Forget-Me-Not St John

Five athletes were eager to embrace the evening sun, running a total of 5km - including a seemingly endless, long hill in Greenwich Park - up and over to Blackheath, where we helped Depaul Charity make the outdoor space at one of their centres more inviting for residents. A chilled and chatty evening was then rounded off with some core work on the grass.

Tonight we welcomed back last week's newcomers Chris and Priyanka, we said hello again to Sarah and we gave a collective high-five to Alex, who ran the Hackney Half Marathon on Sunday in that heat. He told us how much support he received around the course from GoodGym runners and marshals and how he found the heat tough, which made us even more impressed with his excellent time :) We had all cooled down a bit in the shade, so took to the beautiful Greenwich grass for a warming game of shin-tag. Oh what fun Adele had, pairing people of differing height, to make it even harder to reach below the knee...evil laugh...We did some drills and thought about our arms, which we would most definitely need on our outward run.

After a day of torrential rain, which left nearby Lewisham flooded, we were delighted and frankly surprised to find ourselves trotting through a dry and warm (possibly a bit too humid for our energy levels) Greenwich Park, the birds chirruping around us and local residents emerging to walk their dogs and air their toes again. Alex and Sarah discovered they are both running the Edinburgh Marathon in a couple of weeks, so talk turned to previous marathons, PBs and how pricey it is to stay in Edinburgh, but how lovely to spend a weekend away to run a big race. Ahhh. We all have different goals, we have our marathon runners, we have our new-to-running runners and we have our wanting-to-get-back-into-football runners, all brought together with a common goal tonight: to get to Depaul Charity in St John's and get that garden looking rosy!

We were welcomed in by Wesley, who told us about the charity and the work they do, helping young people get back on their feet and into permanent accommodation. The charity have a cluster of residences in the borough and help the young people towards employment and independence. We found a really lovely, calm outside space, with seating and borders that are currently full of flowering forget-me-nots. The borders are also home to sprouting sods of grass and a good helping of goose-grass - ouch! Everyone donned gloves, grabbed a tool and got stuck in, chatting while weeds were pulled, leaves were swept and worms were relocated.

So why the title? We wondered, why the name forget-me-not? Well, there seem to be various stories, sometimes tragic, but definitely mostly leaning towards the romantic. The flowers have been worn by women as a symbol of faithfulness and enduring love, they were given by soldiers to their sweethearts and were even adopted by King Henry IV as his symbol, during his exile in 1398. St John? This relates to the area we were in tonight and what or who is St John the patron saint of? Love, loyalty, friendships and authors.

We gathered our tools, put three full sacks to one side and swept away the last of the moss and weeds. We sipped some much-welcome water then said our goodbyes until next time.

Thankfully, our return was of the flat and downhill variety, with a pause to enjoy a seriously balmy and hazy view across to the Dome, Canary Wharf and a superb point in the Thames that sweeps away from the Cutty Sark and around towards Woolwich. A steep downward slope and a deep intake of breath, the air was smelling so good after all that rain! All the trees are now lush, there is blossom hanging everywhere and we talked briefly about the incredible sweet chestnuts that are in abundance in the park in the Autumn...until, for some reason, we got onto nuts in general and the conversation turned a bit smutty.

Tsk.

Moving on.

Core!

Yes, our run was good and strong, but our cores could do with some work. So we got down and gritted our teeth. Breathe! We planked, we side planked, we pressed up and down, we stretched, we stretched some more and we talked about next week's task and the post-run social we have planned - come and join us! There will be drinks (Meantime, yum) and...there will be ice cream!