Quake, Rock, Battle and Stroll

21 runners, movers and shakers ran from Vivo to Quakers Garden on Tuesday. The weather finally let us down; after over a year of dry running the heavens opened and rained. BUT! Not that much and we were mostly under some big trees! Hurrah!

The group ran from Vivo a rather indirect way - if we'd gone straight there, it would have taken 5 minutes. If we'd walked, stopped for a chat on the bridge, done a few squats and then walked a bit more. We still arrived there quickly, and met up with Sara, queen of Incredible Edible and mistress of all that is gardening.

She showed us a very overgrown flower bed that was just crying out for GoodGym's tender caress. We grabbed gloves and some tools, and set to it! Amy, one of our new runners, described our ability to strip the ground bare as being like a plague of 'friendly locusts' - and my word, did we live up to that description.

As always, we found a cornucopia of abandoned items including some tiny trowels left by another group, 2 pairs of sunglasses, a roll of sticky tape, and part of a bicycle. There were also lots of random rocks left about which were neatly piled at the back of the area.

Of particular use were the mattock, wielded that night by Gary, and the loppers, the weapon of choice for Ludwig, another new runner. In their hands, floratic obliteration was a certainty and the battle against ivy and brambles was a short but brutal one.

After a good 30 minutes of weed destruction, we headed just around the corner to a quiet car park for some running drills. Group one were tasked with 5 hill repeats. Group two did a progressive shuttle run, using the car park space lines as markers plus tricep dips and press ups. Needless to say the whole group put their collective might in to this and everyone worked supremely hard.

As a result of this intense work, and due to the very close proximity of our starting point, a gentle recovery stroll was allowed, followed by some stretches and announcements (don't forget our social on Thursday! 6.30pm at Vivo, everyone is welcome! Bring your mum!). And finally the weather gods were once again on our side - a lovely rainbow seemed to end in the garden we'd just been improving! Thanks runners, you quaked it, rocked it, battled it and then strolled it.