A London Fields fairytale

18 Runners ran 10k to shift rubbish from an allotment in Hackney Downs

With Ade away, Jasmine led 18 of us out into a foggy, frosty night, for a bigger run than usual, five thousand metres to a community allotment near Hackney Downs!

"gazelle-like leaps and bounds"

The prefect safari photographer, Ivo documented our gazelle-like leaps and bounds through the obstacle-strewn Kingsland Road. Most of the obstacles were people, and some were so caught up with the spirit of GoodGym they (briefly) ran alongside. Chat is heavily encouraged at GoodGym, and I'm sure they could tell we were having fun. Likely converts for next week, I suspect.

"heavily padlocked allotments"

After a maze of roads, out of puff we found the estate and the heavily padlocked allotments, and some unmissable high rise Christmas decorations! With Laurence's headtorch, the lock gave up it's treasure; a doorway to a secret garden nestled between garages and storage lockers.

"not Sleeping Beauty"

Like 18 individual versions of Prince Charming, we fought our way through thickets of brambles towards our prize: not Sleeping Beauty, but a small hillock of rubbish. Under elaborately strung up arc lighting, many hands rapidly cleaned up the gardens, and then tools appeared to hack back the thorn infestation. We split into three; one group who would beat a steady retreat back to Coffee Is My Cup of Tea; a speedy group who would head for some calisthenics in Hackney Downs; and a group of bramble-haters led by Jasmine who would finish off the gardens, so never again would an innocent visitor receive a pricking.

" hearts increasingly palpitating"

I joined the Hackney Downs group, and we zigzagged around the park, hearts increasingly palpitating from bursts of sprinting. Then we raced back, slipping past long traffic jams, and perfectly synchronising our homecoming with the steady group.

What fairytale awaits us next week? The plunging temperature is sending London in a Narnia-esque direction; will we be skiing 10k next Tuesday?

Phil McDonald

A 10K Run

Last night eighteen runners arrived at Coffee Is My Cup of Tea ready to face a 10k run to support work on a community allotment space in Hackney.

This was my first time leading a GoodGym run but it was great to see so many people! Briefed and warmed up we headed off through Broadway Market, past Haggerston Park and up Kingsland Road. After keeping up a steady pace we arrived at the allotment with 15minutes to blitz the task.

"a lovely big pile of rubbish"

The Tower Hamlets group had finished off a lot of the weeding and turning of the soil at the allotment the night before but had left us a lovely big pile of rubbish (thanks guys!). With 18 runners we cleared the pile in record time and even had time to cut back some brambles making it easier for visitors to the allotment to walk along the path.

"feeling proud"

We divided into three groups on the way back; a steady more direct route home led by Lauren, a faster 5k run with Ivo and a steady 5k run back with me. Arriving back at Coffee is My Cup of Tea sweating despite the cold weather and feeling proud of how hard we all pushed ourselves over the 10k, we stretched out and headed home for some well deserved dinner!!

Jasmine Morris