After a long day on Saturday, full of running and an unreasonable number of community missions, two Ealing GoodGymers who love challenges finally found time to rest. Or did they? Not quite!

Steph and Kash were up early to run to Acton, carrying their shoes for recycling collection, and eager to meet their friends and volunteer at junior parkrun. A coffee break afterwards was not the finale of an intense weekend, but merely an operational pause before Steph & Kash Hounslow's special episode: a double feature!

The team of two set off for a 13 km run to Feltham, hoping the rain would hold off. It didn't. Between Brentford and Isleworth, a strong shower struck and convinced the hardy GoodGymers to put on their rain jackets. Waterproofs were great, but the two would have to put up with wet shoes for the next 7 hours or so. The joys of GoodGymming in the winter!

Arriving at Feltham, the team realised they were very much too early and walked the final kilometre, spotting and stroking a handsome white and ginger cat on the way. At Ms L's house, they met the lady's granddaughter, and later the daughter, who was about to leave for her shift at work. Since the long grass in the front garden was wet from the rain and not suitable for the strimmer, the GoodGymers received artistic licence when it came to general weeding.

They found plenty of weeds to pull from the flower beds or dig from the grass, sprouting brambles to cut, hidden ivy to remove from the hedge and moss to scrape from the driveway. It didn't look like a lot of work (half a wheelie bin of green waste), but the little jobs added up to fill the whole mission time.

Towards the end of the session, Steph's vintage scraping brush broke, and its operator proclaimed it to be a sign. It was indeed time to go. The two caught 5 minutes of sunshine and ran another 6.5km to Cranford for a well-deserved and well-overdue pub lunch break, then on a mission for another Ms L.