New Year's Revolution

Our sprawling mob set off south to Stepney City Farm and split into smaller crews to help out all over the site.  Below are insights from each of the various teams...Hermione Taylor sets the scene:"New year, new resolutions and great intentions to keep fit. You know the story. Yet it got to the 7th January and I still hadn't done more than the 1.5 mile cycle to work. After a long, energy-zapping day at the desk, and with a good few hours of writing and number crunching left to be done, my noble intentions of going for a run were sure to be dashed once again. But I'd made the commitment to go for my first outing with GoodGym, and that was something I couldn't back out of.Having known of GoodGym for a few years, I thought I would have a pretty clear idea of what to expect: running, a bit of physical labour, and a bit more running. Simple. But little did I know that I was going to be meeting so many interesting people (who knew you should bring business cards out running with you!?); honing my team working; acquiring handy new skills; and relieving a lot of pent up aggression.We arrived at Stepney City farm to be faced with four options: compost turning, pallet breaking, field-turning, or poo-sorting. Odd as it may seem, my heart was set on the latter, so I was slightly disappointed to be left with the one I wanted least: pallet breaking. But five minutes in and I was hooked. I can't say I'd ever used a crowbar before, but it's a skill I'm proud to say I've now nailed (ahem, excuse the pun). The satisfaction of pulling out those rusty nails and the frustration of those sod that wouldn't budge are hard to explain.Vickie Jones' team totally cleared a corner of the farm: "A couple of us were assigned to shovel compost into a wheelbarrow which was then transported along a perilous trail to the decidedly massive farm compost heap. Mud was flung, barrows were up-ended and GoodGym-ers were covered in muck. An excellent evening, and great for developing STRONG arms."Annabel Power worked on a compost pile at the back of the site: "Four enthusiastic runners were tasked with shovelling the overflowing manure from one compost pile to the other. We deftly moved the treats across with wheelbarrows and rakes to ensure the quality compost was contained. The steaming piles were releasing a deep aroma that definitely got more hearty as we reached the bottom layers. Satisfied with our 'tidy up' we were then surprised to hear that we had been tasked with the less pungent of the compost piles and we could only ponder on the stench of the other site!"Aimee Harrison tells us about the larger compost team: "After being led to the far corner of Stepney City farm, ten keen GoodGym runners were given their instructions for the evening from the lovely Katherine. The task was simple; turn over four large mounds of compost whilst adding in some additional straw and sawdust.  We quickly learnt that organic compost gives off a great deal of heat and warmth as well as a rather sweet, fruity odour some might find comparable to mouldy peaches. Needless to say we made excellent time and between the ten of us finished the task with ease.  A gentle 4km took us to the Arch Gallery where we congratulated ourselves on starting the year as we mean to go on, by being good and getting fit."And finally, Richard Foster from the team who turned over the pigs' field says "Does anyone else smell of pig?"A good start to the year - there's much more of this sort of thing to come and it won't all be as smelly as this.Many of us are running the East London (half) Marathon on the 14th of March.  You can sign up here:http://www.eastlondonmarathon.com/Also this week we have an experiment happening in Bristol - if you have any friends in Bristol please let them know.  More to come on that soon.Some rough stats from Monday's run.