It was sandemonium!

Not ones to be put off by a bit of rain, 21 awesome athletes covered 8km of running, sanded numerous floorboards and cleaned a kitchenful of cupboards.

No first-timers today, but what a joy it was to welcome Lucy back after what feels like forever! We missed you Lucy! Stepping right back into it, she took on the role of back-marker, with Helen for company, top team.

After last week's epic Medal Monday, this evening felt quiet in comparison, so plenty of time to contemplate just how wonderful it is that no fewer than seven of our runners have been to visit an older person for a chat in the past week. Well done Monica, Anita, Nykolette, Conroy, Jacqueline, Rebecca (and I went to see my coach on her almost 88th birthday too).

Comic Sands

This week's task was taking us back to Goldsmiths Community Centre (it's been a while), so a long run of 8km in total, WITH A HILL! Since our last visit, so much has been happening, with the new cafe and charity shop really taking shape. This will provide a focus for the building, where groups can meet and local residents can come and breathe life into this purpose-built community centre. Our job was to sand the recently revealed floorboards, making them ready for varnishing. A team of willing sanders put on masks, grabbed some sandpaper and blocks and worked hard on a patch of floor...the noise was immense! Those who found the dust a bit too much, were tasked with pulling out the contents of the kitchen cupboards and giving them a jolly good clean.

Normally at our tasks there is a lot of chatter, but our sanders could barely hear themselves think, with the scratchy sound echoing around the empty room. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the radio was on, the talk was flowing and the Lady Di and Monster Munch mugs were being passed around. It really was a task of two halves. It was interesting to see how people's true character could be revealed in their sanding style, we had the:

• follow one floorboard all the way along the room

• sprawl belly-down, creating a human-shaped patch (crime scene alert!)

• neatly sand yourself into a corner

• take off a whole layer of wood

• work in every which way, like a dusty starburst

It was definitely one of those tasks that you don't appreciate until you step back and survey the space. Fantastic work everyone, you really made a big dent in this challenging job (I have a feeling we'll be back!).

Cups away, masks and smooth sandpaper discarded, water sipped down dry throats, group photos taken; it was time to go. The return leg from here always feels so much easier, with a nice downhill stretch to take us home. Those of us who arrived back first found a patch of wall (window) to sit against, willing our fellow runners to appear around the corner. A brief respite with some toe-taps and we were back at the wall, good work. As we stretched, we looked ahead to next week, when we will return to the Albany Garden, to fill some new raised beds with compost and shift some massive logs, sign up here to commit to a great upper body workout :)