Prong side of the tracks

Sixteen sprightly souls sprinted southwards towards Crofton Park, to cover 5km of running and to weed, dig, lift, shift and pull a whole load of shrubbery.

It was all happening tonight, all of it. We had returning wanderers (hello and welcome back Steve and thank you for this week's delightful pun), we had a visitor (hello Michael, all the way from Southwark), we had someone who has given GoodGym a try before and fancied seeing how we do things in SE13 (hey there Daniel) and we had two absolute first time GoodGym runners (all our Lewisham Love to Andy and Iitmari). We might have had lots of new faces, but we were missing a few people, with Kim, James, Mridula and Conroy choosing to take their good over to help an older person reclaim her garden, which had got a little out of hand - well done you four for tackling a Monday mission!

Our thoughts were also with Caireen, who suffered a leg-warmer malfunction at the weekend, get well soon, we missed you tonight!

It really was a lovely evening to run in a group, chatting as we went, with Steve kindly bringing up the rear as back-marker, making sure we didn't leave anyone behind. A few friendly toots and waves and we were soon at Crofton Park Community Garden, alongside the railway station platform. This week we were met by Kay, who was already working at pruning a beautiful lush sage, the scent wafting over as we filed through the gate. There were a number of tasks to tackle tonight, with some grabbing wheelbarrows and straight away getting stuck in with shifting some breeze blocks, bricks and slabs from one side of the garden to the other, with Velile doing a lovely job of piling them in a Jenga/Tetris mashup stack.

Cocktail party!

In other areas, people worked hard cutting back some overgrown daisies, then digging out the roots to clear the bed for some more planting. Around paths, workers pruned and, as he brushed against the fresh mint, Chris got us onto the subject of cocktails (yes, the smell of mint reminds him of mojitos!). We discussed the medicinal benefits of the various plants around us, dandelion leaves, rosemary, ginger (which set Chris off on a daydream about a ginger/whiskey concoction...) and enjoyed the results of Jacqueline and Stephen's treasure hunting trail.

All the time, we wondered if our mission magicians might make an appearance and, with it being Conroy's 50th good deed, how we might spice up this week's run report with a whole load of Conroy-themed puns. Emma was enjoying playing around with the old 'Oy-oy!', with 'Oy-oy-Conr-oy!'. This grew rapidly, until we had a rousing rendition of...Oggy, oggy oggy! Conroy-oy-oy! We're pretty sure the people of Crofton Park appreciated our efforts, even if the man himself was off down the road, pulling up weeds in another garden.

Once all the tools had been gathered, off-cuts and weeds had been added to the vast compost heap and the various bits of broken glass and priceless treasures had found a new home, we were all set to take on the wonderful Hilly Fields. We said our goodbyes and we're pretty sure Kay will come and join us soon for some fitness fun :)

When you run to Hilly Fields, you are inevitably going to run up a hill, it's what you do, but people were a little surprised when I didn't ask them to come back down and repeat it. I'm really, really sorry if you wanted to repeat the hills over and over, but I know you keep going off and doing this by yourselves, so tonight was all about our cores.

The HiiT where we all got BiiT (thank you Jacqueline)

We hit the top for a round of HiiT (though words escaped me completely at this point, maybe it was the altitude). We worked for thirty seconds and rested for thirty, working through rounds of squat throws (not sure of this is what you call them, but hey), plank jacks, lunge knee-ups, partner plank hi-fives and a good old front plank. Everyone worked so well and with such great commitment to form that I treated them to a couple of side planks for the occasion. Any activity up here is on the promise of a downhill home, so off we went, allowing gravity to take us back to Glass Mill. As we stretched, we noticed some red t-shirts in the distance, as our intrepid mission controllers strode over to join us.

Forming a guard of honour, we cheered Conroy in, smiling with pride as he completed his 50th good deed, well done! Our new-comers might have been a little shocked at this point, as we athletes shunned the healthy lifestyle and scoffed the various celebratory offerings. Thank you to Mridula, who had made the most delicious chocolate doughnut cakes, to Steve, who had brought what seemed to be a GoodGym branded sweet and to Conroy himself, who redressed the sweet balance with some satsumas (and chocolates).

On a sugar high, we sail towards next week, when we will revisit Wildcat Wilderness for a 7k run and what is usually a good physical task in an oasis of calm. Come and join us, by signing up here.