York's January Starter Session

Today 8 runners gathered at Fenby Fields to tackle the bramble bushes that were slowly taking over, blocking the hedges from being trimmed, and the mower from getting into the field.

Our task seemed daunting at first – there were a LOT of thick, thorny bushes to hack our way through, but we got to it with gusto. Paul Kelly was a machine with the billhook, it turns out that while seeming calm and laid back, he has a “quiet rage” when it comes to ouchy plants! Jenny, who came for the first time managed to make a really significant dent into it – at least a few metres, while Becky and Mel had fun getting repeatedly stuck to branches.

The amazing Don, spent his time gathering all of our cast of thorns, scooping them up and carrying them into a thicket declaring that “he forgot the rake, therefore he was the rake”! Brave man, he must have no fear and skin made of Kevlar (we actually inquired if his trousesr were: they were not, so his legs surely must be!)

After nearly an hour of hacking we had gotten into a rhythm: you get stabbed by thorns, you cut then down, you repeat, and in this remarkably zen frame of mind it wasn’t until we stepped back that we really saw the impact that we had. We were almost reluctant to leave, seeing how much we’d achieved and how little bramble there seemed to be left!

As per usual, we had an ace fitness session – different activities interspersed with three different levels of break (though everyone went for one of the higher impact two, being the hard-core folk we are). Options we took were star jumps or sprints, with three of us opting for sprinting every time. Shout out to Ben, who despite "not being a runner", managed not only to do all the sprints, but to beat us on them every time! One pair of new trainers well used there.

After a good stretch out, we congratulated each other on a job well done, and dispersed off to our many other exciting tasks!