Buzzing and barking up the right tree…

Steph is taking some well deserved annual leave at the mo, although did pop in to hand over the gloves and (luckily not needed) first aid kit to Pascale and received in return a birthday bottle of red and a running-related gift to take away with her as she celebrates a landmark birthday this weekend (yes that's right, 21 again!)

Our GoodGym runners hit the streets and headed through Bath and out along the London Road, taking advantage of the copious number of traffics lights to drop sets of squats and lunges.

Tonights run destination was The Alice Park Community Garden. When it was set up back in 2010 it was just a piece of wasteground hidden away in a corner of the park but six years later it consists of vegetable beds, fruit trees, a wildlife pond and a gorgeous willow artwork centrepiece which is the culmination of a collaboration between artist and the year 7 cohort from a local school.

Our fabulous host Kathy explained that the recent delivery of bark needed moving to the floor of the artwork and to create paths between the raised vegetable beds. She described the GoodGym runners task force as "something out of a fairytale" so we promptly set about to work our magic.

Emily, Paul, Rob and Sam created a wheelbarrow convoy, manoeuvring deftly between the vegetables to deliver endless supplies of bark which Rosie and Pascale distributed and raked in a zen-like frenzy. That we were few in numbers definitely didn't show in our task achievements, we made a massive dent in the bark pile and created clearly defined paths and a floor to showcase the willow sculptures.

After downing tools (and putting them away neatly of course) we had a photo op next to the fantastic art work and were generously offered delicious fresh vegetables to take back with us so we ran the home stretch in the rain with courgettes in our backpacks and beetroots and onions dangling from our hands!

A final lap past the picturesque weir along the river completed our 6km, with little time left to cool down, we wished Paul the best of luck in redeeming his Brewhouse beer prize from the Quiz night social and set off to cook our post run dinners concocting recipes around our new ingredients.. (stir-fry with courgette noodles (zoodles as the Yanks call 'em) and maybe a hearty bowl of vegetable ratatouille with the raw courgette pasta alternative 'courgetti')

Thank you all for coming tonight,  have a fantastic week and for those who want to get involved with Goodgym Coach Runs and one-off Missions please make sure you bring along your ID and proof of residence documents to the next Group Run ready to be checked so that the DBS process can get underway.