11 runners ran 4.4km to help the Canal and River Trust

It's amazing what the sun can do. Having enjoyed yet another sunny February day, 11 runners bounced into DMU with smiles on their faces as we completed our final good deed for the month. We were delighted to welcome Rob and Sheila back for their second group run and it was great to see Stu join us once again in amongst his DIY missions to Wales. The group were also pleased to see Mel return after missing last week safe in the knowledge that her expert photography skills would be utilised instead of Huw's somewhat more amateur attempts. Dave provided an interesting fact, which he'd braced me for promising that it might not be interesting but it was definitely a fact, that on the corresponding week's group run in 2018 we were one of the few runs in the country to go ahead as the Beast from the East swept in. On that visit to the Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre temperatures sunk as low as -4 (-6 factoring in windchill) with tonight's run some 17 degrees warmer. I thought it was interesting Dave! We shared news of many successful weekend runs and races before heading out to pound the pavement.

With an expectant crowd of Foxes heading to the King Power to catch a glimpse of the latest managerial messiah, we opted to take in a run heading in the opposite direction to the stadium and our task, heading up through The Rally along NCN Route 63 to Stokeswood Park and back. The amount of litter along the route was duly noted and clearing that up will certainly feature as a task for Sustrans in future weeks. Everyone put in a great effort on what was a longer pre-task run than normal, particularly Nicola who hadn't run for a few weeks (her watch seemed to forget what to do too!) and Jen, fresh from the hilly Naseby 1645 two days ago.

We returned to arm ourselves with litter pickers and bin bags and heading along the river to Bede Park. It never ceases to amaze me at quite how close to bins people decide to drop litter on the floor and we collected an arrays of cans, bottles and other debris literally within arms length of several bins. Lindsay received some helpful advice on the aptly named Strava segment "past the drunks" from some gentlemen enjoying a beverage on a park bench and politely returned the favour with her own advice for the chaps to make sure they put their litter in the bin when they'd finished! Having blitzed the area and collected another impressive stash of trash we powered through a brief session of sprints along the quiet side of the park before heading back to base. It was lovely to hear Sharon remark on our return that she felt she'd had a really good workout tonight.

Back at the ranch, we stretched off and planned our monthly post-run social for next week after our visit to Scope, do come and join us for that.

Super effort from everyone tonight, hopefully the celebrating football fans didn't undo our great work on their way back through later on!

Happy running between now and next week, get out and enjoy these wonderful conditions while they last!

HD