This week was my first time leading a Group Run, and nerve wracking it was too. Not sure if that was obvious whilst reading out the run briefing but I don’t think I made too many mistakes. We started with welcoming Ian to his first GoodGym session. Well done for not letting the weather put you off and getting stuck right in Ian. Hopefully see you at another session soon! In terms of news David went surfing at the weekend as part of a stag do. And he did manage to stand on the board… for all of one and half seconds. Better than I will ever manage.

After a fantastically led warm up if I do say so myself, Adam and Joel led us to the Sanctus allotment with Laurie backmarking. As it’s not too far from our starting base at the University we took a slightly longer route, and a few people decided to do a extra lap of the park when we reached our destination.

There were a lot of little jobs that needed doing at the allotment, the main one being weeding. It was great to see some of the plants that we’ve only fairly recently planted have flourished. The potatoes in particular are growing rapidly and the tomato plants are starting to grow a few green tomatoes here and there!

Ian got stuck right in with pulling weeds from around the cabbage seeds we had sown along with Andy. Adam and Laurie put fencing around one of the beds, getting it ready for some netting to protect our young plants. Joel tended to the tomato plants making sure they were supported on the bamboo sticks and doing some weeding. Anna made sure every plant had a good drink with some fertiliser and David seemed to be pulling up weeds absolutely everywhere. As we were nearing the end of our time and most people were getting out weeds in the potato patch a helicopter flew overhead, leading to David’s timely pun for the run report, thanks David!!

After we’d cleared away the tools it was time for a fitness session, everyone’s favourite; Hill sprints!! All the talk before the run had been focussed on the weather with torrential downpours forecast right for the middle of our session. Thankfully the worst we experienced was a slight drizzle, which led to some rather fantastic views. On route to a rather steep hill we spotted a magnificent rainbow in a clearing, making for a great photo opportunity. Still we weren’t here to admire the views, it was time to get fit. We ran up the hill at the side of the park as fast as we could in single file and walked back down to make sure we were recovered for the next sprint, doing 6 reps in total.

We said goodbye to Andy as we took a short run back to the university for a quick debrief and a stretch. Well done everyone for all your hard work, both on the task, and the hill sprints. As I failed to start my watch I’ve no idea how far we ran, or our average pace. Oops. I will remember for next time... Hopefully.

Next week there is a task on Tuesday to collect a compost bin for the allotment and a Group run on the Wednesday.

See you all again soon!!