Only the hardiest of souls come out to run when it's been raining all afternoon, but luckily Oxford Goodgymers are made of stern-stuff and were raring to go running after a bank holiday weekend.

First things first; Stu was awarded the Garland of Glory this week for getting up off his sickbed (manflu?) to run the Vitality London 10k on Bank Holiday Monday, and for being on his 10th Group Run. Excellent work Stu! Massive apologies to Sarah for not spotting that it was your 10th Good Deed too - Garland of Glory goes to you next week! I have now untangled it, so it needn't be worn as a crown!

This week we were headed to Port Meadow to meet Michael Woods, the City Council's Green Space Development Officer.

Port Meadow borders the Thames, and with a few popular swimming and picnic spots around the edges we were expecting there to be some post-bank holiday litter to clear up.

En route we wove through the city taking in some of the back alleys to cross off a few extra streets for Trev's Run Every Street challenge, and collected a few bits of litter from along the Oxford Canal Towpath (we're physically incapable of running past litter these days). A brisk 3.5km later and we were at Walton Well Road, collecting litter-pickers and bags and starting the litter patrol. As well as trying to stop litter making it's way into the river it's particularly important to keep Port Meadow litter free because it is home to lots of cows and ponies who really don't need to be eating our plastic waste.

Things we have learned this week:

• Cows live on the meadow. Cows = cow pats. Stepping in cow pats = squishy, slide-y and smelly.
  
• The men of Oxford don't like to keep their pants on. We picked up at least 4 pairs of men's pants, including a matching pair (outfit co-ordination goals?). Gingerly, with litter pickers.
  
• The men of Oxford do not like to keep their shorts on. 2 pairs of shorts found.
  
• You can walk home wearing 1 shoe and not noticing you've left the other on the riverbank. 1 pump found.
  
• Collapsible boats are oar-some and we would all like one. 1 collapsible boat found, complete with pair of oars.
• In half an hour 11 people can find a surprising amount of litter even somewhere that doesn't look heavily littered; cans, disposable bbqs, plastic bottles, glass bottles, juice cartons etc.
  

30 minutes of plogging and some boat construction later, we left our litter bags in Michael's capable hands for disposal, pleased to have cleared one of the footpaths of the worst of it's litter.

The longer route back to East Oxford meant jogging diagonally across the meadow, where we tried not to collect an entourage of curious cows. Although they're very pretty, they probably don't make the most practical pets. Anyone feel like the Pied Piper? Then onwards over the Oxford Canal and through the University Parks, popping back out onto tarmac less than a kilometre from our base. Having run along Oxford Canal, River Thames and Cherwell, I declare, retrospectively, that the theme for the run is Run all Oxford's Waterways! And everyone loves a themed run, even if you didn't know it was one.

Good work everyone! Great to get to run a little further than usual with you all.

Thanks to Tim Lund for the punning inspiration and for finding the boat, and to Aoife for being back-marker this week.

After a day of rain a hardy bunch met at East Oxford Community Centre last night, prepared to do battle both with the weather and this week's task. After a good chat about Stu's London Marathon experience, our media stardom (summary; enjoyed our 15 minutes of fame, but should've been more aware of our best angles), and ideas for future tasks, we set off on the short run to Aston's Eyot.

Aston's Eyot is just a hop, skip and a jump away from our base at East Oxford Community Centre, tucked away beside the river. 5 minutes of running and chatting, and we were there, being greeted by Ruth and Penny from Friends of Aston's Eyot. Ruth explained our tasks for the evening would be raking up the grass which had been cut back in the meadow areas, and pulling out the taller nettles in the wildflower meadow so that they don't swamp the smaller flowers.

Wheelbarrows, rakes, and sturdy gloves at the ready, we set to work.

The Rakes Progressed from meadow, to picnic area, to glade, like red T-shirted Poldarks. The rope swing in the picnic area proved a draw, but the eventual verdict was it would be better on a warmer evening.

In the wildflower meadow we grasped the nettle with enthusiasm. It was oddly satisfying pulling them out by the roots and revealing the smaller wildflowers beneath the canopy of stingy beasts, expanding our knowledge of wildflowers as they emerged into the light. Having amassed quite a haul of nettles we had to consider whether we could be making good use of the 'weeds'. Our top 3 options:
* Nettle Tea
* Nettle Soup
* Beating ourselves with them for warmth, just like the Romans

After 45 minutes of work, and many wheelbarrows full of nettles and cut grass, we waved goodbye to our hosts the Friends of Aston's Eyot, ran a loop around the Eyot to fully explore the place, then headed to South Park for a few hill sprints. Relay hill sprints got a little competitive, until Rachael and Sophie had the genius idea of skipping down the recoveries instead of jogging. Great for running form, and a whole lot of fun!

Next week: drinks after the Group Run at James Street Tavern. Looks like we'll be toasting Tim Kendall's 10th Good Deed, Mack's new status as our first Taskforce member, saying a big 'Well Done' to Town and Gown 10k runners, and belatedly celebrating all those spring Half and Full Marathon achievements.

Many thanks to Tim and Mack for the rake puns :-)
Hope that all of Team Nettle's stings stop tingling soon!

This evening was our 10th Group Run, and it was great to welcome some new runners to Goodgym - Tom, Adam, David, and Sam - as well as Abi visiting us from Camden for the first time.

Give them a cheer on the website!

Once you've completed 10 Group Runs with Goodgym you'll get an invitation to get a little more involved by joining the Taskforce (it's totally optional), so it was great to hear a bit about how this works from Abi, who is on the Taskforce for Camden.

With bumper numbers this evening we set off in gorgeous sunshine on the first run to Iffley, with Sophie kindly making sure no-one got left behind.

At Iffley Glebe we met Rachel from the Oxford Preservation Trust, who was ready with gardening tools and explained our task for the evening. Iffley Glebe is one of Iffley village’s most important open spaces, playing a vital role in maintaining the rural atmosphere of Iffley within it's city setting. The field is full of wildflowers each summer and the ancient hedge across the field provides birds with nesting places, and insects and berries for food. At night the glebe is an important hunting ground for bats and owls. The stone wall surrounding the site has a lot of weeds growing in it which, although pretty, needed clearing in order to keep the wall in good condition. Ensuring that we all knew to avoid the stinging nettles, we gloved up and set to work.

It turns out 21 pairs of hands makes light work of weeding a wall. Despite some minor traumas (spiders, sleepy bees), snickering over childhood names for galium aparine (aka...sticky-willy), and resisting the urge to stick goose-grass on anyone's back, in 35 minutes we had stripped the main wall along the Glebe of the worst of it's weeds, and made a good start along the side wall too. Taking a brief breather for some water and squash (thank you Rachel) and a group photo, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful evening sunshine by taking the scenic route home along the Thames Towpath, with Ash back-marking this time.

Iffley Lock didn't disappoint by providing me with my first bug-swallowed-on-a run moment for 2019 . Running's a glamorous hobby isn't it?!

Hopping off the river path at Donnington Bridge, we had to do the Meadow Lane lamp post fartlek session because it is fast becoming a Goodgym Oxford tradition (In the spirit of primary school level humour - fart! and willy! in the same run report!). Then....

FRISBEE!

It seems that frisbee brings out the killer instinct in all of us. Who knew that our most mild-mannered runners are actually fiercely competitive when given a frisbee and a goal to aim for?! 3-1 to the non-red-clothes team clearly calls for a re-match as soon as a few more people have their Goodgym Tshirts through the post.

We completed the Tour of Iffley by running home past the Roger Bannister track, where the 1st sub-4 minute mile was run: had to show off Oxford's Claim to Running Fame! Then back for drinks to celebrate our milestone 10th run.

Next week we are helping the Children's Allotment. Long trousers are advisable because of nettles and brambles on site.