As we bring the Easter bank holiday to a close it seemed fitting to do some good work in a churchyard and tonight eighteen intrepid runners did just that as we headed out to the striking St. Luke's Church off Morning Lane in Hackney to clear a congregation of leaves from their yard.

The session began with warm-up in London Fields and the action then took us towards Hackney Town Hall for some drills in the shape of sprints and grapevining. There was some pretty nifty footwork on show from our runners and by now everyone was well limbered up for the next section of the 2.5 km run that took us to St Luke's.

We welcomed three new members to our group tonight, it was great to meet Robyn, Stephanie and Nowrin.

With no time to waste the group went hammer and tongs at the task of clearing a huge quantity of leaves from the churchyard. Two score and ten bin bags were stuffed to bursting completely clearing the churchyard and revealing a tranquil space that could almost have had Thomas Gray reaching for his quill and parchment.

With the sun beginning to set and the task done there was no let up for our band of sisters and brothers as we downed tools and hit the road over to Well Street Common picking up the pace before rounding the final bend along Well Street and back to our Bakehouse base. With 5 km, an interval session and a ton of cleared leaves under our belts it was a job well done.

Despite the great work, I have to end our report on a sad note and console with two of our group who became the victims of crime with a bike and a bike wheel being stolen from outside London Fields station. We all feel your pain guys, absolutely gutted for you, sadly there are some bad people out there and we all need to take every precaution against thievery.

27 Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to Abney Park Cemetery to get it Spring ready with Bulb planting, ivy chopping, path mulching and Lion cleaning.

Great to see the Bakehouse bursting with energy ready for our run!! Nice to nearly be running in the embers of day light to, not to mention the double digit Spring warmth creeping through.

After a brain teasing Question of the day from Quiz Master Ros which we didn’t get around to answering. Or no one really understood the question??

We were off on our well trodden path to Abney Park lead expertly by Katie. 3k of pretty speedy running up to Stoke Newington to me Park Manager Tom at the enchanting Abney Park Cemetery.

After we were locked into the cemetery to got to work, marching the tools down deep into the Park. Splitting up into 4 groups to get the most out of our energetic endeavours. We had Ivy clearing from grave stones to allow the 2 year grace mapping project to keep going at full steam. Wild flower bulb planting along the main paths edge to look pretty and to encourage park users to stick to the paths which helps to keep the park growing in the right places. After the snow the first path we mulched in January was looking worse for wear so we had a 100 metre sprint to re mulch it with half a tonne of Hackney’s finest mulch. And finally the historically listed Lion from a very famous and some would say unforgettable local hero’s grave. Needed to be gently cleaned to restore Larry the Lion to is shimmering glory.

This was an all action no stop furious 40 minutes of portable light action!! We had snipping, pitch forking, wheelbarrowing, roping, planting, scrubbing and of course a lot of singing to Larry!!

We really used every possible second to get as much work down even requiring a super Bolt like sprint finish to get the mulched path complete with expert mulch manoeuvring from Patrick!!

With the task complete and time slipping away we said our good byes to Tom and zipped back to base at Pace!! Katie spearheading the charge to finish off the task perfectly(ish) on time!!

Great session everyone!!

Next week we have the second half of Soil mountain to contend with and we need all hands on deck to complete the task! Be great if you could come along for more fun on the Run Hackney style!!

Have a great week

Smooth Running

Joel

P.S not sure who to credit but thank you fir the Pun!!

It was all hands on deck, when 18 Brent Goodgymers rolled deep for 5k, in 0 degrees to shovel and roll 15 wheelbarrows of soil, rocks and compost for a Harlesden Town Community Gardens' allotment site. BOOM

Was it cold? - Yes. Was *The Queensbury** and it's open fire inviting us to stick around and chill with a beer or two? UMMMMM Maybe..... *But did that stop us from getting out into our fair old borough of Brent to sprinkle some goodgym charm all over the joint? - Hell No!

Thrown into the mix this Monday eve was a merry band of newcomers - Samuel, Fiona and Vojtech (our new resident chef!!) and of course joining them was my regular squad of lovelies - The Familia Ananda. "Spice up your life" Samina. Sister Sledge Tabitha and Debs. Amy (Pole Fit Goddess) Crawford. Take no prisoners man like Neil. Clairey (Veteran) birthday Bell. All the sass and bringing some Class Liz James. The one and only mouse in the House Clare. Never not smiling Karen and always Awesome speedy Queen Andrea.

Also joining the masses on Monday was one in particular, so happy we were to see for the first time this year was Lucky Enrique back and recovered from a poorly Jan. Also one big fat massive delight for night came in the shape of Sparky Sparkes Irwin a vintage GG Brent original bringing some nostalgic vibes.

So with housekeeping done and welcomes wrapped, we set off into the darkness for our last GG Brent of January. Full speed into the night we dashed along to our how for the night Harlesden Town GardensA green space in the heart of Harlesden where people can grow things, play and learn together while meeting and making friends. Helping the community to grow together this is an amazing community project supported by the Brent arm of the charity Crisis. https://m.facebook.com/harlesdentowngardens

Setting an inspiring pace up front, Irwin proved he'd been keeping up the fitness in honour of his big 2017 return. keeping us all well and truly on our toes for a 7.30min mile pace to base. Wowzer!!

After our very swift cavort we arrived on site and even though we may have been out of puff, we certainly weren't out of energy or enthusiasm for that matter, as we set to mission on the tasks ahead. Waiting for us at the gardens, with his usual good cheer and positive vibe was Gabriel from Crisis who manages the site, dishing out the evening tasks. Before long the team were split into groups and got to work, shifting and wheeling the various piles of soil and rocks to their new homes for use elsewhere in the fantastic community arena.

But while the team were busting it out, I of course (never not one to miss a chance to act the kid) had my eyes on some fitness fun in the playground YAY. So over to the apparatus I did go and breaking off in teams of 4 the crew took turns to join me on the bars for a good old monkey around, practicing all manner of body-weight challenges, in particular testing upper body strength.

We hung, swung and knee tucked our way to a fitness session jungle style, with plenty of Pow Pow along the way!!

With all the excitement and glee, What felt like 5mins of fun was in fact 40mins of graft and even though we wanted to stay (and play) much longer we sadly said our goodbyes and off into the night we flew again.

Staying as a pack we jogged a light foot comfy pace towards Roundwood Park to partake in one last fast fit challenge in the moonlight. Partners squat hold and punch arm challenge, 1 min on and 10squats to rest. Great for muscle condition. Rinse, repeat and don't step on the Shame(dog)poo!!

After the exertions we weren't finished there and after we walking lunged our way towards the gate, there was only one more mile that stood in between us and home. This point in, Enrique took to the helm driving the squad for one last challenge up the infamous "Out of Puffington Hill" Wham bam thank you mam. Eat my dust, now onwards home was a must.

Speedy and agile the team dashed off the last mile with glorious Good(gym) cheer and ample crew love. Even with pace group splits and back markers bringing in the final few, it was a team effort and everyone finished off the night with 5k under their belt, biceps bulging and big fat smiles to boot! HURRAAHHH

Epic night, awesome task and stupendous squad. Just your average Monday night for GG Brent.

Do good. Feel good. Inspire.