Back on Track

A floodlit twelve raked, scooped, shovelled, bagged, barrowed, dug, swept and leapt at Ladywell Arena, covering a total of 6km, including a challenging and breath-taking track session.

Light was already fading outside Glass Mill, as eleven regulars and one new-comer - hello Kate, welcome to GoodGym Lewisham - got together to take Monday by the scruff of the neck and give it a jolly good shake. We heard some great - and inspiring - news about our fellow runner Roni, who took on the Bournemouth Marathon on Sunday and looked as fresh as a daisy in her medal shot, complete with GoodGym red nails, really well done Roni! Also competing at the weekend were a whole heap of other GoodGym Race Team members, over in Cardiff, at the half-marathon. There were some impressive PBs smashed and lots of very strong, determined running all round. Well done also to Kim, who did her first Hilly Fields parkrun and Stephen for getting that elusive PB! Aren't we surrounded by inspiring people?!

Time now for a quick head-count and warm-up, with a little game to test our brains (and flexibility?), where we linked hands, getting in a bit of a tangle and had to weave and twist our way out into a wider circle. This was done impressively quickly, with only a few pauses to rewind; these runners are clearly well-practised Twister pros. A swift run around (or away from) as we played Can't Remember the Name of the Game Game, is it British Bulldog, I don't know? Conroy was 'it' and chased people down, they stood still and could be un-itted (yes) by someone else crawling through their legs. Heart rates were definitely higher now, especially poor Conroy's!

I led the way, with Conroy offering to be back-marker and headed over towards Ladywell, sweeping around Marsala Road, across Ladywell Road and through Ladywell Fields to our task for the evening. This change in light has felt sudden and our abundance of summer time gardening tasks has decrease as autumn creeps on, so what a treat to have a task that is still outdoors but floodlit! Ladywell Arena is a running track, gym and football pitch at the edge of Ladywell Fields. Our task for the evening involved various jobs to keep the grounds looking spick and span. One group gathered massive rakes, shovels, a wheelbarrow and a brush and pulled back the cover to reveal a rather compacted looking long jump. Kris, the manager of the arena, showed us how the grass along the edge grows over the slabs and ends up getting into the sand, so spades were angled to neaten this edge, lifting unwanted sods into the waiting (if slightly sad and deflated) wheelbarrow, to be moved elsewhere (well done Gaby with manoeuvring that one!).

Meanwhile, over on the opposite corner, Team Leaf were in action with rakes, brushes, bags and a spade, trying to scoop up all the leaves (I have a feeling this might become a feature of upcoming tasks for the next few weeks!). As work went on, the track was a hive of activity, with runners being put through their paces by their coach, sprinters gracefully performing tricky hurdle drills withknees high and an energetic set of sprints were being run across the diagonal of the football pitch, breath hanging suspended in the crisp floodlit air.

A dash over to the long jump revealed a little detour from the task, with Team Leap creating their own fitness session, hopping, skipping and jumping and showing off just how much they studied the Olympic Games earlier in the summer (podium spots were grabbed by Anita and Stephen, who demonstrated some lovely leaping action). The sand was looking excellent now, thanks to some serious raking from Caireen.

Team Leaf were quickly completing their challenge and were by now tying up bags and storing them for collection later in the week. An impressive eight (or was it even nine?) bags were filled and the area around the 100m stretch was looking much, much better. The long jump was covered up, tools were stacked and hands were washed before part two of the track challenge got going.

When I had mentioned in the pre-run briefing that we were going to a running track, there were a few groans, some smiles and a few comments about how people hadn't run on a track 'for years', 'since school' or 'ever'! By now the track was quiet and offered us the perfect opportunity to have a go and see what it's all about. A lap at conversation pace was jogged, regrouping near the steps, with a quick transition into the main set before everyone cooled down. For this first track session, we did a version of Yasso 800s: 800m repeats, with the recovery period being the same time as the time taken to run two laps. We had a short lesson in track etiquette, so everyone was clear about where to run and off we went.

Three little clusters quickly formed, with James, Stephen and Conroy peeling away, pulling each other along and pushing hard to the line. It was interesting to see our runners in this setting, looking all serious and driving hard to set a time. Each of the three groups that formed pushed and pulled, encouraging each other and there were shouts of support as each runner came in. Bodies crumpled to the ground, having given their best and looks of disbelief were replaced by looks of determination when they realised there would be more than one set! Impressively, people managed to maintain pace and pretty much match their previous lap times - really well done!

So, with our first track session smashed and some fears/apprehension overcome, we were gathering to take our return run to Glass Mill. Ladywell Fields can be poorly lit in the evening, so we took the curly bridge (or spirally bridge, or wiggly bridge - everyone seems to have a different name for this!) and said goodbye to Kim. Sadly, Kim missed out on the ginger cake, which had initially been baked to mark my Great British Bake Off baker Rav, being kicked out on Wednesday. But what do you know, it was also Stephen's birthday (yes, GoodGym runners even come along on their birthday), so our post-run treat was accompanied by a rousing little Happy Birthday and a slightly embarrassed looking Steve :)

So much news today! Sunday will be a big one, with a whole bunch of us heading over to Petts Wood for the 10k race. This might be a first for some of our runners, but it's a lovely friendly race, through a pretty setting and we will all be in our GoodGym red and giving each other lots of support. Next week is #runandtalk day, so sign up for our group run and join us afterwards for a little social, probably some Turkish food near our start point. Yum.