Two routes, two jobs

Lauren Garland writes:This evening 26 of us met at the Arch Gallery for our Monday night group run. There were two runs to choose from, a short 5k to help out at a community garden and a longer 8k to lay wood chips for a running path at Victoria Park. After a quick warm up from Simon, our run leader, we set off on the 5k, winding through Bethnal Green & Victoria Park at quite a good pace. A few of the keener runners fit in some sprints, but most of us stuck with the plod-along-at-a-steady-pace method.We arrived at Growing Concerns garden center on the East of Victoria Park to meet Paul, who is building a community garden on a piece of wasteland next to the center. I had heard a lot about Paul and I wasn’t disappointed. Paul is one of those people who is so enthusiastic about his work that you can’t help but be infected by his enthusiasm from the moment you meet him. Before we started Paul took us down to the canal to show us his latest project. We were greeted by a stretch of wall along the canal path that has been entirely planted with herbs. The idea being that you will be able to walk past on your way home and cut yourself a few herbs for your dinner. It’s a fantastic idea and it looks amazing. The council have also realised the benefits of Paul’s scheme, mainly that you can’t graffiti herbs, and have given him the go-ahead to extend his herb wall way past the boundary of his own garden.We then went back up to the garden to get stuck in. The land used to be a scrap yard so there’s all sorts of rubbish buried in the ground that Paul is slowly digging up.Today’s tasks mainly involved emptying three large compost bins into the enormous hole the rubble has been dug out of to turn it into a useable bed. There was also some strawberry & honeysuckle planting to be done, along with some soil sifting, branch sawing & some heavy lifting.We weren’t there for too long sadly before we had to pack up and head back to base, but we managed a lot of shoveling in that short time. Before we left Paul offered us some small cuttings & plug plants from the herbs he’s growing for the canal wall and we all ran back carefully cradling a baby plant in our hands as we did so. The run back was a little slower, so those who ran faster kept looping round to the back of the group to make sure the group didn’t get too spread out. We were all relieved to make it back to the Arch Gallery without any rain as the clouds had been pretty ominous.What was brilliant about tonight’s run was that not only did we get the usual benefits from our group runs; the comfort of knowing that we’d done some exercise and the feel good factor from doing something for the local community, but quite a few of us got a new addition to our window boxes too.Frank Merrigan writes:GoodGym's second task in Victoria Park was to help the Park Rangers create a new soft running trail around the park. Our group worked quickly to spread and re-align a big pile of woodchips and leaf mulch with one team raking and another shovelling and wheel-barrowing.The task was enjoyable with good variety and our small group worked hard to create 25 metres of running path. We had made a real difference!The rangers, Mark and Rose, said how much they enjoy GoodGym's work, particularly the energy and enthusiasm, and said that we are welcome back any time.  The run round the park beforehand and after the task, down to Mile End on the Canal, was pleasant and easy-going. As the rain held off, we chatted on our 8 km run, nearly all off-road and on quiet back streets.Stats for the community garden route: Thanks to Simon, Frank and Pete for leading the runs.