11 runners met on a lovely spring evening. The mild weather and spring sunshine had also encouraged the whole of Headingley to join us outside - although on this particular occasion I think they were more tempted by the pints , than joining us for a run!

THE RUN

After a quick warmup and finding out that pizza is collectively our favourite food (next social anyone?), we set off on our run. As Hyde Park allotments is very close to our start point, we purposefully set out in the opposite direction. We found Cumberland Road - our first strava segment - and proceeded to run up the hill as fast as we could. At a gradient of 6.4% this was no easy task, but it was tackled brilliantly by our runners! We were rewarded with a downhill section of running, before heading up an even steeper hill, with the appropriate Strava name "Banging sprint yea!!! BOOOOM!!!"We were eventually relieved to find the top of the hill and from there to Hyde Park it was a gentle downhill, which everyone was pleased about. My legs - and I imagine everyone else's legs - are certainly feeling tired this morning. Take it easy if you are running today.

Onto to the TASK Hyde Park Source is an environmental organisation that works with people to transform unused areas of the city, into productive spaces for community use. Their work is based on the principles of "connect, be active, take notice, keep learning and give" (that sounds familiar!)

This particular project at Hyde Park allotments is maintained by those recovering from mental health issues - providing a space to connect with each other, whilst learning new skills and building self-confidence.

We met the lovely Al, who explained the tasks and split us into 2 groups - one group was tasked with weeding and composting, the other was sent off on an 'unexpected journey'.

Jenny, Rachael, Tom and Carol donned hi-vis vests and went on a mission to find and retrieve pallets. It turned out to be quite a trek and another workout. These pallets were going to filled with manure, but thankfully that task will be saved for a later date.

Emma, Rob, Katie, Katie, Helen and Mary split across 3 separate plots, weeding, composting and watering so that they are ready for growing some veg. We were intrigued to find that the compost was made from wool, which is better for the environment and is completely peat-free! Egg multi-tasked brilliantly between the task and taking photos of us all.

Well done everyone - you tackled the hills brilliantly and made a great difference at the allotments. See you all next week.

Well done to 6 brave runners met at Hyde Park for our weekly group run. We welcomed Rebecca on her first task with Goodgym and met Carolat the task.

Before we set off, we found out everyone favourite running distance - 10km came out on top. This was good to know , as tonight’s task was almost 9km in total.

We headed off towards Pyramid of Arts, which we realised was mostly downhill. This was great, however we soon realised it would be a lot harder on the way back after the task.

Our task this evening was to put a fresh layer of white paint in the studio, and we spent the best part of an hour making sure we covered as much of the studio as possible – whilst trying to avoid getting too much paint on ourselves. Some of us managed this more successfully than others, however thankfully most of the paint ended up where it needed to be.

On arrival we were welcomed with the offer of tea and biscuits, which were gratefully received by all of us after our run in the rain. We each grabbed a brush and cracked open the tin of paint. Katie, Rachael and Rebecca started on one wall whilst, Tom, Jenny , Carol and Rob started on the other side of the room. Before no time most of the wall was painted, apart from the highest to reach places.

We need a pogo stick for this task Tom said helpfully to Carol

Once we’d finished the task it was time for a group photo before setting off back to base.

Thanks everyone for an amazing group run. Check out what’s coming up over the next few weeks here.