It was superb to see such a good turnout from our new, newish and our regular runners last night. We had enough to field a Rugby team if we had wanted to. Mind you, it would have been one of the lightest packs in the history of the game with this superfit bunch.

Talking of new runners, it was lovely to welcome Tilly and Saj along on the run yesterday.

One of the powerful incentives to join in last night's efforts could be smelled from our storage cupboard in Mirth, Marvel and Maud. It was none other than the delightful aroma of Hannah's Chocolate Brownies. We are getting seriously spoiled at GoodGym Waltham Forest with cake making an appearance two weeks running and strong rumours of a hat-trick to come next week!

On with news of the task, it was a long distance to our destination so after a brief debrief and an irreverent rundown of our first ever pets and their names, we hit the road.

I love the run to the Lee Vally Riding school, once about 1 km has passed you feel like you have moved from the city to the burbs and after you hit 2 km, you feel like you are in deepest Dorset as the built environment gives way to the arboreal splendour of the lower Lee Vally.

Arriving at our destination, we armed ourselves with litter pickers and went to work tidying up the foot and cycle paths of the Lee Bridge Road. Not only does our work make the place look good but it helps to preserve the habitat of this important ecological area that borders Walthamstow Marshes.

Our hardworking team filled sack after sack with discarded garbage. Great work all round, well-done team!

After a team photo, it was time to get back on the road to M, M & M for some stretches. Then a real treat for the lucky few that had time to hang around we scoffed Hannah's amazing brownies. All I can say about these delicious treats is, now I know how Marcel Proust felt after eating a Madeleine.

Next week we have a new task delivering some leaflets about a fantastic free play by E17 Puppet Project. It's called The Vote, about the struggle to gain suffrage for Women in 1918. Don't miss out on this great opportunity and sign-up today

What a splendid time we had in Waltham Forest last night. After, a cunning bit of marketing, or should I say cakerting we had a great turnout with a hat-full of new runners. The cakerting idea was cooked-up (literally) by GGWF regular, Pippa, who inspired by recent birthday related kitchen exploits brought along a double orange cake. Yes double! Meaning that we could have our cake and eat it, although in the end we just ate it.

*Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the run report here is the news: *

For those who don't know it, GoodGym holds a monthly social, and the next one is tonight! Yes, that's right so cancel all plans and head to Islington from half six tonight! It will be a right laugh. Further deets and sign-up here

A warm welcome to first time GoodGymers Emily, Heather, Caroline, and Ruby. Thanks for coming, I'm sure it will be the first of many. Big thanks to Hannah and Pippa for leading the run and setting a super pace that kept all of us together nicely. Also, not that I was intimidated by all the fabulous #GirlPower on show, but well done to Fergus for being the only other bloke out last night. Of course well done to everyone else who came, you are all wonderful people.

So back to the night's excursions. While it was tempting to order a pint of ale and tuck into the Double Orange Cake straight away, we had work to do so after our rundown of what lay ahead we all whetted our appetites during the headcount with a discussion of tasty cakes.

With housekeeping done we headed a couple of KMs uphill (sorry I forgot to mention the hill!) to the spooky, secluded St Peter in the Forest Churchyard. After a brief wait for our taskmaster to let us into the tool shed the team set about moving moss, weeding weeds and cutting crabgrass (actually, I'm not sure about the last one but it helped my alliteration, and it is a plant)

With the churchyard practically restored to a second Eden, minus the apple tree, snake and naked people! We downed tools and headed into the deep, dark wood. Thankfully, we found our way out again without the Blair Witch disrupting our journey and under the safety of some streetlights, we undertook a series of sprints with various running drills on the returns.

These exercises are great for fitness and for injury prevention as they work on many of the muscles we use for running but in a more flexible and concentrated way.

Suitably exhausted, the crew headed back to Mirth, Marvel and Maud when those who wanted to indulge in cake and refreshments did so, including me. With a double cake, I thought it would be rude not to eat two slices - does that mean I had four slices?

Next week we are heading toward Walthamstow Marshes for a bit of litter picking along the Lea Bridge Road cycle and footpath. Don't delay, sign-up today.

Appropriately, we will be heading back to St Peter's Church for our Halloween Run at the end of the month. Any ideas to pimp this even up would be gratefully received, but we were thinking along the lines of Zombies! Sign-up here

Finally, do join our WhatsApp group. I will send out the link in an email with this report.

That's all folks ☮️