Patchwork & Hill Sprints

8 runners ran 5k, and in 40mins cleared a 20 by 5 metre growing patch for Morpeth School and ran 6x100m hill intervals.

Last night 8 runners met at Coffee Is My Cup of Tea for the regular Tuesday night group run and set off through the dark streets of Hackney to Morpeth School in Bethnal Green. When we arrived we met Rizwana, one of the teachers from the school who is turning an empty patch of ground around the new school building into a growing space.

At the moment the garden is weed filled and overgrown, though there was evidence of the students having started planting this week. We started by moving the newly built compost bin into place before setting about filling it with weeds. The ground was very soft, making it easy to pull up the weeds and turn the soil over, but having the side effect of creating the muddiest running shoes you've ever seen. Newcomers, Cat and Jenny, got right stuck in and Rizwana was glad of our help.

We left Morpeth School with an enormous space for the students to get on with planting and set off on a slightly longer run home. As we crossed the bridge from Meath Gardens to Mile End Park, Ade announced that we were going to do some intervals. With some trepidation we set off on six loops, sprinting up the slope to the centre of the bridge and then jogging back down to recover. Intervals are one thing, but intervals with an incline? Torture! Everyone really went for it though and Simon stormed it, completing his final lap as I started mine.

After a few minutes recovery we jogged back along the unlit canal to Coffee Is My Cup Of Tea with bike lights and head torches lighting our way and to prevent anyone taking an unexpected dip. 

Last night was a particularly exciting run for me as it was my 50th GoodGym group run. To mark it I was presented with a black GoodGym t-shirt that I will wear with pride and smugness going forward. It did get me thinking about when I first turned up at York Hall 18 months ago on a drizzly Monday evening, unsure about what I was getting myself into. I returned home from that first run raving about GoodGym and have been hooked ever since.

Lauren Garland