Foxy Shady

As the sun went down, seven runners ran up and over Crystal Palace Park, picking litter and covering 3km along the way

We opened our evening with lots of talk about community missions, since we have two coming up in our area in the next few weeks. On Sunday October 14th, we are joining the Friends of Baxter Fields, who are having a bulb planting session. We can join in with the planting, or we can carry on with some painting, as it will be light! You can read more and sign up here. Another opportunity has arisen on Thursday October 18th, when two of our runners, Jenn and Ben, will be performing in a concert with their orchestra, the South East London Orchestra. We have been invited to help out at the concert, with jobs such as handing out programmes, serving wine and nibbles and, best of all, we get to enjoy the music too! All the details and sign-up are here.

With our planned task having to be postponed until the spring (yes, this feels like a very long time away!), we had the chance to do something different in our area this evening. We often pick up litter at our tasks, but sometimes it's good to make that our focus for the evening and really blitz and area. Running into the park, we grabbed litter-pickers, hoops, bags and gloves from the container (I was very impressed with Kat at this point, who had brought her own litter-picker!). After a little warm-up in the dark, we ran alongside the water of the lake and found that this area was actually quite bright, with the massive floodlights of the running track lighting our way. Time to pause and pick (this is a thoroughfare from the train station, so is often pretty messy). As I wandered, I noticed some people sitting at one of the benches, with a fox right next to them! He/she was so tame, picking through bits of discarded food, eyes lit up by my head-torch.

Outside the station we found that the parking area is a dumping ground, it seems by fans of McDonald's, so our pickers were clicking busily, as commuters poured out of the station, set on getting home. At this point I can explain our title pun. There is a little green space near the station, with trees and a bench and, as Bradley pointed out, is usually home to the 'shady fellas'. Well, these shady fellas are partial to a few cans and certainly kept us busy (as did fox number two, who ducked in and out as we worked).

Our journey continued back into the park, where we observed the military fitness gang, a music video recording and the comings and goings of the many other activities that happen here in the evening. Finding the most well-lit area, outside the sports centre, we downed tools (and now heavy bags) and warmed up for a fitness session (tonight's run had become more of a chat and walk...which was quite nice actually!). Heart rates up, muscles fired, we got stuck in to some HiiT, with rounds of mountain-climbers, burpees, high-knees and squat-jumps. Stuart made even more friends as we rounded off, by suggested a quick plank, thanks Stuart!

After our run, a few of us stayed behind for a quick drink, deciding that our bigger social should wait until next Tuesday, when some of our other regulars should be back. We wish strong legs and heart to Louise, who is taking on her first 10k race this Sunday at Petts Wood (don't forget to drive those arms up the hills Louise!) and we also wished congratulations to Kat, who took part in Swim Serpentine the other week, putting me to shame by doing it in just a cossie!

See you next Tuesday, when we will visit one of our favourite tasks over at Sydenham Community Library.