14 happy GoodGym Westminster runners ran 4.5km to do some weeding and watering last night at Oasis Garden Green Gym

For the last few weeks, every time we've been meaning to go to Oasis to water their plants, there has been a massive downpour and alas, our watering skills are no longer needed. Not this time! All 14 of us made it down there after some racing around Hanbury Square - much to the horror of the well-dressed folk attending an event there - to meet the lovely Susannah Trafford who told us all about Green Gym.

Green Gym is quite like Good Gym - only Green! Find out more about how they connect people with green spaces in their community and get them fit here.

After a quick brief we got hard to work - weeding, watering and trying valiantly to replace the correct plant labels with their corresponding plants (not always successfully...). We learnt a host of gardening-related gems such as the way that a courgette grows (it blew my mind) and that there is such a thing as a cucamelon which are pretty much the cutest fruit I've ever seen and a tomatillo, also know as a Mexican husk tomato.

After some learning and some gardening we thanked Susannah and off we went to Russell square for some signature Lucy J planking and more high-fiving sprint-races around the square.

A good deed and some hard work had by all!

Lucy J

Meanwhile in Westminster despite a record number of attempts by those naughty grey clouds we rolled out to 22 deep to a place called Charing Cross. Why? To hand out food to rough sleepers on behalf of rhythms of life.

Now the task at hand was supposed to take us down to oasis to water some plants but the torrential rain decided that today would not be that day.

A quick briefing on do's, dont's and all things good gym, we were off.

Same deal as previously, it was time get cracking. Peanut butter, jam, bread, crisps, chocolates and of course some fruit all made up into little packages, 25 to be exact.

The route was simple, back streets, side streets and maybe one or two busier roads to keep us light on our feet. We arrived safely and began. Honestly, a few conversations later all our bags were gone to people in an around st martins in the field and most importantly they were happy.

Time to get our sweat on. As usual the question was asked. Long and hard or short and fast on our return. Obviously they went for long, hard and fast so that's exactly what we did. Intervals, drills, step reps and of course a lot of hooooopting and hollllllaring followed by some weaving and screaming. Sounds like a perfect Wednesday night to me.

Thanks for coming, hope you enjoyed and see y'all next week.

Meanwhile in Westminster 9 ever so epic GoodGymers headed back Sayers Crofts out post in West 9 to continue tending to there outdoor space.

With a 5k run just to get there it was agreed that we would have the option of getting on a tube back just so we didn't scare any newbies off with the distance so that's exactly what we did.

A steady pace to get warm followed by a few intervals took us right to the door.

Today we had to redistribute soil from one planter to another, carry fresh soil from reception to the garden and fill new pots, water all the flowers, give the signs a good cleaning, do some weeding and make the area look pretty and clean. So that's exactly what we did ;-)

In 20 minutes flat all of the above was done and dusted and we were on our way.

The way back was to be a race to beat the rain, now I wander who won?

Thanks to all of you for coming, hopefully same time next week ;-)

Meanwhile in Westminster 13 brave souls headed north for the evening in a bid to prevent a beautiful community gardens flowers and plants from slipping into a state of dryness and slowly but surely wilting away.

Today we headed over to the Oasis green gym. A community garden set up and run completely by local volunteers. Prior to Susannah and her team kick starting this initiative with a community grant there were no trees or flowers, plants, fruit or veg to speak of.

Since they have taken over the space they have put together a number of planters filled with all kinds of goodness inclusive of my favourite snack SPINACH.

Any how as this task was only a mile away from us we flew there at pace, weaving our way as normal through the back streets to avoid traffic lights and congestion popping out nicely in covent garden.

On arrival we greeted by a few members of staff who guided us through to the plants.

A quick health and safety briefing about NOT FALLING IN THE SWIMMING POOL followed by a lovely briefing from our host about the history of the garden and correct watering technique. Watering cans and hoses and were handed out and we were off.

Obviously regardless of how much there was to water with a team of 13 it was finiiiito in 15 minutes flat.

Group picture, some sad goodbyes and we were off. Now the question was posed, do you want a hard and fast 1 mile back or do you want a steady 2miler back. SO me being that guy we ran 1.5miles hard and fast and jogged the other half mile back to base with GIANT smiles on our faces.

Thanks for your time folks.... Hopefully we will see yalllll next week.

Meanwhile in Westminster 6 brave souls braved the humidity and rain and headed down to the Sayers Croft outdoor centre out post at Paddington Recreation ground to attempt to dig a log circle, water the plants, build a compost bin and of course make the area look spick and span.

Now how did we get on? Amazingly of course.

With only a few of you this week and 10k to cover we made light work of getting out the building and we were well on our as we prayed the rain held off just a little bit longer.

Did it? Nhaaaaaa, as if the clouds would be so nice lol.

The further north west we ran the quieter the roads became which meant more chances for running real fast so that's what we did. A few cheeky intervals just before we arrived.

Unfortunately even after the lovely rain we've had the ground was still to hard to dig giant holes for giant logs so we built a compost bin, tidied and swept, litter picked, weeded and collected more logs for what will eventually be a log circles that Sayers Croft will use as a briefing area in the summer months for young people attending their workshops.

We flew through these tasks and as if by magic after breaking up into two groups we flew back to our base and headed home for the night.

Thanks for coming. Hopefully we will see you all next week.