FORKhestral MANUREvres in the dark

On a surprisingly mild late October evening, 26 talkative runners took to Lewisham's busiest streets to visit Besson Street Community Garden, covering 6.5km along the way.

Thank you to Chris for this outstanding title pun, surely a contender for International Pun of the Month (or indeed year)?!

As is usual about this time on a Monday evening, we found ourselves singing the praises of our fellow GoodGym Lewisham lovelies. This week we were celebrating Nykolette being mission- and coach-verified (this means she can now be paired with an older person for a weekly visit) and having gone straight out and done her first mission at the weekend (after a post-breakfast race, of course. Machine!). In his absence we commented on our regular racy racer, Stephen adding yet another medal to his collection, he is unstoppable!

Lots of regulars with us tonight, some runners returning after a bit of a break (welcome back Kat and Eve!) and two new faces in Dan (who is not entirely new to GoodGym, but new to SE13) and Milly, welcome, welcome, welcome!

Getting diggy with it

Thank you Emma for that beauty!

We got to know each other's names, we warmed up a bit (I have no idea why I thought I needed to double-layer tonight, I was definitely getting ahead of myself) and then ran along the Lewisham Way towards New Cross. It's been a while since we've been in this direction and we've never been as far as New Cross Gate, so woah! It's always a delight to visit a new task venue and this really was a treat. The Besson Street Community Garden is a rather special place, with all sorts of activities happening throughout the week. Our focus for the evening was to spread 8 tonnes of manure across the site, covering the various beds and digging the (well rotted) mixture in. The space is big, with lots of little nooks and crannies and we were lucky to have some heavy-duty (and seemingly heavy to carry!) lights to help us see, thank you!

At the task, we were met by Monica, who had been delayed en route but didn't want to miss the action. Yesterday Monica had been on a mission (the very same one where Nykolette debuted) and had completed her 50th good deed! This is incredible, since many of these have been coach runs or missions, with some group runs for the fun of it. Monica has become a really valued member of our community and is so supportive, often volunteering at Hilly Fields parkrun, cheering people on before she rushes off to a mission. Congratulations Monica, we're very proud of you!

MANure good!

All my own work, that one.

All around the garden, little pockets of activity were happening, with ground being dug and levelled, to make way for a shed. In another spot, the manure was being dug-in to create a nutrient-dense bed for a new Mulberry tree and a Fig. Elsewhere leaves were being raked and gathered, and all around, wheelbarrows came and went, distributing soil and manure where it was needed. Jill, our task-owner this evening, pointed out that the equivalent of around 25 hours of work had been completed tonight, excellent work, everyone!

Once we had made use of the superb lighting to capture a group photo, we ran back towards Glass Mill. Tonight's was a longer run, of around 6.5km in total, with Conroy and Caireen being our wonderful back-markers - thank you. On our return to our start point, we made good use of the curvy bench that wends its way to the entrance ('Stop!' I shouted, as everyone ran past it!), the perfect spot for some impromptu push-ups and tricep-dips. A few little #planktobers and it was time to stretch. Only one more week of #planktober to go, make it count! If you've lapsed (looks the other way and tuts quietly), never mind, pick it back up again!

Next week is also going to be AMAZING! We are very, very excited to be helping Big Red Box, by sorting and packing donations of food - expect a 5km run in total, a very speedy and fun task and a guaranteed warm glow. Sign up here to make it even more fantastic.