Mud, mud, glorious mud

Phil Nye writes:After getting fixed up with fake blood – a vital accessory for a (nearly) Halloween time run through the city – we set off to see our friends at Spitalfields City Farm and pick up where we’d left off at the end of last week’s mission.A brisk 1.7km run through the drizzle got us to the farm, where the evening’s challenge was set out for us: could we equal the previous week’s efforts and get rid of two large plastic sheets from under the soil in one of the donkey pens? A task made more difficult by there being slightly fewer runners than the previous week, soil made heavy from the rain and a tight deadline by which to get back to the Arch Gallery.With customary enthusiasm we set to work on the task, shovelling earth and heaving the plastic sheets out from underneath. Heavy work, but nothing that a bunch of soggy GoodGymers couldn’t handle.The mission was typical of the community-benefiting things we get up to, but the work got some of us thinking about the CV-enhancing skills which GoodGym gives us as well: top of the list being a knowledge of different types of mud bordering on the expert.Where else can one pick up such a good ability to identify all of the varieties of wet earth – ranging from your common or garden (no pun intended, honest) mud, for which there’s nothing but heavy-duty shovelling, to the root-riddled stuff which can be rolled – as at GoodGym?The mission also saw the introduction of some innovative plastic-cutting techniques. There can be few sounds sweeter to the ears of seasoned Monday night runners than the sound of ripping plastic.With the clock ticking, a concerted effort was made to lift the second sheet before we left – with efforts rewarded when we got it up just in time. Satisfied with our evening’s work, we set off back to the Arch Gallery. The return leg of the run took the total distance to 3.5km, with some sprinting worked in to build fitness – or at least confuse pedestrians.Once again then, the Monday night GoodGymers rose to the challenge. And added to our thorough knowledge of mud (the best in the East End?).