Our Mission this evening was to move around a few bits for Ms. D in Shacklewell.

Her husband had recently passed so the furniture and equipment from his room was to be moved-out. We took a sofa, armchair and dining chair across the hallway to the living room, and the walnut coffee table was to go to the bins. The finish on the tabletop had succumbed to one too many hot beverages, so Ms. D wanted shot of it.

As we took it down Tanya thoughtfully pointed-out someone else may want to make use of it, so we kept all the tiny bits together and left it looking as presentable as possible down by the bins.

12 Hackney GoodGymers ran 4K to help Hollybush gardens plant flowers with 10 raised boxed in the Estates urban garden.

A band of very merry GoodGymers including 2 epic Yorkshire Marathoners set off this evening for a little adventure to South South Hackney!!

With a brilliant safety Briefing from marathero Ros and social update from soon to be Abney Trustee Eva we set off down South!

Running down to Hollybush as a group with plenty of chat (apart from me) we met Margaret and Michael who were ready for us.

This week we were working on an ingenious inside/outside urban garden of 10 raised beds inside the corridor of the estate bringing some colour and growth to concrete around the beds.

Splitting into pairs we designed amazing flower patterns to make each bed stand out and look amazing!!

We worked with precision and speed and had the task done in no time!!

A quick visit to the gnome heaven to see our handy work from last month and we were away!

With a splinter group tackling a longer 3k loop back to base we all made in back safe and sound with a fun evening complete.

Remember if you fancy running Brighton Marathon (no Ballot or charity place needed) you need to register you interest by Friday!! With places going on sale on Monday!!

The next Social which is a Hackney/Tower Hamlets collaboration on Thursday the 8th!!

Have a great week

Smooth Running

Joel

16 Hackney GoodGymers wiped away the tears of the late postponement of a glorious painting task to drop some serious running speed and core conditioning in Victoria Park.

A last minute change of plan this week meant instead of getting our artistic fix we got to really lay some running and conditioning foundations down!!

Heading over to Victoria Park with a nice 15 minute warm up run where we got down to 15 minutes of mobility exercises, balance holds and the all important running form drills. Getting the body ready for the intervals ahead.

We all systems activated we pressed go!!! Tearing into a wide range of time and distance focused running intervals allowing us to test our bodies exploring faster paces and our minds to dial into exact Pacing goals.

Finishing off with some super speedy 1 minute reps before we got our core conditioning on!! Hitting some distraction core holds, hand clapping partner planks and finally some team conditioning efforts in the ring of core fire.

A gentle jog back rounded off a great fitness filled evening!!

See you next week for our return trip to Abney!!

Smooth Running

Joel

10 Hackney GoodGymers ran around the park to conquer our closest task ever with Hackney Parks at London Fields.

Enjoying the heatwave in the capital was 10 of GoodGyms finest! Working for the first time on our very nearest green space we joined Bruce from Hackney Parks to dominate the heavy lifting in the restoration of the Sheep monument in London Fields.

After a really short run, cut super short when we ran past the huge pile of soil and compost and knee we were in for a bit session.

Grabbing tools from the depot we marched over to the sheep monument which 30 years after its creation between a local artist and 3 surrounding primary schools it has been restored back to it’s original glory with a combination of mosaicing, cleaning and stone work. Our job this evening was to shovel barrow after barrow with a 4:1 ratio of soil to compost then shift it over to the monuments huge circular flower beds and tip it in. Working at a strong pace and getting into an efficient system and rhythm we fill 5 huge flower beds with over a tonne of soil ready for planting!!

With a little time left we had enjoyed energy for 2 fast 500 metre mulch runs to lock in the moisture in the hedge rows surrounding the park!

Returning the tools back to the depot just in time to heat back the Bakehouse with a Spring in our step with an hour of tasking under our belts!!

Top work team!!

Next week we are back with Cordwainers Grow to help the reviving a fallen community garden near Hackney Downs. Be great to have you along!

Smooth Running

Joel

P. S thank you to Eva for her magical pun work this week!!