For this week's Saturday starter session, 6 runners braved some grim weather to run 2km and help sort out the pond at Surrey Docks Farm

It was a motley crew, with Chiara and Becky runners joining us for the first time. We were also joined by Elizabeth, who had enjoyed the Lewisham starter session last week, and Michael and Nina.

All these runners are superstars; we had some less than ideal weather, so it was wonderful seeing the commitment on display here. Fortunately, the welcome we got from the team at Surrey Docks Farm was far more hospitable!

Getting warmed up!

We gathered up, briefly taking shelter in the cafe, before popping outside to do our headcount. Here we picked up each other's names and each said our favourite farmyard animal (though it was hard to get much inspiration, most of them had decided to stay inside today!). After this, we went on a brief run along the river, and worked in some strides, skips, high knees and heel flicks to get us warmed up and ready to go (Nina: I 100% support your plan to skip 13.1 miles at the big half). To keep us all moving in different ways, we stopped off for some fitness; here we used the toss of a coin to shake up what exercises we were doing, with lunges, squats and more thrown into the mix.

Diving into the task!

We then did some chain running back to the farm, thinking a bit about our form as we went back taking turns to overtake the group. Once we were back, we met Brandon who got us geared up and ready for our task. Becky and Michael needed no encouraging to leap into the two spare sets of waders, and the rest of us got forks, rakes, and gloves.

Brandon explained the the pond has long been collecting debris and vegetation from all of the plants collected in there, which has led to it being full of nitrites which has a negative effect on the pond's residents and ecosystem. Since the young volunteers who help out and learn at the farm would like to use the pond for some growing projects, we were going to spend half an hour clearing out some of the icky plant matter!

Michael and Becky hopped in and were chucking out all decaying plants they could scoop up, the rest of us worked at the sides piling up what they were scooping, and tidying up the sides of the pond. Elizabeth's corner seemed to be home to some fairly adorable frogs, who seemed a bit confused about all the fuss. Half an hour passed quickly, and after that time it looked like we (and the two other volunteers who were in there as well) made a big difference!

Wrapping up!

With the task finished, we exchanged thanks with Brandon and had a quick chat before going off our separate ways; I chatted about coach runs and missions, they can be a great way of getting involved if the group runs are difficult to get to. I also spoke about the Big Half, an amazing London half marathon coming up that GoodGym are involved with; there are more details here. A great effort today, and well done to all who made it along!

GoodGym Southwark starter session; we smashed it in Surrey Docks Farm! 😀

A post shared by @ domtooze on Jan 20, 2018 at 8:35am PST

For this week's Saturday starter session sixteen super sprinters tackled 3km, a tangle of brambles and a mountain of junk at the Wildcat Wilderness.

We had a lovely mixture of regulars, visitors and new-comers today. Welcome to our tourists Gosia (she of the 'I've visited every area in London' fame), Rafal, who has also visited a few areas now and Dom, who usually frequents GoodGym Croydon. Our absolute first-timers were Elizabeth, Kaamilah, Kate and Linda - big Lewisham Love to you! We also welcomed back Jacqui, who joined us last year for a starter session and Nadine, who came along to the Crofton Park Station Garden recently.

Some of our runners had already been to parkrun this morning and some had run to meet us (with some - Monica - also heading off to missions), but we still needed to warm up. Finding a suitable spot, away from the craziness of the Saturday Wickes/Halfords carpark, we played a bit of shoulder-tap and a quick game of 'Everyone is It!' I could hear that everyone was getting warmer, with breathing getting heavier and cheeks rosy. Our task wasn't far, just along the next road, so off we went, with Amber kindly being back-marker, making sure nobody was left behind.

Don't be bashful!

We were met by Caz, who quickly introduced us to the tasks, with two teams working in different areas, one bashing back the brambles to free the trees and another clearing away the mound of junk that has been uncovered in the food growing area. I moved between the two, making sure everyone was working safely, taking action shots and keeping an eye on the time. I was surprised how quiet our weed-bashers were as I approached, just the swing and thwack of tools and very little chatter (this is unusual!). As I watched I could see that everyone was completely engrossed in the task, focussing on getting the job done (and quite possibly getting rid of some pent up tension!). And wow, what a great job they did! Stepping back at the end, they could see just how far they had gone, clearing not just brambles, but a big metal drum, which Clare used for an additional workout!

Rust a minute!

In the food growing area, our team were filling wheelbarrows with an immense amount of rusted metal, lumps of rotting wood, an old lawnmower, a shopping trolley (which Eva pointed out 'still has its wheels!') and even a wheelbarrow (minus wheel). These finds were transported along the path to the gate, where we may well be returning to move them into a skip at some point. As the area cleared, Dom pointed out where the junk had been before, revealing a vast area that had been previously inaccessible! It turns out this will be the home of the new polytunnel, allowing other foods to be grown in this space - fantastic work everyone!

An arm-y of volunteers!

Gathering our tools and gloves, we admired the handiwork done in around 45 minutes and jogged out along the path. We love our visits to the Wildcat Wilderness, which you can do outside of our group runs, by joining in a volunteer session with Maria or Caz (which Vic does regularly, she loves a bit of weed-bashing!). Following the Waterlink Way, we ran alongside the river and took some time to think about our technique, in particular the way we move our arms. It's easy to allow our arms to cross in front of our body, especially when we get tired, but this wastes to much energy! We partnered up to look at this, then did some drills and got into line for some good, hard chain running. Emma pointed out how helpful it was to watch each other run past and see how well we were using our arms and picking up our knees, smashing!

As we stretched, we talked about other starter sessions happening in Lewisham, we have one on January 27th, at Crofton Park Station Garden and another on February 10th, wading in the river at Manor Park. Why not sign up?! If you want to join us on our weekly group run, we meet at Glass Mill at 6.45pm on a Monday, with this week involving a bit of tree running...:)

Throughout the run report, you will notice people's names are highlighted, you can click these and give them a big old cheer.