A prompt departure tonight

19 runners gathered tonight on the hotel steps for a handful of very brief warm up exercises, before we enjoyed a short run to our task, a busy location on Grove Road, where a total of 23 volunteers now congregated to join the Borough's first Big Clean Up of 2019.

Brilliantly prepared

With usual efficiency, our task owners Carmen and Charley from Tower Hamlets Council, and Mark from Veolia, were brilliantly prepared: Carmen and Charley met and greeted us, and Mark swiftly ran through our health and safety briefing, before handing out hi-vis jackets, litter pickers, gloves and bin bags to each and every runner. We were lucky enough to be joined by volunteers Stacey, Henry, and Val, which further boosted our numbers and made our evening feel even more sociable!

A lot of ground covered

The runners headed out in five groups, in five different directions, covering the whole of the area from Wennington Green; Roman Road in both directions; ditto Grove Road. Bulging bin bags were the order of the day come 8pm. And tonight's Trash Stash of the Night goes to David, who was tickled by his find of a pair of hipster glasses.

...And then we hit that ground

And so we moved swiftly onto the fitness session of the evening, a relativey short, and somewhat sharp, fitness booster. The runners made light work of jack squats, spiderman push ups and skipping lunges, wincing only at the Backstreet Boys track that had snuck into tonight's playlist.

And then it was all over. We said our cheerios and headed back to base for a little stretch and a biscuit for the road.

This week’s shout-outs

Welcome to Michelle, whose first run it was. Thanks for your huge first effort Michelle! We loved you joining us and we hope to see you very soon.

Thanks to Leanne for usual great backmarking and ensuring we all stay together, Tom for leading an impromptu speed-lap again, to Bryonfor this week’s pun (I have to say I think this is my favourite pun yet).

…And to our task force member Becky J, who hit 100 good deeds tonight. Becky joins us most Mondays, greeting new runners, helping behind the scenes, leading Community Missions…Then goes on a coach run later in the week. Becky participates in around 2-3 good deeds a week.

What’s coming up…

Moving on to future activity: On Sunday, we kick our trainers off and head to The Coborn in Bow for a night of pub quiz-ing. Whether you fancy joining us for a pint, or to share your extensive trivia trove, we’d love you to join us. Details of timings and venue are here.

And next Monday we’re heading back to Victoria Park to help Tom move mulch and dig space for a fountain. DO come and join us if you can.

Until then, have a wonderful week – enjoy the sun, go for a run, and have fun.

27 runners shifted 200kg of mulch a minute this evening, in our very own Vicky Park.

A big operation...

You'd think it was a straightforward task, shifting 20 tonnes of mulch on a February evening in a locked park (or would you, actually, when you put it like that?) but no, much planning was involved in this evening's operation...

Tom , our brilliant task owner, and Head Gardener at the one and only glorious Victoria Park, was well prepared, dividing us into two groups on Monday afternoon, hours before the task, so come 7pm, 26 runners were able to quickly form two teams, knowing exactly what was what.

A lock-in like no other

No sooner had we arrived at the beautiful Bonner Gate than Tom was ushering us into the park,locking the gates behind us , before cheerfully informing us that the mulch had now doubled in weight thanks to the earlier rain. We listened to our health and safety briefing under tonight's full moon, watching the sky do magical things before our very eyes, as we made our way into the huge, dark park...

And so our second bit of running for the night took place, following Tom's truck to the Pagoda area where the runners dispersed into teams: one team shovelling mulch into wheelbarrows, then wheeling and spreading it around the Pagoda garden, with the other team also wheeling, and spreading and digging too, in faraway play areas of the park.

It was quite the operation, with all runners kitted out in hi-vis jackets; floodlights strategically positioned around the mulch, and Yours Truly getting her first experience of a walkie-talkie, "Press to talk, release to listen. Got it (I feel like Jason Bourne)."

Too mulch of a good thing

Usual GoodGymer productivity took over and I was having to prise forks and bins away from the runners by 8.15pm, and we made our way back to the truck to pack up and say our cheerios. Tom cheerfully informed us that, of the 20 tonnes of mulch, the runners, in under an hour, had shifted and spread around half of the 20 tonnes - so, 10 tonnes of mulch. That's around 200kg a minute. Way. To. Go.

"Let's squeeze in a little more mileage"

And so with a beautiful traffic-free stretch of the park still open, task force member Dave led a brilliant little speed session with Tom, with runners expending every last bit of energy in 30 second sprints. Unbelievable.

OM message

And despite running just a few minutes late tonight, we couldn't call it a wrap without cooling down with a stretch, and, as luck would have it, tonight we were lucky enough to be joined by Christina, our yoga teacher runner! Christina agreed to lead our stretching back at base, much to the runners' delight. What an evening. What energy. What a delight for all involved.

Huge, huge shout-out's tonight

So, first off, a big warm welcome to our first time runners, Charlotte, Steve, Nick and Anastasia - what a task for you to have joined. Thank you for wheeling, shovelling and running so hard, and for making such a huge effort all round on your first run.

Thanks to Tom, for, in the absence of a whistle, having the best holler a runner could ask for, and co-leading our fitness session. Thanks to Dave, for planning, inventing and leading our speedwork, and to Becky G for back marking, and again to Becky and Dave, our task force members on the ground tonight, who really do help to run your night so it goes pretty seamlessly (Task Force are involved with all sorts of behind-the-scenes decision making and support, in advance of the run, which allows trainer and task owners to focus on other stuff).

And thank you to Christina, for our lovely flexibility session, for planning and leading at the very last minute!

And tonight, a big thank you to you all: for that energy we all commented on, for finding a locked, dark park bizarrely fun; for being game for anything, for being fearless, and hardworking, and for making such a huge difference to a small team at your local park. You are all amazing, you know.

Moving on to next week

Next week, we’re so excited to be joining the first day of Tower Hamlets’ #BigCleanUp – you can check out the event listing and sign up here.

…And next Sunday, 3rd March, we’re heading to The Coborn on Sunday evening for some pub quiz-ing with our friends at Mile End parkrun. Details of that are here.

Until then, have a glorious week.

A terrific-sized team again

30 runners gathered for this evening's task, always a popular one, as we headed to awesome Oxford House half a mile away in the heart of Bethnal Green, to start The Big Paint Job.

After a quick warm up, Luke stepped in to lead us all down the road to our task, taking in a little detour, to avoid The Longest Traffic LIghts In The World, and to squeeze in a microscopic little more mileage.

It's all in the prep

Sarah, our task owner, was BRILLIANTLY prepared as always: runners had been pre-assigned to two areas, complete with own rollers, brushes and paint trays.

What looked like a large office space upstairs to begin with, soon looked brand new as less-than-white walls were rapidly coated in bright new paint. The runners worked tirelessly in small teams, pausing only to assess their work, or, in Tom's case, to offer extra lighting to show up the faintest of smudges.

And, as always, 30 minutes in, half the team were task-less, having finished so quickly, and were soon tasked with the tricky job of cleaning all the rollers, and helping fellow runners out in the basement. The team work just went on and on.

Hitting the floor for some flexibility work

And then it was after 8 and we gathered in the wonderful theatre area for our Pilates flexibility session. The team were on fire tonight! In a packed theatre, they balanced, and stretched and strengthened - every last rep executed brilliantly, and without a peep. Gold stars all round.

And no sooner had we arrived, it seems, flushed and fresh faced from our run, than we were posing on the ramp for our cheerio pics, to a very appreciative task owner.

Our thank you's - and our shout-out's

A massive warm welcome to Alica and Toto who joined us for the first time, making an immense contribution to this evening’s activity! We hope to see you again very soon.

Thanks from the whole group to our wonderful Task Force, who ran some brilliant activities this weekend, and to Becky G for backmarking this evening too, and to Luke for leading and navigating our run to the task.

...And our new task next week!

Next week, we’re at a brand new task when we’re heading to Victoria Park - yes the Victoria Park - to help the Park Ranger Team spread mulch. And then we’ll be running. This is one not to be missed, so sign up now.

In classic Goodgym fashion, this mission involved a nice run (slightly more than 10k), a planting mission for Meath Gardens and a well deserved drink after.

We met at Meath Gardens at 12 on what was a mild, but windy day and set off on a circular route along the canal. Jo and Iva did great and ran further than they had run before. They didn't even moan when I admitted to accidentally taking the scenic route and adding 0.5km to the route.

On our return, we met up with Daniel and Sally - unfortunately, we missed Daniel at the start, but that meant he was able to do a lot of tree planting. Sally was on her second mission that day! Tasks included planting and placing stakes and a protective cover around the plants to protect them from overzealous strimmers.