One of those delightful crisp wintry nights yesterday, with participation well into the twenties - a statement of intent from our volunteering collective.

Welcoming Giacomo, Stewart and Andy to our midweek madness. Kicked off the show with a round of applause for Alice, Jade and Olly who ran a half marathon on a very tortuous Olympic Park course. Alice straight off her death bed and onto the start line, Jade and Olly getting their first 13.1 mile distance under their belt. Gotta love it. Shaz, Siobhan and Kev getting a canal mission done on the weekend too. Phwoar all this activity is infectious. We finished with a random weekly question of "What's your favourite breakfast?" as it turns out there's a multitude of foods that fuel you lot. From porridge, frosties, full english, eggs royale, continental, peanut butter and bananas on toast and even a sickly american brekkie in there. Two cups of tea and a seedy, oaty, nutty mix for me today - i'm literally turning into my dad.

So onto the adventure playground we ran, all 23 of us, down a dark canal and over a bridge. Neville covered for Ange this week. Essentially two tasks: moving mulch to pad out areas where the fearless young fall (yes, you basically saved lives). And removing more poles/beams rooted deep in the earth's molten core. Great effort all round, the mulch (potentially imbued with some tangy manure) gave a steamy atmospheric quality to the night, albeit with a potent smell. The beams all got removed bar a stubborn one - we'll be back... with a JCB in the night.

Couldn't call it a night without some anaerobic speed work, 6 or 8 x 30secs, aiming to move through your gears, and finish as strongly as possible. Shake up your pace and remind yourself that you've got more speed than you know. Oh, and you certainly did.

Next week we go to the Docklands for the first time since Burn's Night, sign up here, another smooth canal run with diverse volunteering work awaits you.

Till next week

B