EVEN THE PIGS WERE FED!

It’s the second week of a chilly October and despite the generally dire weather conditions, GoodGym rallied together a great turnout of 17 enthusiastic athletes, gagging for some serious exercise. And this we achieved! The run set out as usual from the Arch Galley at 7.10pm and turned south, past Bethnal Green station and re-converged at Stepney City Farm. Katherine was there to meet us with smile on her face and a big box of gardening gloves! We immediately got down to business. Split up into three separate jobs, 6 lively runners with a desire to get their hands dirty dived in at the deep end and diligently relocated a huge pile of compost. The rest of us were led off to another part of the farm, where 4 keen runners were put to work tearing up the plastic meshing underneath the turf, by far the toughest workout! The last of us were moving a huge quantity of paint tins to be replaced on a new set of shelves.After 45 minutes of huffing and puffing, hand-painting and mud grabbing, with Mark ‘The Motivator’ Herbert pushing for a speedy finish, a mountain of compost had been raised in a pile, 10m2, if not more, of turf had been torn to shreds and stacked up in a wheelbarrow, and at least 100 paint cans had been stacked along the shelves. Even the pigs had been fed! Job done!Saying our goodbyes, we departed from the farm, splitting into two groups with some runners choosing to return the way we came, completing a run of 5km. Those slightly more up-for-it chose to follow run leader Ade on a longer route back (3.6km). We picked up the pace with periodical sprints (great!) and a few rounds of Caterpillar (the person at the back sprints to the front) and dashed back through Millennium Park and Victoria Deer Park, finally cruising to a relaxing finish back at the Arch. A total of 6km, with some minor obstacles!It was lovely to meet the new runners who came along and those who have been around for a while who I haven’t yet met. I hope to see you next all Monday for some more positive vibes!