Ten tremendous runners joined me in Brent as we headed over to put the finishing touches to the dementia garden in Watling Gardens.

It was a great turn-out with faces old and new – thanks for coming along everyone!

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So with intros done (the social on the 4th October, volunteering at Shoreditch 10k (14th Oct) and getting involved with GoodGym Race Team) we headed off for the short run towards Kilburn.

Arriving at the gardens we saw the task in hand – six bags of topsoil, likely a ton each! We met Gerry, Angela and Joanne who had all had a hand in the success of the garden. Not only did we have an enormous task but we were fighting the light from the moment we got there – we’ll need even more lights when the clocks go back!

Diggers and spreaders

We split into groups with some shovelling the topsoil into various containers, others carrying and then people spreading the soil around the garden. It didn’t take long before systems were made and everyone got into their routine ensuring that we were being as efficient as possible.

Caught in the headlights

Before long the light really had faded and so we resorted to headtorches and bikelights and Angela had cunningly parked her car so she could use her headlights to light us too. We kept at it, the spreaders having to work particularly hard as the topsoil was more like rubble in places with various stones (even bricks mixed in with the soil. Eventually we had covered it all and we decided that we would empty the bags we were working on giving a grand total for four bags emptied – a new record for us!

With all the tools collected and everything tidied away we posed for a group photo trying to use all our lights, said our goodbyes and after a quick conflab decided left for an extended run home

…except

The long run never happened! We ran via the Queensbury to drop Clare off and we ended up doing a relay fitness session! With two teams we went through a short sprint followed by an exercise (5 squats, 10 star jumps and 10 lunges) and then a sprint back to base. It made for a fun and breathless finish to the evening and provided some nice entertainment for the passers-by.

Great evening everyone, great effort and super fun! Sign up for next week’s run here, we’re either doing some leaflet delivery or going back to finish that shed!

Cheers, Pritesh

p.s. thanks to Rosie for pun inspiration!