It started off with a bit of a drizzle and soon turned into a full on down pour , but that didn't stop 9 committed folk turning up for a long run to a new task. You see, Kingston folks are so committed they give up the warmth of a choir pew, shrug off sore limbs from a weekends triathlon (or most of one) and push their broken bike all the way, just to make sure they make it to Guildhall for a Tuesday evening run. Amazing effort team, but then I'm not surprised , as QUINCE when do we chicken out on a rainy run??

Mark led us on a weaving route, up hills, down alleys , under motorways...we went this way, that way , forwards and backwards, across the A3.

The new task was with Kingston's edible forest , who run a community allotment and have started growing trees for Kingston's Street tree scheme. We were faced with a simply sapling situation. Plant a bunch of saplings 2ft apart with each row a good large step in between. Get as many as you can in the ground within 15 mins, whilst the heavens opened once again. We turned down the option of retreating to the bubble tunnel and got soaked from our heads To-Ma-Toes.

Tree saplings in and some grass pulled up by the other third of the group to ensure the already planted trees had room to grow, we set off back carefully watching our steps on Mark's new alley way pond-like routes. Puddle hopping turned out to be a pointless activity, but it did add that extra bit of entertainment to a dark damp running night.

Rain doesn't stop us! #goodgym #kingston #running #volunteering #edibleforest #10km #runninggroup pic.twitter.com/8zZRRe6Hki

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) October 2, 2019

Thanks to the Edible Forest for hosting us an we look forward to coming back on a community mission one Sunday. Thanks also for the generous amount of quince you gave to us , we look forward to what the White's can cook up with them!