A balmy Bank Holiday

What a wonderful night to be working outdoors. The weather was warm, the mood was relaxed but 19 runners were raring to hit the streets of East London and head to a new task.

We made our way to Jesus Green, a pretty little green oasis popular with families, just off Columbia Road, where task owner James greeted us enthusiastically with three tasks.

One group headed to nearby flower and shrub beds to fill rubble-filled borders with compost; another group made their way to the bushes to clear the area of debris, while a third group rose to the challenge of heavy duty-raking, on hard ground, to prepare the area for shade-resistant grass seed.

A workout-and-a-half

The temperature was over 25 degrees but even in a cooler climate, this would have been tough work. The gardening group were getting stuck into tough terrain with spades and pick axes; the raking group were wiping brows and taking rests as if pursuing the toughest of CrossFit challenges, and even the debris collectors had their work cut out for them, as they had to carefully plan their route into dense, low bushes to really tackle the litter task in earnest.

It really was quite an evening’s work, completed by a Sowing Celebration, as, having prepared the entire area for the seed, the team then proceeded to carefully scatter the new grass seed, ready for it to take root for summer.

We then ‘enjoyed’ our core and upper body fitness session in the park, with the team excelling at the Pilates roll-up-on-steroids move; the tripod push-up, pulsing side-plank crunch, and not forgetting our time-honoured kneeling hip flexor stretch.

And so to the awards and thank-yous…

Carry On… moment-of-the-night award goes to Laura and Savina who refused to rest until they’d dealt with some impossible-to-reach bunting lodged high in a tree. Savina enjoyed an upper body workout like no other as she balanced Laura on her shoulders for a good few minutes. (And shout out to Laura and Si who win vox pop of the night:

Laura: Savina, move to the left a bit.

Si: Laura W, do you have your waiver forms with you?).

Thanks to Becky, for fabulous back-marking and for being the most forward-thinking social secretary task force member; to Sarah for her extensive horticultural knowledge and being such a friendly task force face for our new runners. Thanks to Bryon for co-navigating and leading the run there and back with me. Thanks to Si, Bryon, Becky and Becky for their brilliant input for social and Olympic planning.

Thank you to Laura for our wicked pun this week. It’s really tickled me!

And a big team thank you to you all. As James explained at the end of our task, your work means children, families, and anyone else using the park, can now enjoy the area, complete with new, soft grass underfoot, without fear of being cut with stones and twigs; children can play hide-and-seek in the bushes without finding a hidden vodka bottle, and everyone can enjoy new, colourful flower beds.

You are brilliant. Just brilliant. And I can’t wait to do it all again week.

SAVE THE DATE(S)

So. Next week. We’re heading to another new task at the Royal London with Barts Volunteers, to include a stair-climbing challenge – sign up here

…And don’t forget, 30th June is the Good Gym Olympics, so whether you’re a speedy sprinter or an egg-and-spoon enthusiast, please come on board and get this in your diary.

…And speaking of which, on May 28th, our next Bank Holiday run, we’ve got a fabulous Weavers Fields fitness session planned after our task, and then a table booked for 8.45pm at nearby Resident of Paradise Row (thanks Si for the suggestion) to have a quick beer, a catch-up and a GG Olympic chat, so another date to put in your diary.

Wow, what a night (it's not often I start a report with 'wow'). What can I say? 28 runners, not deterred by a ferocious day's freezing cold rain, gathered eagerly on the Town Hall steps to be briefed about an array of exciting tasks at Stepney City Farm.

First briefing, however, tonight was from the director of our Facebook film crew, who were accompanying us to the task. First instruction of the evening was to request runners keep pace with the rickshaw that would be accompanying us around Victoria Park en route to our task. Just another night out with Tower Hamlets GoodGym.

On arrival at the task, teams divided into four: one large group to shovel, wheel and lay woodchip on the outdoor cafe area; another to sift, stack and generally order piles of material behind the tool shed. A third group therapeutically chopped pallets, while groups four and five were tasked with sterilising children's toys and tying sweet peas in the polytunnel. Despite the fact that our task took in a longer-than-usual, picturesque run, all tasks were accomplished in the usual speedy time thanks to a fast - frenzied some might say - work pace. For the second week on the hop, our task owners literally stood in the farm yard shaking their heads at the speed at which the runners worked. Thanks to Patrick who last week introduced wheelbarrow-running, thereby giving the term 'active recovery' a whole new meaning.

As the sun set, we gathered for our group shot, handing over to Claire our task owner, who expressed her heartfelt thanks on behalf of the farm, relieved that so much had been accomplished ahead of the farm's May Day activities next week.

We ran back to the hotel in two groups, to allow the film crew to catch a few more moments of action with a remaining couple of runners.

A very active, and thoroughly enjoyable night out.

Very, very big thank yous and congratulations

Now. To the thank yous and the congratulations...('thank you' and 'well done' doesn't quite do it justice tonight, but I'll have a go...). Thank you to the whole team for being such fun with the film crew, for running at such a great pace with such big smiles around the park and along the canal. Thank you for never losing sight of our goals for the evening and for picking up the pace in such a way that you got more done than ever, in spite of time running away with us.

Well done, and a big welcome, to our new runners tonight: Sophie, Viola, Lieke and Iain. You sprinted, you squatted, you sawed, you spread...you smiled sweetly for the camera...Amazing first night stuff. Please do come and run again soon.

Thanks to Patrick for giving up his t-shirt; to both Patrick and Becky for helping with return-run decision-making; to Patrick, Leanne and Issmaeel for great mid-task interviews; to Patrick, Chris, Dave and Leanne for leading the group back to base, and thank you to Issmaeel for a lovely run and great company as we headed back to base in our wee team of two.

Thank you to our brilliant multi-task force member, Becky, who greeted our new runners tonight and kept an eye on stats.

And lastly, thank you to Dave and Leanne, for leading the run, back-marking and co-navigating; for being on board with the planning, for what was a complex evening to arrange(!)… for being so un-flappable. And for sending route screenshots on a Sunday. You all absolutely rock.

And I for one can't WAIT to see you all, and do it all, again next week (talking of which, on next week’s run we’re sowing grass seed and gardening at Jesus Green. Not only is this a new task in a really pretty spot, it’s also a Bank Holiday, which means you’ll be well rested. And it’s set to be a warm one. So do come and join in the fun – sign up here).

And lastly, trivia-lovers, we need you. This Sunday evening, celebrate it notbeing a school night by joining us at The Coburn Arms from 7.30pm for drinking and pub quiz-ing. We’d LOVE for you to join in the fun, as we rest our legs and challenge the grey matter, so pop your name down here if you think you might fancy coming and giving it a go.

It's a task SOS!

So there we were, all lined up up for a straightforward trip to Stepney Farm when an urgent call came in on Friday from longstanding task owner, Margaret at Hollybush Gardens, explaining that some urgent digging was required for planting in Rocky Gardens. After a great big GG shout-out, many pairs of hands came to the rescue this evening, so we were able to despatch two, impressively-sized teams, to two tasks.

Tonight's intro took place on the Town Hall steps (daylight, warmth...bliss!) as we were a big crowd and felt like we were at a rather crowded house party in our hotel room. After a warm-up in Peel Grove ("Let's play a game: who's got the tightest hip flexors...What do you mean that's not fun? Actually, I'm sure flexibility-shaming's a thing, come to think of it.") we went our separate ways.

Hot footing it to Hollybush

Leanne took the Hollybush team off to see Margaret and Michael, where the team turned over the soil in the planters, ready for new crops to help supply the local food bank; cleared and tidied plant pots and then re-housed some grateful snails. The group then took a long Victoria Park-detour back to the hotel, planned brilliantly by Bryon and Leanne, led and data-recorded by Dave, taking the Hollybush crew to a respectable 5K. Thanks to Gabrielle for some brilliant back-marking.

A fast pace back from the farm

I led the Stepney City Farm team down the road where Clare, our task owner, had several tasks lined up: one team led by Patrick were in charge of woodchip-ing the entire plant shop (a meatier task than I'm making it sound - it involved moving many plants, planters and heavy compost; shovelling and wheeling woodchip) while Lianne was Bin Team Leader (we're still working on a more glamorous task title for her), her team tasked with emptying 10 big bins. Fitness Feat of the Night goes to Patrick for his unstoppable and impressive wheelbarrow-running. After a quick breather to look at the bunnies and piglets, we finished with some delightful lateral lunges, sweeping-leg-planks and our tuck'n'roll-for-the-tum before heading back to base.

Our plan was a tempo run back to pace and 'comfortably hard' was the recommendation. For most of us, it was an 'uncomfortably hard' pace trying to catch Danny who led us back to base, really kicking it up a notch. Thank you Danny - please come back and lead some more speedwork, it was a totally exhilarating end to the task. And a massive well done to Polly for quite a spectacular sprint finish.

What a team

What a night! Thank you everyone - yet again you wowed our task owners with the sheer amount you were able to accomplish.

A very big warm welcome to first time runners Zeina, Jess, Clio and Martin & Rosemary - it was a joy and a privilege to be with you at your first Group Run. Thanks for your smiles, your hard work...thank you for making it a brilliant night. I really do hope you'll join us again very soon.

A big thank you too, this week, to the brilliant Tower Hamlets Task Force: Becky one of our regular running-data gurus and our 'social secretary' (again, the title's a work in progress); Bryon for lots of behind-the-scenes planning with me (and for putting up with weekend planning-panic emails); Leanne also for lots of behind-the-scenes planning and for heading up a fantastic night at Hollybush, and to Dave for leading and recording the route, and our back markers for the night, Patrick and Gabrielle.

When can we do it all again?

Next week, we're back at the farm so do join us for another night to remember - I just can't WAIT to do it all again.

(...Keep your eyes peeled for details of our May 6th gathering at The Coburn where we join forces with Mile End Parkrun for the pub quiz! It's a Sunday but NOT a school night, as it's a long Bank Holiday weekend, so do put the date in your diary).

Let's hear it for warmer, lighter Monday evenings

It was a very enthusiastic group of 31 runners that headed out to popular task location, Weavers Adventure Playground, this evening, where task owner Alex was well prepared for a large group with a total of 4 different tasks. We had a lovely run to the task, with a quieter, more scenic route planned and led by Bryon.

Something for everyone...

On arrival, the team were divided up into: the heavy lifters (as it sounds); the saw-ers (is that a term?) for those fancying their hand at chopping up large planters; the soil crew (or 'the dirt group', as they became affectionately known during the evening) for shifting large amounts of soil, and the creative-thinking group for designing and building steps around the new slide. With team leaders appointed for each micro-task, Alex divided his time between all teams, project-managing and working with the lifters to shift heavy white goods from 'out back'.

The return of the Tower Hamlets signature snack

Half time means Lucky Dip Pick'n'Mix time here in Tower Hamlets - this week, most runners made a beeline for the HobNob bars, with the more health conscious snapping up raisins and - get this - oatcakes.

Pl-anks to Alex, for the use of the hopscotch area

...And so, freshly-fueled, we moved to our fitness session, where, as usual, abs proved to be a particular favourite area to focus on, so well done for putting up with the side-plank crunch and tuck'n'roll demands that were made on your abs, all on the slightly-softer-surface of the playground's hopscotch area. A particular well done to Rhys who, on his first GoodGym run, ended up planking on a hill (albeit accidentally in an attempt to stay at the back of the class), thereby giving his abs a double workout...

Happy customers

We headed back to base, both runners and task owner very much the very satisfied customer. A massive well done to you all, your efforts were clearly very much appreciated by Alex - as he explained, you really helped lighten the load this evening. Thank you for being such fun, so creative, and for persevering with all the tricky tasks, and for not stopping for a second for nearly 45 minutes.

Thank you shout-outs to Bryon for navigating and leading runs to and from the task; Dave for stats; Isha for being co-photographer and for some really fabulous pics, Leanne for brilliant backmarking, for always staying in sight, even with some last minute twists and turns!

...And a very warm welcome

...to our first time runners tonight, Savina, Rhys, Nick, Brian, Yesh, Georgina and to Mi (whose first time it was with the Tower Hamlets crew). You lifted, you lugged; you shovelled, you dug…You were amazing.

...and a very Happy 6th GG Birthday to Pete

Thank you to Pete who joined us for his sixth GG anniversary - was really lovely to see you on your GoodGym birthday.

Well done again Team Tower Hamlets - what a thoroughly upbeat, lively, satisfying and productive Monday night out that was, and I can't WAIT to do it all again next week!