Play, Sow and Grow. And Paint.

Matt Atkins writes:A number of injuries to the regular runners meant that the previously small West Ham group was reduced to just two; me and Mark. We had a short 2k run ahead of us to get to the 'Play, Sow and Grow' community centre, where there were some interior walls that needed painting.After a swift jog through Memorial park to sticker any fellow runners with the "fit for purpose" slogan, we began our first leg. We intentionally set the pace a bit quicker than usual as the run was significantly shorter. There were a few minor detours on the way, our navigation skills not being quite up to scratch, but we still got there in good time.The 'Play, Sow and Grow' community centre is a fantastic place for kids and parents. It has both indoor and outdoor activities in the evenings, weekends and holidays. They're growing fruit & veg, keeping chickens, and have plenty of play area, including tree houses.As we arrived we met Candy, the centre manager, who took to the coach role like a duck to water. She tooled us up and spurred us on to get as much as we could done within the hour we had at hand. We all agreed that we should tackle the ceiling first as that'd be the most difficult for any of the less athletic volunteers that'd be finishing this job off after we have left. We got straight to it, and only paused to warn the spectators back away from the flying paint that might land on their lovely clothes.The room was pretty big, it appeared to have previously been two double bedrooms knocked through into one. But the paint was taking to ceiling well and we surprised ourselves with how quickly we got it covered. Using the rollers on the ceiling was pretty tough on the shoulders, so I switched arms often to get an even workout. After that there was plenty of time left for us to tackle most of the walls.We got a good number of paint specs and splatters on ourselves, but this did little to slow our progress or lower our spirits. Candy was overwhelmed with how much of it we covered. She asked if we also did people's homes, and said that we could save a lot of marriages if we did.As ever the run back was tougher than the run there. But we kept the pace up and got back in no time. The final good-feel kicker was when we got back to the changing rooms and leanred that the paint washes off easily. My running clothes are now 100% paint free after just one cold machine wash. Phew.