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.

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!

A balmy Bank Holiday

What a wonderful night to be working outdoors. The weather was warm, the mood was relaxed but 19 runners were raring to hit the streets of East London and head to a new task.

We made our way to Jesus Green, a pretty little green oasis popular with families, just off Columbia Road, where task owner James greeted us enthusiastically with three tasks.

One group headed to nearby flower and shrub beds to fill rubble-filled borders with compost; another group made their way to the bushes to clear the area of debris, while a third group rose to the challenge of heavy duty-raking, on hard ground, to prepare the area for shade-resistant grass seed.

A workout-and-a-half

The temperature was over 25 degrees but even in a cooler climate, this would have been tough work. The gardening group were getting stuck into tough terrain with spades and pick axes; the raking group were wiping brows and taking rests as if pursuing the toughest of CrossFit challenges, and even the debris collectors had their work cut out for them, as they had to carefully plan their route into dense, low bushes to really tackle the litter task in earnest.

It really was quite an evening’s work, completed by a Sowing Celebration, as, having prepared the entire area for the seed, the team then proceeded to carefully scatter the new grass seed, ready for it to take root for summer.

We then ‘enjoyed’ our core and upper body fitness session in the park, with the team excelling at the Pilates roll-up-on-steroids move; the tripod push-up, pulsing side-plank crunch, and not forgetting our time-honoured kneeling hip flexor stretch.

And so to the awards and thank-yous…

Carry On… moment-of-the-night award goes to Laura and Savina who refused to rest until they’d dealt with some impossible-to-reach bunting lodged high in a tree. Savina enjoyed an upper body workout like no other as she balanced Laura on her shoulders for a good few minutes. (And shout out to Laura and Si who win vox pop of the night:

Laura: Savina, move to the left a bit.

Si: Laura W, do you have your waiver forms with you?).

Thanks to Becky, for fabulous back-marking and for being the most forward-thinking social secretary task force member; to Sarah for her extensive horticultural knowledge and being such a friendly task force face for our new runners. Thanks to Bryon for co-navigating and leading the run there and back with me. Thanks to Si, Bryon, Becky and Becky for their brilliant input for social and Olympic planning.

Thank you to Laura for our wicked pun this week. It’s really tickled me!

And a big team thank you to you all. As James explained at the end of our task, your work means children, families, and anyone else using the park, can now enjoy the area, complete with new, soft grass underfoot, without fear of being cut with stones and twigs; children can play hide-and-seek in the bushes without finding a hidden vodka bottle, and everyone can enjoy new, colourful flower beds.

You are brilliant. Just brilliant. And I can’t wait to do it all again week.

SAVE THE DATE(S)

So. Next week. We’re heading to another new task at the Royal London with Barts Volunteers, to include a stair-climbing challenge – sign up here

…And don’t forget, 30th June is the Good Gym Olympics, so whether you’re a speedy sprinter or an egg-and-spoon enthusiast, please come on board and get this in your diary.

…And speaking of which, on May 28th, our next Bank Holiday run, we’ve got a fabulous Weavers Fields fitness session planned after our task, and then a table booked for 8.45pm at nearby Resident of Paradise Row (thanks Si for the suggestion) to have a quick beer, a catch-up and a GG Olympic chat, so another date to put in your diary.

Wow, what a night (it's not often I start a report with 'wow'). What can I say? 28 runners, not deterred by a ferocious day's freezing cold rain, gathered eagerly on the Town Hall steps to be briefed about an array of exciting tasks at Stepney City Farm.

First briefing, however, tonight was from the director of our Facebook film crew, who were accompanying us to the task. First instruction of the evening was to request runners keep pace with the rickshaw that would be accompanying us around Victoria Park en route to our task. Just another night out with Tower Hamlets GoodGym.

On arrival at the task, teams divided into four: one large group to shovel, wheel and lay woodchip on the outdoor cafe area; another to sift, stack and generally order piles of material behind the tool shed. A third group therapeutically chopped pallets, while groups four and five were tasked with sterilising children's toys and tying sweet peas in the polytunnel. Despite the fact that our task took in a longer-than-usual, picturesque run, all tasks were accomplished in the usual speedy time thanks to a fast - frenzied some might say - work pace. For the second week on the hop, our task owners literally stood in the farm yard shaking their heads at the speed at which the runners worked. Thanks to Patrick who last week introduced wheelbarrow-running, thereby giving the term 'active recovery' a whole new meaning.

As the sun set, we gathered for our group shot, handing over to Claire our task owner, who expressed her heartfelt thanks on behalf of the farm, relieved that so much had been accomplished ahead of the farm's May Day activities next week.

We ran back to the hotel in two groups, to allow the film crew to catch a few more moments of action with a remaining couple of runners.

A very active, and thoroughly enjoyable night out.

Very, very big thank yous and congratulations

Now. To the thank yous and the congratulations...('thank you' and 'well done' doesn't quite do it justice tonight, but I'll have a go...). Thank you to the whole team for being such fun with the film crew, for running at such a great pace with such big smiles around the park and along the canal. Thank you for never losing sight of our goals for the evening and for picking up the pace in such a way that you got more done than ever, in spite of time running away with us.

Well done, and a big welcome, to our new runners tonight: Sophie, Viola, Lieke and Iain. You sprinted, you squatted, you sawed, you spread...you smiled sweetly for the camera...Amazing first night stuff. Please do come and run again soon.

Thanks to Patrick for giving up his t-shirt; to both Patrick and Becky for helping with return-run decision-making; to Patrick, Leanne and Issmaeel for great mid-task interviews; to Patrick, Chris, Dave and Leanne for leading the group back to base, and thank you to Issmaeel for a lovely run and great company as we headed back to base in our wee team of two.

Thank you to our brilliant multi-task force member, Becky, who greeted our new runners tonight and kept an eye on stats.

And lastly, thank you to Dave and Leanne, for leading the run, back-marking and co-navigating; for being on board with the planning, for what was a complex evening to arrange(!)… for being so un-flappable. And for sending route screenshots on a Sunday. You all absolutely rock.

And I for one can't WAIT to see you all, and do it all, again next week (talking of which, on next week’s run we’re sowing grass seed and gardening at Jesus Green. Not only is this a new task in a really pretty spot, it’s also a Bank Holiday, which means you’ll be well rested. And it’s set to be a warm one. So do come and join in the fun – sign up here).

And lastly, trivia-lovers, we need you. This Sunday evening, celebrate it notbeing a school night by joining us at The Coburn Arms from 7.30pm for drinking and pub quiz-ing. We’d LOVE for you to join in the fun, as we rest our legs and challenge the grey matter, so pop your name down here if you think you might fancy coming and giving it a go.