gauge showed no sign of shifting below thirty degrees. No slapping the emulsion on this evening – it was all about focusing on the smaller, harder-to-reach areas with patience and precision, and some lovely teamwork.

Teamwork in tough conditions

Well done to everyone who embraced the task with the usual diligence and care. Teams were confined to small, very hot spaces and worked as industriously as usual – Bryon even managed to take two minutes out to seize the opportunity to touch up the lettering on his very well worn GG t-shirt.

Cultivating kindness

At 7.55pm brushes and rollers were set down and we proceeded to regroup in our circle for this week’s loving kindness meditation: the metta bhavana practice, to give it its proper name. As Catherine guided us through the five stages, the only noise that could be heard was the whir of the much-appreciated ceiling fans. A relaxed group of runners then gathered for our goodbye pics, before heading back to the hotel at various paces.

Thanks – and welcome

Thanks to Becky J for back-marking, Chris for leading the run on the way there, and for leading the speedy pace back. Thank you to Danny for the idea and inspiration for tonight’s pun.

And a big, warm, GG welcome to our new runners this evening: Rosel, Veronika, and Alice – thank you for getting to grips with everything so quickly, all that hard work and for being such great additions to the team. Please do come and run with us again soon!

Next week: Pilates for Runners

Next week, we’re watering and gardening at Meath before our Pilates for Runners class, a session that focuses on key core (often neglected) muscles, that should help improve running and prevent fatigue. Don’t miss out – sign up now.

And Save the Date: September 2nd is GG Tower Hamlets Pub Quiz Night!

...And another date to get in your diary is our next pub quiz night, as requested and planned by your terrific Task Force! We’re heading back to The Coborn on September 2nd for a night of trivia, roast and beers. All are welcome – details and sign up are here.

Two-tasking it again

No easy August evenings for the Tower Hamlets crew, as an eleventh hour request from one of our longest standing task owners saw us two-tasking it yet again.

Having promised the team a punctual departure (with a combined warm-up and intro - failed on the latter but succeeded on the former), we headed to our two tasks at 7 o’clock on the dot.

SOS mulch-moving

Becky headed up the second task again (thank you, Becky) to Hollybush Gardens to be greeted as enthusiastically and appreciatively as ever by Margaret and Michael, who promptly led the team to the two parking spaces, currently occupied by a large mound of logs and mulch (the spaces have recently been let to a business and the council need them free-ing up, like, yesterday, hence the urgency). The team quickly cleared the logs and set about relocating the mulch to the Hollybush garden. Wheelbarrow-running soon proved a perfect fitness task for the evening as the runners deftly steered around tight corners, making for a great total body workout, especially for the obliques – way to go, waist muscles. Becky confessed she has now developed an even greater respect for those running with buggies at parkrun. The small crew rounded the evening’s tough task off with a classic ‘band’ pic on the cleared logs before making their way to Parkview to join the painting posse.

Painting...

Meanwhile, I led the Parkview painting team to the Glasshouse Community Centre, situated within the Parkview estate, where one of our task owners, Ros, greeted the runners with overalls, paint trays, brushes and rollers and despatched the team of 13 to the kitchen, stage and toilet areas for 35 minutes of first-coat-fun.

...and meditating

Before long, task owner Catherine arrived ready to take the evening’s mindfulness class. With temperatures hitting 30-plus in recent weeks, I decided a couple of weeks of taking it a bit easy and investing in our mental and emotional fitness would be just the ticket, and what better way to do this than be taught a little meditation by Catherine – a well established teacher in the City. Brushes and rollers were bagged up; mats rolled out. Minutes later, our team of 19 were lying on the floor, focusing on nothing other than their breathing for the last 20 minutes of tonight’s task.

A distinctly more relaxed group of runners then posed obligingly for a couple of last pics, before we all headed back to base – nearly on time.

Thankyou's

Thank you to Becky J for heading up the second task so brilliantly again; for taking pics and writing the Hollybush report. Thank you to Chris for co-navigating to Hollybush, and to Si and Chris for navigating to Parkview. Thank you to Bryon for leading the run to Parkview; to Bryon, Chris and Jack for leading the pack back!

...and welcome!

And a great, big GG hello to Liz and Sarah who joined us for their first runs. It was so lovely to have you both on the team - thank you for getting so much done in such a short space of time, and really hope to see you again very soon.

And so to next week

We’re back at it again next week: more painting, more meditating (next week we’ll be looking at the loving kindness practice - perfect if you’re looking to let go of that residual bad feeling you have for your boss…). Sign up here.

Until then, have a really great week - look forward to seeing you again very soon.