Stormy Weather over the Sunset Terrace

Canary Wharf is a strange place. When you step off the tube and it’s as if you have passed several thousand miles through the depths of the earth and alight in the centre of Shanghai. Its the 17th October, and, after wandering around lost for 20 minutes, attempting to get directions from overly-hurried business types, I found the GoodGym meet up point just inside the swanky reception of the Reebok Club. After a brief introduction and a friendly chat, 5 of us set off at a sprightly tempo on the 6.1km run to and from the site of our task: a community project near Canning Town called Caravanserai.Ibrahim was there to greet us with a smile and a stack of shovels next to several huge piles of rocks and dirt. He’s building a terrace on which to watch the sunset over the Thames, and needed some assistance in filling up numerous great big sacks to lay pallets over. Just as we arrived at Caravanserai, the heavens opened up and water started bucketing down from the sky. In spite of the typically demanding British weather, all the runners were up for the task and we soon set to work shovelling.After 30 minutes of intense, rain-soaked labour, we had successfully loaded up approximately 3 tons of debris. We didn’t want to stick around chatting in the rain, we needed to keep our body temperatures up, so after a brief goodbye and wave the 5 of us charged back out onto Silvertown Way and back along the river, keeping a brisk pace. We soon found ourselves crossing back into the labyrinth that is Canary Wharf, and, despite feeling lost for most of the route, I found myself back outside the Reebok Club. Great success!Thanks very much to the guys who came on the run and put in a solid effort at Caravanserai. We hope to see you next at the next Canary Wharf run on the 30th October, we’ll be putting up the details of our new task in the next week. Here’s a hint: Bring your overalls, because it may get a bit colourful!