Chips!?

Last night 14 intrepid explorers ran between 5.8 km and 8.7 km to help clear area for Daubeney Fields Forever

Part of a two run series, we ran to and reviewed the site last night to get an idea of the massive clearance task ahead next week.

For a change, we met at Arch 406 Mentmore Terrace, and under cover from the blustery weather we went about an 'light' warm up. It included joint mobilisation and a 4 minute exercise set to get the heart rate going and muscles warm - using modified burpees, mountain climbers, cycle crunches and press ups.

We had three newcomers in the group who got straight down to it, and the others cried 'Where's Willl?!' during the warm up round. Ha, I'm back! No rest for the good.

Fully warm we set off on the gentle 1.8m jog to Daubeney Fields through Hackney Central and Homerton. Drew kindly led, Nugent took up the rear, making sure no one got left behind, and there was a nice spread in-between. With the bump, I cycled along side, with encouragement and chat.

The pictures sent by Daubeney Fields Forever (a local volunteer group improving green spaces and communities in the area) made the site, to clear, look pretty small. It's actually huge! A long and gated strip alongside disused garages, which back onto the fields. It was good to check it out with the runners and to get a feel of the scale of next week's task. We now know the route to it and the site so we can crack on next week without hesitation.

On the way back, we split into two groups. One group (people pretty new to running) took the same 1.8m route back with me (using a combo of jog, walk, jog, walk), and the second group took the longer 3.6mile route back to the start.; A lovely route along the canal, through Hackney Wick, over the A12 and around Victoria Park, before heading up Mare Street to London Fields. The little challenge was both groups getting back to Arch 406 at the same time….

I laughed with glee when one runner in the first group said 'We'll definitely get back before the second group, and then I'll hop off for some chips."…..Not on my watch you won't! In the time we waited for the rest of the group we did much core work geared for runners.

10 minutes later (not bad!), it was a lovely sight seeing all the runners stride in for the cool down.

Hope to see some of you again next week for the big task ahead. Bring a head or bike torch if you have one, and we'll blitz it. Remember to check out all the social stuff and extra runs we've got going on and please update your goals so Cory and I can support you achieve them.

Ade GoodGym Hackney Coordinator