Monday 13th May 2019
Report written by Chi Nwa
First, a big congratulation to everyone who took part in Sofia and a extra applause to James and Sally who did the run with us yesterday even though they just did a long run the day before. We also had Laura turn up after doing a casual 80 mile bike ride with a big fall of the bike in the middle. Glad she was able to make. You all deserve a nice rest.
During the introduction, I realised we had quite a few new runners. So welcome once again. As a quick count with everyone saying their favourite food and drink (Mainly Cheese and Gin with a surprising Pina Colada vote), we were off to the Rose Bowl.
It was a short 15 min run with the beautiful weather giving the runners a reason to smile and talk about. It was great to see the current GoodGym runners talk to the new ones. As we entered the venue and had a look around, we knew that we were going to be in for a mighty task of weed clearing.
The teams were unevenly split in two with the smaller group tackling the face of building and the larger taking on behemoth edge of the bowl which looked like a full on weed invasion with the paths and other paved parts looking less than inviting.
As I was walking past trying to capture the perfect profile picture for some of the runners social media, the discussions I came across included:
-What some people work as which included office jobs and community jobs.
-Other runs that people do which i think i heard someone mention about their parents showing off their parkrun time to their son as a sign of encouragement.
-The UK citizenship test which one of the GoodGym runners has passed (Well done). The test consist of some pretty serious questions that could have an Nigel Farage questioning his Britishness. One of the runners has tried to take Citizenship test from around the world and and the UK one is one of the hardest.
-One of the groups was just working in silence with determined faces to complete the job before the time is up.
There was a pretty significant job that had been done. We can now see the pathway edges and also the hidden bit of pavement that was being covered by green hue of weeds but it looks like we might need another visit to finish the job.
On the way back I decided to do squeeze in an easy fitness sessions to make Paul proud. This included planks, sit-ups and leg raises.
Thank you all for enduring me. Hope to see you all again soon for a fitness session. Paul will be back next week.
Tue 14th May 2019 at 1:39pm
Great photos and report cheers Chi for a fun evening!
Tue 14th May 2019 at 2:01pm
Thanks for the fun start and extra training session! It was a great evening!
Tue 14th May 2019 at 3:45pm
Thanks for a fun and unique run last night Chi - fab photos!
Islington
Special hedge planting project with the Friends of City Gardens