Well, who knew that running in the cold and dark could be so romantic? After all, we were running a Valentine’s heart-shaped route (thanks for the visual, Strava). Although, Mark was kicking himself when Kate pointed out that it was in fact Pancake Day before Valentine’s Day this week and oh, wouldn’t it have been much easier to have planned a pancake-shaped route….

We were feeling the love anyway what with all the good we were doing at Silver Birches Care Home in Richmond, our third visit to this residential home tucked away in a quiet leafy neighbourhood and at the end of a long, tree-lined drive. We have filled A LOT of bags with leaves, branches, weeds and the occasional superworm over the course of our three visits to this venue. By the time we left on Monday evening, the tarmac was almost gleaming in our head-torchlight and we had managed to prune the overhanging branches of a stocky little pine tree without a pair of secateurs in sight. Who needs garden tools when you have ingenuity, body weight and sheer bloody mindedness at your disposal?

Not content with the core body workout we’d just given ourselves sweeping, bending, squatting and stretching to clear debris from the drive, Mark then got us working on our stability and strength by doing standing split balances and repetitions of squats and lunges in the care home car park. Treat ‘em mean to keep ‘em keen, eh Mark? ;-)

So, knock yourselves out, GG Richmond, and slather on a thick coating of chocolate Nutella spread on your pancakes this week. You’ve definitely earned it. And in case you’re in need of some inspiration for your Valentine’s card, here is Jenna’s poetry in motion, perfected whilst hanging from a tree branch…

“Roses are red, trees are green, the secateurs were nowhere to be seen.”