A 2018 vintage - subtle aromas of windowlene and paint

So big news tonight, Laura's off to Portugal for a couple of months (we'll miss you Laura!) & Jon ran his longest ever run on Sunday. Jason & Polly joined us for their first run & Leah was back for her second. Well done all!

Under a bright red sky, we warmed up on Richmond Green. With a definite autumnal chill in the air, the warm up was more necessary than it has been for a long time. Mark got us going with a shout of 'Let's get lunging' as we did a 'round the clock' set in every direction. Then we split up into pairs to do drills. After meeting a confused member of the public who was concerned about our warmup methods, we hopefully set his mind at ease and got on with our run.

We headed out along the river & across Petersham Meadow. With our head torches on we did our best to stay together. Jon did laps back & forth between the front group & the back, in an effort to keep us together, so if his strava says he did more than the 5.5k, you know it's not lying!

We knew something else must be in store though as this seemed much too straight forward! Sure enough hill sprints awaited us. Up Nightingale Lane, 5 times for those who could manage. Anita & Jenna took the sensible option of heading back towards Petersham & up the 'not for the faint hearted' Star & Garter Hill.

Were we drunk on fun from the warm up in that photo? Or were we just imagining how we would feel after those hills?

Those of us doing the Hill sprints set off as fast as we could, powering ourselves up the steep incline. It certainly was a challenge and the sting of the cold air on the lungs warranted a quick break at the top & a gentle jog down. But back up we went with Laura commenting that Aran must have motors in his trainers at the speed he was going! We were all feeling pretty pleased with ourselves, only to be suddenly over taken by a man pushing a buggy! Having ducked out of the last hill sprint, Holly & I set off after him in a real effort to catch him... but he was just too good!

After a quick group picture at the top of the hill, we set off to the Vineyard community centre knowing it was not far away & thankfully all down hill now. Desiree was waiting for us with water & Samia was there waiting for us too :)

No pane, no gain!

Tonight's tasks for the hardworking Vineyard Community Centre was to clean the windows, move some slabs in the garden and paint the glass doors on the summer house. With so many pairs of hands we made light work of all the jobs, although those slabs were very heavy!

Before we knew it Mark was calling time & gathering us up for another group photo. As a thank you to us, Desiree brought out some great cakes. So, as is almost a vineyard task tradition now, we ran back to Wholefoods carefully cradling slices of red velvet, chocolate fudge or lemony Madeleines. Mmm delicious!

Well done everyone, you deserve a "slab on the back!"

As mentioned in the news tonight, ETNA are crowdfunding for a new kitchen , if you wish to know more details on how to give your support or see the video we featured in for the centre then get in touch with Mark.

Also, please don't forget, if you wish to join the task on 8th October at Kew Gardens station then please sign up by end of Friday this week