On a balmy summer evening when most would be forgiven for heading to the nearest pub garden, 13 GoodGym runners ran 7km to help battle the bind weed threatening to strangle an allotment in Stepney.

In a change from the scheduled programming, the evening’s actives were led by James (of soon to be launching Redbridge fame) and Ken (of recently launched Chelmsford). It could have all gone horribly wrong (not really) had it not been for Anna, Patrick and Bryon who, with way over 100 tasks each, are some of the most experienced GoodGym-ers out there.

After a short run down to Stepney and some hunting for the secret allotment, the team set to work. The sun was out and the guns were out as the bind weed was ripped from the fencing around the allotment and vegetable beds. In 30 minutes the plot went from wild jungle to plantable garden and Andy, owner of the allotment, commented that he had never seen such an amazing turn around in such a short time. Boom!

With the hard work done it was time to have some fun. After a short run to Stepney Green Park the team split in to two groups for a bit of relay madness. A 500m tarmac path runs around the outside of the path and the race was to see which team could complete 6 laps in the fastest time. With the sun out the park was busy and runners had to negotiate dogs, slightly inebriated locals and the small hill. Somewhere along the way we lost count of who was winning, so with everyone feeling the burn we decided to make the whole group a winner and head back to base for some light stretching and some water.

Great work everyone. Here’s the night in numbers. 13 GoodGym members, 7kms run, 6m of fence cleared, 5 bags of mulch spread, 2 teams racing each other and 1 brilliant evening. Normal service resumes next week with the lovely Tom back at the helm and the monthly trip to Stepney City Farm.

Miss it, miss out!

A 17-strong crew of Tower Hamlets GoodGymmers, including two very welcome first-timers, had the honour of preparing the Rocky Park in the Hollybush Estate to go down in the horticultural history books... The garden has been nominated for the RHS Britain in Bloom award having already scooped the regional prize!

After a short run to meet the owners Margaret & Michael, our group set about cutting back the hedges, clearing the moss and weeds from around the raised beds and removing the piles of wood and corrugated sheets from what shall henceforth be known as "Spider Corner".

Following the excellent job done by the team, the next stop was Haggerston Park for a series of drills and intervals. Coach Tom took pleasure in making us can-can up and down the public park (with no doubt a few of us secretly enjoying it) but all in the aid of good running form and technique.

Four 1-minute fast-paced runs and some paired shuttle runs around the perimeter of the park finished off the session. Well done to all - an excellent effort and best of luck from all of us to Rocky Park for Thursday's Britain in Bloom judging!

Alexander.

It's Twitter's 10th anniversary, and what better way to celebrate than by constructing a run report from tweets?

So, we had both a task and a mission tonight.

Danica, Aidan and Debbie were the missioners.

Danica (@DanicaPriest) tweeted:

We ran 6k to change 90yo Constance's curtains on a @GGIsling mission. Constance cracked up at @ajpadfield 's joke & Buster the cat was cute

Aidan (@ajpadfield) added:

Enjoyed a longer run with these two Lovely to meet @DanicaPriest coach, a very chatty and funny woman. (photo of Aidan, Debbie and Danica attached)

The rest of us, including first timers Helen and Andrew, and first timers to Islington Mo/Mohammed/Mush and Steve headed up to West London Mission - who provide a hostel and counselling services - to help clear up their back garden.

As Kike (@kagunbiade) explains:

short and sweet this week. We managed to get loads of garden clearing done inc destroying some nasty trailing brambles.

Patrick (@patrickluonguk) describes how Simon found a bone and wasn't sure what to do with it: (photo of Simon looking surprised at bone attached)

The bone of contention! Does a bone count as litter or compost? Where did it end up @SimonLoughran?

Post run we hit the fields for a combination of exercises and a continuous relay.

Graham (@guywholikesmuse) says:

Sprints into lunges was total #mondaynightmadness - great burst of energy to finish off the session

Alex (@alxndrleon) summarised the evening in a poem:

this week - just half a mile, raking dirt in piles, relay time trials and all round smiles :)

And Steve (@steveleedesign) did the whole evening with emojis (which doesn't display very well here. See photos for the full set):

⏰🏃🏽🏃🏽🏃🏽🌌🌒🔦🔦🔦🍃🍃🌿🌳🌿🍃🍪🍪🍪🍃🌿🌿📸✌️😬🌳🌲🏃🏽🚼🚶🏾🏃🏽💪🏼🏃🏽🚼🏃🏽🚶🏻🔄🔄🔄🔥😳😮👍👊💯

Simon (@simonloughran) wasn't happy with the outcome of the social media debate and expressed his rage via a tweet:

We discuss the important questions at @ggisling and Facebook beat Twitter in the big debate last night #wrongoutcome

Biscuit of the week was announced pre-run by @ggisling itself:

Get down! (with a photo attached of three bags of new Digestive Nibbles)

So, there you have it. A big thanks to WLM and Anita for hosting us. We hope to be back soon and make a real project of it.

See you next week for a trip to Thornhill Square and some Hot (or cold) Cross Buns

Simon