Good Deeds with Big Weeds

Tonight's task was helping out at Caxton House Community Centre in St. John's Way.

We said welcome back to Paula - who came on one of our starter sessions and now lives ridiculously close to our meeting point - and a warm welcome to first timer Emma. Also in attendance were Sarah, who was trying to work out where the pain in her legs was and Paul who was trying to figure out where his ITB was. Add Patrick, Ben and Gina and Simon and that made eight of us.

All gathered we ran the 3k up to Caxton House while discussing who the greatest runner of all time was.

On arrival we were greeted by Sue and Rose, who pointed us in the direction of the raised beds in the front gardens. They were heaving with gigantic weeds and it was our job to sort them out. We gloved up, Sue and Rose briefed us on what needed chopping back in the raised beds (pretty much everything) and we got stuck in.

We worked hard for 30 minutes, stopping only for the obligatory biscuit break (provided by Sue this week), and between us made quite an impact on the area, manging to fill a whole wheelie bin (one of those proper big ones, not one of those domestic ones)

Feeling good we said our Au Revoirs and headed off to the Emirates Stadium for our monthly time trial - one 641 metre lap around the stadium. We were running a bit late (surprise), but we still had time to chuck in Islington's favourite "elbow the palm" drill before setting off.

The runners faced quite tough conditions, with a strong wind blowing, but did a great job. First over the line was Paul with a new course record of 2:16! followed by Patrick in 2:30 and then Sarah in 3:11. Other times available on request (either email Simon or ask Ben to borrow his Mikado box)

After a quick breather we made our way back to the pool for a very quick stretch and said our goodnights.

And who's the greatest runner of all time?

• Sarah was a fan of Peter Snell, the Lydiard-trained Kiwi who boasts an 800m PB of 1:44.3, run on a grass track!

• Emma and Simon were fans of Seb Coe, who among his other achievements is the only athlete ever to simultaneously hold world records for the 800m, 1000m, 1500m and the mile.

• Emma also mentioned Usain Bolt, stupidly fast bloke, and Kelly Holmes, gold medal winner for both the 800 and 1500 metres at Athens in 2004. It was meant to be one runner per GoodGymmer, but we let her off cos it was her first time.

• Ben opted for Mo Farah, 2012 superstar and Olympic and World 5000m and 10000m champion.

• Paul chose Simon, mediocre trainer for GG Islington who spends most of his time injured.

• Simon chose Paul, Emirates Stadium Course Record Holder

• Paula was bullied into choosing Simon, by Simon. That means Simon is as good as Mo Farah and Seb Coe. Wahoo!

We're back at Caxton House next week. See you there

Sim