No spectator sports for us tonight

It was a respectable group of 18 who shunned the TV for some tyre-painting and mulch-moving on a beautifully balmy June evening. And thank goodness as a two-task evening requires many pairs of able hands. We left an air-conditioned hotel room, complete with England game on the screen, for a brief warm up before heading our separate ways...

A two-task evening

Leanne led the Hollybush crew over to Margaret at Hollybush Gardens, where a big pile of mulch and multiple wheelbarrows awaited. It was a workout heavy on the lower body, lats and obliques as the team shovelled mulch and even formed a wheelbarrow relay to get the task done in double-time.

Meanwhile, over at Weavers, the bulk of the team were moving, stacking and painting tyres to form a fabulous-looking tyre ‘fence’ on the go-kart track. Meanwhile Heidi planted new pot plants in a brightly coloured wheelbarrow – her finished work was quite the jolly affair. Our very grateful task owner Alex supplied much appreciated post-task snacks and water – perfect fuel for the subsequent Metaburn workout that the team went onto complete in Weavers Fields.

Monday’s Metaburn

The team went on to work even harder at tonight’s workout – a top-to-toe affair that covered plyometric squats, lateral lunges, plank jacks, single-leg side planks and the ferocious, old-skool Pilates Leg Pull Back. Well done everyone for bashing out lots of beautifully executed reps on already weary limbs.

Back to base – on time

And so we headed back to base on time (for once… You heard it here first) where the team patiently went through their post-run stretches before heading inside to our room to catch the last few minutes of the game.

Thank you’s, welcome’s (and apologies…)

Thank you to you all for a really busy, industrious evening. Massive thank you’s tonight to task force memberLeanne for task pre-planning, beautiful pics and report contribution; leading the team to Hollybush, and back-marking. Thank you to Becky for backmarking and for being her usual, brilliant addition to the task force team, arriving early and welcoming new runners AND for this week’s lovely pun. Thank you to Dave for navigating and leading the run to Weavers with me, and to task force member Bryon for co-navigating and leading the return run.

And massive apology to Keri who followed (my) incorrect Hollybush location info and rather than give up, made her way to Weavers instead –thank you for your patience and perseverance.

A massive GG welcome to Rajand Sam who joined us tonight for their first run. It was great to have you on board – thanks for all the hard work and for your phenomenal fitness efforts in our post-task workout. I really hope you join us again soon.

And so to next week...

Talking of which, next week we’re back to Meath Gardens, for more canal-action, helping to get those young trees off to a great start for the summer, and we’ll be popping to Mother Kelly’s for a quick drink after too. Don’t miss out – sign up here. I can’t WAIT to do it all again then.

Until then, have a great week.

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!

It's a task SOS!

So there we were, all lined up up for a straightforward trip to Stepney Farm when an urgent call came in on Friday from longstanding task owner, Margaret at Hollybush Gardens, explaining that some urgent digging was required for planting in Rocky Gardens. After a great big GG shout-out, many pairs of hands came to the rescue this evening, so we were able to despatch two, impressively-sized teams, to two tasks.

Tonight's intro took place on the Town Hall steps (daylight, warmth...bliss!) as we were a big crowd and felt like we were at a rather crowded house party in our hotel room. After a warm-up in Peel Grove ("Let's play a game: who's got the tightest hip flexors...What do you mean that's not fun? Actually, I'm sure flexibility-shaming's a thing, come to think of it.") we went our separate ways.

Hot footing it to Hollybush

Leanne took the Hollybush team off to see Margaret and Michael, where the team turned over the soil in the planters, ready for new crops to help supply the local food bank; cleared and tidied plant pots and then re-housed some grateful snails. The group then took a long Victoria Park-detour back to the hotel, planned brilliantly by Bryon and Leanne, led and data-recorded by Dave, taking the Hollybush crew to a respectable 5K. Thanks to Gabrielle for some brilliant back-marking.

A fast pace back from the farm

I led the Stepney City Farm team down the road where Clare, our task owner, had several tasks lined up: one team led by Patrick were in charge of woodchip-ing the entire plant shop (a meatier task than I'm making it sound - it involved moving many plants, planters and heavy compost; shovelling and wheeling woodchip) while Lianne was Bin Team Leader (we're still working on a more glamorous task title for her), her team tasked with emptying 10 big bins. Fitness Feat of the Night goes to Patrick for his unstoppable and impressive wheelbarrow-running. After a quick breather to look at the bunnies and piglets, we finished with some delightful lateral lunges, sweeping-leg-planks and our tuck'n'roll-for-the-tum before heading back to base.

Our plan was a tempo run back to pace and 'comfortably hard' was the recommendation. For most of us, it was an 'uncomfortably hard' pace trying to catch Danny who led us back to base, really kicking it up a notch. Thank you Danny - please come back and lead some more speedwork, it was a totally exhilarating end to the task. And a massive well done to Polly for quite a spectacular sprint finish.

What a team

What a night! Thank you everyone - yet again you wowed our task owners with the sheer amount you were able to accomplish.

A very big warm welcome to first time runners Zeina, Jess, Clio and Martin & Rosemary - it was a joy and a privilege to be with you at your first Group Run. Thanks for your smiles, your hard work...thank you for making it a brilliant night. I really do hope you'll join us again very soon.

A big thank you too, this week, to the brilliant Tower Hamlets Task Force: Becky one of our regular running-data gurus and our 'social secretary' (again, the title's a work in progress); Bryon for lots of behind-the-scenes planning with me (and for putting up with weekend planning-panic emails); Leanne also for lots of behind-the-scenes planning and for heading up a fantastic night at Hollybush, and to Dave for leading and recording the route, and our back markers for the night, Patrick and Gabrielle.

When can we do it all again?

Next week, we're back at the farm so do join us for another night to remember - I just can't WAIT to do it all again.

(...Keep your eyes peeled for details of our May 6th gathering at The Coburn where we join forces with Mile End Parkrun for the pub quiz! It's a Sunday but NOT a school night, as it's a long Bank Holiday weekend, so do put the date in your diary).