Notorious D.I.G meets Time Team

40* people (yes, 40!) ran from Vivo Health Club to one of our favourite spots, Windmill Hill City Farm to help them turn a car park in to a garden.

To say that this number was staggering is an understatement and by far it was our largest run. The fine weather helped, and perhaps that it was a short run too. Either way, I'm not complaining at all - thanks gang.

We headed off after a warm up and introductions, and quickly made it to the farm where we met up with Chris, garden guru and the project leader for the transformation. More than a few people eyed the digger and the little dumper truck with glee but sadly we didn't get to have a go. Instead we loaded ourselves up with forks and spades, rakes and wheelbarrows and proceeded to shift a very large amount of topsoil and compost from various places around the farm and dump it on to the newly cleared flower bed-to-be. It was classic GoodGym - a lot of people rushing around getting the job done. There was still time to have a little dance on the soil to help compact it, with a radio somewhere kicking out tuuunes!

One team were tasked to clear soil from one small flower bed to go in to the new big one. Their progress had been fast until they literally hit a snag when they struck some sort of rock/stone/concrete barrier. There was only one answer - a mighty pick ax, which was a great help.

Another group tried to extend a deep trench that was going in around the large flower bed. The ground was most resistant but they put their back in to it and got about 2 extra feet on to the trench. Doesn't sound much but there was dedication in those few feet.

Given the scale of the task, despite the veritable horde of runners that we brought along, we went in to overtime to try and get as much done as possible. This meant that we just had time to run back to Vivo and have a good stretch, so it was not a very long run, but we got a massive amount done for the farm and even had time to peer at the pigs and gawp at the goats.

'So where's the Time Team link?' I hear you ask. It turns out that one of our new runners is an archaeologist and she found a wide array of bits of pot, bottle, and other crockery shards, as well as a fantastic pipe stem from a Victorian clay pipe (please correct me if I'm wrong!). Goodgym: Inspirational, motivational, and now archaeological too.

40 people ran but we only had emails for 38, so our stats may show up a little differently! I tried to include Sion who met us at the end of the run to make it 41 but got accused of cheating. *hangs head in shame