Eager Beavers

Six enthusiastic IPG staff met in Farringdon last night for a special GoodGym run put on as part of their wellbeing month.

After a little warm up and introduction to GoodGym we all set off on the 2k to Barnsbury Community Centre to help with their community garden project: to transform the vacant space outside the back of the centre into a beautiful community garden.

We took it easy on the run up and this gave us a chance to be a little "philoslothical" and discuss our favourite animals.

There were two main jobs for us at the centre: bag up the masses and masses of soil that had been removed to make room for the garden centrepiece and nailing together of some "pallet chairs".

We started with the soil and after a good fifteen minutes of shovelling and whellbarrowing we'd made loads of progress. We deserved a break so decided to play...

CUPS AND CONES!

Cups and Cones is not only the most fun cone game you can play it's also the simplest to explain: We lay out loads of cups and cones and everybody is assigned either cups or cones. Cups have to get cones and make them into cups; cones have to get cups and make them into cones. A cup is just an upside down cone. Or you could describe a cone as an upside down cup. Depends whether you're a cup or a cone. At the end of a minute we count up the cups and cones and whichever team has turned the most cups or cones into cones or cups wins the cup (metaphorical cup, not one of the cups in the cups and cones game).

Cones absolutely destroyed Cups in the first round. But this was mainly due to all the cheating going on including cone hanging, cone hoarding and cone following. In the second round things were much more even. Not because cones stopped cheating, but because cups started.

Esme, Becky and Laurie carried on with shifting soil while it was hammer time for Saj, Sam and Jaime as they got to work nailing the pallet chairs together. Ten minutes later they were looking much sturdier and the pile of soil was looking much smaller and it was time to clear up and get going.

So, we worked our way out of Barnsbury Estate and got ready for a...

TWO-TEAM THREE-PERSON CONTINUOUS RELAY

The first round was a simple race and it was a very close thing with one team winning by a sloth's whisker. We spent a couple of minutes working on improving our arm drive by elbowing each other (seriously) and then had another go. Points were awarded this time not for speed, but for elbowing technique. A close competition between Sam and Esme for firt place, but Esme just grabbed it thanks to the passer-by who gave her his vote.

Definitely warmed up now and feeling speedy it was time for....

SECRET SURGES

Everybody was given a secret number and then we all jogged off as a group. When a person's number was called they had to sprint away from the rest of the group who gave chase. There were some great surprise surges and speedy responses and we got back that little bit quicker.

Back at the offices it was time for a stretch and a final animal discussion and we were done.

So what's everybody's favourite animal?

Esme and Jaime both went for sloths, mainly because of this sloth that got stuck in the middle of a motorway

Sam was was a fan of beavers and the Honey Badger. The Honey Badger's a bit like a normal badger except it's an absolute nutter. They've been known to attack horses, cattle and even lions. It also sounds a bit like a beer.

Saj had a dream of getting two bunnies and calling them Mr and Mrs Waffles (oh yeah, he really likes waffles)

Becky opted for puppies and Laurie decided that chicks were the ticket. Why? Well, they're cute and nobody can really argue with that.

Actually, we all agreed that pretty much any baby animal was cute and would do the trick. But what about the naked mole rat?

Top efforts from everybody and nice to know we got a bit fitter and did a lot of good. You'll be very welcome on any of our regular runs. This Monday we're cleaning windows

See you soon,

Simon