THREE TASKS!

We enjoyed a whopping three tasks tonight in Tower Hamlets!

Isabelle headed up our new task, to see Khanh & co at the Columbia Road Youth Hub. Writes Isabelle, "The team was split into two: 5 of us were given a leafleting task, to head out to local areas where the youngsters the centre is targeting, can be found. The remaining runners were tasked with painting the centre, to the sound of Sean Paul. And, IMO, this was one of the best tasks we've been on!"

Yes, having visited the Hub several times, I can confirm it's a lively place, with a huge drive to do what it says on the tin. And we must thank our great friend, Bablu Miah, of Trapped in Zone One who created this task for us, and got the ball rolling with Khanh. Thanks, Bablu!

Meanwhile, Leo took another big team to Cranbrook Community Food Garden where new task owner Freya had lovingly prepared a lot of leaflets and amazing maps for the team to distribute around the estate. The team were busy in and out of the garden, and dropping fliers and blitzing all the work laid out for them in record time.

And I led a smaller crew to Catherine at the Parkview Estate where she too had lovingly prepared hundreds of crocus bulbs to be planted, and had pruners ready for raspberry bush trimming too! Our small team of four blitzed the gardening tasks and had a little time for some post-race stretching in the squished office space too.

TWO TEACHERS...

And so we headed back to the base where the others had already congregated and Sarah had got the team off to a splendid fitness start with high knee jogs and jumping jacks! Lucky team - two teachers! We continued our fitness work in the rain, eeking out every last fitness component ("One last nice calf stretch") until Charlotte, speaking for the entire team, wailed, "Can we stop now, Laura? We're freezing.") Good call, Charlotte.

Ad so we headed inside to warm up and prep for the pub.

Big thankyou's & shout-out's tonight...

Tonight we must thank our wonderful task force yet again. Leo and Isabellewho enabled our three tasks to go ahead. Your Task Force team are always in the wings, advising, planning, and helping lead and carry the area. We get a growing number of task requests and it's because of our Task Force we're able to fulfill them all.

Thanks too to the entire group tonight, for getting so much done in horrid weather and with such big smiles. You're amazing, and it's no wonder our task owners speak so highly of you.

Thanks for our report contributors, Isabelle and Leo; to Bryon for pun-assistance and to Katherine, Leo and Isabelle for pics.

Thanks to Leo for leading and heading up tonight's social.

Let's not forget a huge shout-out and pat on the back to our very own Martin who tonight reached his 100th deed. Thank. You.

And a big warm welcome to Jessica, whose first run it was. You did splendidly and we hope very much you'll join us next time!

And what's coming up...

• Next week we're back to the Royal London to join Nancy & co for some more hospital high jinx.

• And don't forget the GG legend that is Danny Cane has lined up some fabulous race volunteering for you, in exchange for free race places! Yes, you can join Danny’s new Hackney Half Broadway market aid station or volunteer with him at one of the Adidas City Run bag checks.

Right, that’s me for another week. Stay dry, everyone; enjoy your week, take the greatest of care, and hopefully we’ll see you very, very soon.

A chilly, two-task start to March

23 runners gathered this evening for two tasks to local community gardens.

We were lucky enough to have brilliant task force member Bryon leading one of our tasks to a new task, the Poets Corner Community Garden where task owner Tahera had prepared the task very carefully, complete with a fine array of snacks. The runners wasted no time in getting stuck in to the gardening task which included clearing, weeding, leaf-collecting...a mixed bag of gardening tasks. Said task owner Tahera of the runners after they'd finished, "They covered so much ground, you can really see the difference."

Meanwhile I led a group to Rocky Park on the Hollybush Estate where Margaret, Michael and Basil the dog had a wonderful selection of tasks for us all, including wood shifting for the bug house (as it sounds); clearing leaves and branches and redistributing various bits of plant debris to another part of the garden.

As the evening got chillier, the runners didn't stop and they worked tirelessly for 45 minutes.

We gathered for some final pics before being joined by Bryon's team at Middleton Green's basketball court for tonight's fitness session, where the runners performed even more amazingly, whizzing through a long session of marching tricep dips, v-sits (on a cold wall), skipping shuttle runs, prisoner lunges...and that's just to name a few.

And then we ran back to base, after a few finishing stretches, to say cheerio for another week.

What a start to March.

What's coming up

So, here's what's coming up...

• On Thursday, the phenomenal Redbridge are hosting the GG social in the centre of town. Details can be found here

• And next week, we head to Columbia Road Youth Hub for a brand new, indoor, decorating task. Followed by our monthyl social! It's all go. Details and sign-up are here.

And not forgetting...

And a big shout out to Bryon tonight for leading our second task, and taking some good pics, and to Polly for backmarking.

Have a brilliant week, everyone, and hope to see you soon.

We started by celebrating Daniela's 50th good deed achieved during the Community Mission at Ranelagh School on Saturday..... it's taken a few weeks to get over the line but another GG Ipswich black shirt achieved - Congratulations!

We also welcomed Laura along as a visitor to Ipswich from Tower Hamlets. Hope you enjoyed the evening and we may see you again.

Our task destination is one of the closest to our base so we incorporated some relay intervals into the short run up to Brickmakers Wood, where Rob greeted the team and set out the jobs he wanted us to do.

The main chore was to clear some rubbish into a skip and move a mound of logs (as a result of tree felling) from outside into the warehouse and pile them neatly. They also need some fire wood sawn and bagged ready for selling to raise funds. Alongside this was some generally tidying the area for a visit for University students tomorrow.

As usual the gang got stuck in enthusiastically with wheel barrows, loaded with logs flying to & fro. The massive pile of elm logs reducing outside and stacking inside, while in another area Daniela, Laura and Eleanor were sawing furiously to create bags of firewood.

Finally there was lots of gentle sweeping up (trying not to cause excessive dust!). Once again we managed to achieve a huge amount in a short time - helping out at Brickmakers is always satisfying and it feels great to be able to help such a wonderful charity.

We then headed off to the floodlit grounds of Suffolk College for a team relay with runs or jumps based on a pack of cards before heading to the pub to mark Daniela's mile stone with cake!

Big chill, big group

31 runners braved the chill again last night to head to two big outdoor tasks.

It was a complex operation: Isabelle was leading one group to the Cranbrook Community Food Garden where task owner Lizzie had a number of gardening jobs and an urgent leafleting task. I was leading the other group to the Parkview Estate where task owners Catherine, Ros and Becky had prepared a huge gardening task of planting 1000 snowdrops.

And brilliant task force member Bryon was accompanying us with his small group to Parkview via Cranbrook to borrow some trowels, as resourceful task owners had pooled kit behind the scenes to help one another out!

It was a busy evening. We were greeted by Connie and Greta, Ros and Becky's young daughters who wasted no time is dispatching runners to three corners of the estate, ignoring the chill and the wind, with trowels, pots and the clearest of instructions.

Time sped by and before we knew it, Isabelle's group were informing us they were en route to our fitness session; Bryon's team were speeding to Cranbrook for a trowel drop, and Chi was leading the runners to Bonner Gate, the most atmospheric running spot in East London in winter.

The runners proceeded to speed through the greyhound-and-hare game and other speedwork before being put through their jumping squat paces by Chi.

We then sped back to the hotel for a quick stretch, before heading to the Fugitive Motel for our first monthly social, brilliantly organised by Isabelle, and fully supported by our wonderful task force. It was a lovely evening - fun, fitness-filled and thoroughly productive.

Big shout-outs

Welcome to Laura, who joined us tonight for her first run. Thanks for a brilliant evening, Laura!

Congratulations and the biggest round of applause to our very own, totally wonderful Leo and Steve who tonight both reached 50 good deeds. These runners both contribute a vast amount to the group every week, and Leo is a mighty addition to our Task Force.

Thanks to Bryon for stepping in behind the scenes to enable The Trowel Pick-Up.

Thanks to Chi for joining in the fitness delivery.

Thanks to Isabelle and Chi for pics tonight, and to Si for tonight's pun.

Thanks to Isabelle for leading the Cranbrook task, and for organising a well-attended, beautifully organised wonderful first social. Here's to many more. Talking of which...

What's coming up...

• Next week, we're back at The Royal London with Barts Volunteers, for our first hospital task of 2020! Read more and sign up here.

• And our next social will be on March 9th, so keep eyes peeled for details.

In the meantime, take care, and have a wonderful week.