It was a big day on Saturday celebrating 7 years of GGR and 7.5 decades of the NHS plus AJs 100th mission. Actually our birthday is nearer the end of the month but when we had a plea from Valentines Park Run Director to provide extra Marshals for the additional NHS participants Julia had no hesitation in agreeing to move our proposed take over/celebration forward a bit.

10 Good Gym helpers were allocated our various posts . We had a welcome visitor in John from GG Tower Hamlets on his first visit to Valentines. John was pleased to be given token sorting allowing him to both run and volunteer in one go. AJ wasn't needed until the end so she joined Ed and Linda on the Boat House/Carpark areas where we photographed her with her belated 100 missions banner 👏🏻

Other pre start activities were Sharon pointing out a litter picking opportunity, reports of ducks on the track, Anit announcing track all clear on his patch and Peter stripping off due to the heat🙈.

It was a great atmosphere of fun an enthusiasm from all the participants, some were not used to exercise so things took a little longer than usual, Jenny's tummy must have been rumbling as a cry of "any one seen the tail walkers" went up. Luckily they weren't far away and we were soon sat down and tucking in. A lively discussion on pros and cons of going vegan struck up with James taking the helm on the pro side.

With the threat of thunderstorms looming we packed up our picnic and hopefully all made it home before the rain.