Sweets in the heat, Sugar in the sunny

"Come to GoodGym and get fat by doing good!" No, no, I mean fit. We did plenty of exercise and hard work and I'm sure we offset all the junk we ate.

On the hottest day of the year, it all started with a box of Roses - a prize for Claire, who spotted the secret email message last week. Look out for more hidden messages in the future and more rubbish prizes.

So, 17 of us gathered on the fields and "warmed up" with some classic alien circuits on Highbury Fields, which is well in need of a mow. Press ups, star jumps, squats and knees-to-chest exercises done we were ready to rock, or roll. Anyway, we jogged the 1 kilometre over to Barnsbury Square Gardens where we were greeted by Lucy and Fiona who had a list of jobs for us to get stuck in to: there were roses that needed dead-heading, there were drains to de-mud, there were gutters to clear and there was plenty of soil to loosen to let the rain flow freely and provide plants and flowers with a well-needed drink in the hot weather. There were also plenty of leaves to clear with special leaf-clearing apparatus that looked like a cross between salad tongs and flippers.

We got stuck in for a good 40 minutes while discussing whether it was better to run in the summer or winter.

• Ben pointed out that it's basically the first day of summer, so too early to say. Anna K felt the same.

• Beth and Sarah Mann liked the fact that summer provided more daylight.

• Ryan liked winter because he could wear a hood and pretend he was Rocky.

• Patricia and Caitlin, hailing from hotter climates were definite fans of the summer. Patrick firmly stated that summer is better as did Ria and Anna R and Claire (they tried to vote for Spring, but that's not allowed)

• Aidan pointed out that we don't get much summer inthe UK, so we should make the most of it.

• Other fans of the winter were Sarah Moore (at least once she discovered Icebreaker gear), Mark (proper running conditions), Polly (started running in winter, so has no excuse) Simon and Andy (not built for the summer).

Looks like summer's a winner.

And of course more sweet stuff was required as we worked: biscuit of the night Was Ginger Nuts. More popular than expected.

Once finished with the gardening tasks we had a little game of "Simon's Evil Cones". We split into four teams, three of which were assigned a colour and whose goal it was to transfer cones of that colour from a mess in the middle of the play area to a designated corner. The fourth team was Team Evil and had to spoil everything and put the cones back in the middle. Blues won it easily.

Then it was time for a continuous 4-team 4-person relay. We charged round the gardens like lunatics, carefully avoiding dogs, but managed to get some serious speeds going.

Puffed out, we jogged back to the pool for a stretch. Well, a bit of a stretch cos there was more sugary stuff, this time in the form of a "Stars and Stripes" cake. Yum.

So, yes, a rather sugary night, but definitely offset by lots of jogging, sprinting, circuit training, coning and gardening we're sure.

See you next time

Simo