Wednesday 14th March 2018
Report written by Pennie Varvarides
This week 11 GoodGym-ers ran (almost) 6km to help clear litter and piles of random discarded household items from a local nature reserve in the making.
We were joined by THREE new runners! Say hello to Elizabeth, Sam and Rita - Give 'em a cheer
After a quick warm up to mobilise our joints and get our muscles ready for the running, it was time to head of. Alex and Abi helped me lead the way, while Sarah was our trusty back-marker.
Our route was a nice mix of flat, up and down – always a treat, perfect for training for every eventuality! We had a nice down through the park on the way there, where Sarah gave the group a couple of technique points to focus on: commit to the hill. Let your feet move fast, lean forward and don't try to brace. Extend arms if you need to slow yourself down or for added balance.
Once we got to Westbury Banks I gave Luke a call to come and let us in while the gang showed me their best wall sits against the fence.
We quickly got to work clearing loads of litter and discarded stuff that people had thrown over their fences. We filled all of the bags available and made a huge pile of stuff too big to bag for the Saturday team to take away.
Alex and Oisin tackled an epic bed coil that was tangled in lots of mud and chip wood that took almost the entire time. There are photos of this to celebrate their hard work.
We soon packed up and said our goodbyes and made our way to the park for a bit of technique work. Sarah ran back to base with Rita and Sandra while the rest of us worked on body positioning. Tonight was all about that slight forward lean and landing over your foot.
After a few beautiful press ups for good measure it was time to run back to base, putting all the things we learnt to good use.
Next week will be the monthly Haringey social, so there'll be eating after the running. Bring your pocket money.
This week's pun came from the combined brains of Alex, Abi and Oisin
"The Westbury Banks Nature Reserve is a community lead project to transform derelict land into a nature reserve. All work on the site is on a voluntary basis and the management of the site is done free of charge! There are big plans to install a storage unit for the equipment, a mural, a log path with wood chipping, a pond for amphibious for wildlife and a grand insect hotel
See more