First up a 200th good deed in Kingston this week. Congrats to Jenna whose run to do good at Kingston Cemetery tonight was her 200th good deed across Richmond and Kingston. Amazing work Jenna and thank you for everything you do for GoodGym.

Also good to welcome new runners to Kingston tonight – Cathy from Richmond and Rob as well as Jasper on his second run and so lucky to have Africa with amazing Spanish Nutella cakes over to join us from Richmond.

We POWered round Guildhall for our warm ups, propelled by the cape with Mark even sneaking in a new exercise tonight – what I call the skiers exercise of sitting on an imaginary chair.

The cemetery was still a tad spooky tonight even in the sunlight on a summer’s evening because of the intense crows calling as we worked. We got to task with saws, loppers, rakes, brushes and even an old hoe-like fork to do what we could with limited tools in clearing the old graves in the Victorian and Edwardian nature reserve from brambles, self-setters and weeds.

GoodGym teamwork! #kingston #goodgym #cemetery #raking #selfsetters #brambles #ivy #clearing #tidying #doinggood #runningroup pic.twitter.com/WUOiHoXWwH

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) August 14, 2019

We had second wind on the return leg as we had an appointment with National Prosecco Day in the local to toast Jenna’s 200th and eat Africa’s cakes!

Great running and celebrating everybody!

And next social alert – GG’s 10th Anniversary social is on Tuesday 17th September at The Albion.

Tonight, we noticed a dancing theme evolved for our weekly run! We had all been peeping out of the window throughout the day and promised the group we had spent the afternoon sun dancing in the hope that the rain would stop so we would remain dry for the duration of our run and task. So when we met in the Guildhall, we were quite chuffed that our efforts seemed to be working as although still grey out, it was at least, not raining.

Our brief saw us welcome back Leo and Marit on their 2nd GoodGym Kingston run tonight and had us prepared for the evening ahead. Then it was to market for our warm up, after stretching on the green outside Guildhall we literally lunged into the Kingston market square and proceeded to interval jog around the square using the natural space around us to pull up, dip, wheel barrow, squat jump, press-up and more – Oh and a few rounds of ‘Ready, steady, GLOVE!! (I’ll explain another time) All in all a seat in the square looked very tempting at this point but of course ‘No Way’!! Good deeds to be done so we fired up Strava and was off running.

Part one of our 6km run was outbound to Kingston Cemetery. It was a return visit and the task was to clear the headstones of intrusive self-setters and brutal brambles that were taking over in the graveyard. On our way the lucky front runners were treated to a loop of Fairfield Park while the rest of us caught up! Mark tried to explain it was a bonus for such pace but not all were convinced and for a change us further back in the pack felt less envious of pace as it proved to take a long road getting there!

Once everyone had arrived at the cemetery, we chose our tools and went on the hunt for the trespassers. With saws, secateurs, loppers and rakes we managed to clear a few areas, uncovered some stones that had been totally overgrown and tidy where we could but the job is huge and we hope to return sometime soon to make the differences we can around the site and keep up the good work!

The skills our GoodGym runners have are endless...#goodgym #volunteering #kingston #Cemetery #tuesdays pic.twitter.com/Dc2SMo0mVR

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) June 5, 2019

We were surprised how quickly time passed and you know something, the sun had been shining on us all the time we were there too! Easy to lose track of things working on the site when the evening was so pleasant in the end. Our normal cue to down tools from the caretaker was missing as well and tonight instead, we were able to leisurely pack up our tools under the watchful eye of a striking fox among the self-setters. It was as if it was inspecting our work or had he come to tell us it was time to leave and usher us out. Either way we took the hint and fox trotted out of there for part two of our run which saw us return to Guildhall for a full on stretch and bite inspection.

Great work team from sun dance to fox trot we made good things happen!

See you next week ; - )

Unluckily for some but not for us....13 runners joined Goodgym Kingston this evening (weirdly though that's the same amount that went to the cemetery on our last visit!!). We welcomed newbie Elizabeth on her first run with Kingston!! AND we also welcomed back Lesley after her magnificent achievement of running the Brighton Marathon. Well done Lesley!!

After news of community missions spreading like wild fire. Well done Kingston! (Check out the run listings for the next 2 weekends), some Marathon reflections where we all felt proud of Nik and Nic for their achievement we had a quick bit of birthday talk and then we headed out for our warm up.

Straight in to the all important pre-run stretches and then we paired up and got into the zone to conquer that ab building exercise...the plank! One half of the pair planked it out while the other balanced on the edge in a variety of exercises all tailored to strengthen our running. There was no lack of motivation from our partners and some were even spurred on to 'Stick it out and keep it stiff'. Not sure if it helped performance but the abs were hurting from laughing!!

We then set out on what was turning out to be a lovely sunlit evening to Kingston Cemetery. A location we have visited before and there is just so much to tackle there that we were DEAD set on helping to cut down thorny brambles and self-setters that were taking over the grave stones. We chose our weapons - everything from loppers, secateurs, rakes and even saws and set to work! Digging, raking, cutting, lifting and even Olympic style broom curling were all part of the workout at the task and we got plenty done but time went so quickly and before we knew it we needed to start packing up and heading off, we BRAMBLED to beat to caretakers clock and 'we would have got away with it if it weren't for those pesky self-setters causing so much havoc'!

RAKE me back so I can clear those vines ...

a few of us pleaded as we set off for our return run via the familiar red phone boxes..."who you gonna call?"

Well done team, we came , we saw and we conquered...see you next week

Don't forget the Thames Path Trot this Sunday if you fancy a run along the river we some fantastic GG folk.

spooky sounds #whistle #halloween #creepy #spooky #sounds #eerie #kingston #tuesdaynights #beforeweran #roomchange #cape #redridinghood #pumpkin #devil #spiderman pic.twitter.com/UWoZ50mRFv

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) October 30, 2018

We didn't need to be pumpkin iron after tonight's 'thrilling' work out!

Monster lunges! #HalloweenEve #halloween #goodgym #tuesday #fancydress #running #volunteering pic.twitter.com/YGDQ8cy7qY

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) October 30, 2018

There wasn't a grave face in sight as the lanterns lit up the night and Mark's spooky choreography directions were given to help warm us up.

Scary knees! #warmup #cantstoplaughing #Halloween #goodgym #kingston pic.twitter.com/T67ImWYVLE

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) October 30, 2018

12 gruesome Goodgym runners then ran 5km to wreak their ghoulish graveyard gardening skills at Kingston cemetery. The slow incline of Surbiton' s hill was no thorn in the side as everyone ran the whole way up!

Once in the cemetery, we thorn it would be easy to shake off those self setters but they seemed to have some attachment issues and suffered from some separation anxiety from the grave stones.

If that wasn't scary enough 'old man Jackson' appeared out of the shadows like something from Scooby do to try and hurry us along...although when we asked if Mark had seen the man to explain the situation.....Mark had no recollection of the encounter....

After our thistle were piled we had to zombie shuffle out of there with the speed of a bat out of hell! The cemetery was left so neat we hear people are now dying to get in!

Those brambles were in grave danger #Halloween #goodgym #running #volunteering #kingston #cemetery pic.twitter.com/FzVNVnu7iB

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) October 30, 2018

After the task, all we could hear was the rather spooky rumblings of hungry stomachs on the swift route back to Guildhall then the Druids pub. The party kept on pumpkin as we made our ghostly appearances at the bar.

It was thirsty and hungry work tonight with all the terror and adrenalin pumping round us. So Cheers everyone and happy Halloween!

Is this the new superhero line up??? #halloween #run #goodgym #kingston pic.twitter.com/11WlLiEMtR

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) October 30, 2018

Big thank you to Nicky for arranging the Halloween social and thank you to Toby for backmarking tonight. Don't forget, there is a GG Christmas party to be had in London area on 1st Dec - Details here https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/goodgym-london-christmas-party-2018

See you next week ; - )

13 GoodGym runners took off to KIngston Cemetery tonight

Dark and spooky, with runners torches providing the light

Those with tools cut whilst others gathered and we began to see

Those 19th century headstones with all their history.

Samia felt something in her hair but didn't freak out much

As she discovered it was her own hair making that touch

The pile of cuttings grew and grew then it was time to head back

luckily for us the spirits stayed away and didn't attack

Great to see Jenni and Philly back for their second run,

and thanks to all for the group run pun.

Shout out to Mark for stretching us all after

and to Toby our lost backmarker!

I am not looking forward to doing this on a real tightrope! #goodgym #kingston #warmup pic.twitter.com/Pl0OpDuWt6

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) September 11, 2018

GG Kingston was full of girl power tonight, as 10 female runners (and Mark) gathered at the Guildhall.

We welcomed Claire and Jenni on their first Kingston run and Ally who returned for a second instalment. Sarah Sarahgalantly offered to be backmarker and did a great job ensuring no one was left behind.

We stayed true to the cause and didn't let the temptation of the World Cup Semi Finals keep us at home, or in the pub (although a few did nip there afterwards).

After a confusing warm-up (see video for evidence) we headed out to Kingston Cemetery where our task was to rid the area of brambles and nettles. Before arriving we took a detour to the park where Mark set us the challenge of doing one lap before a quick game to test our reflexes and a chance to sing "Heads, shoulders, knees and..You get the idea.

"You gotta (g)love the enthusiasm".

GoodGym finding their feet!#kingston #running #volunteering #tuesday #worldcup pic.twitter.com/xIht6w1Jnf

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) July 10, 2018

Once at the cemetery we had kindly been left brand new tools. We donned our fetching cover ups, thankful for the cooler air and prepared ourselves to tackle some nasty nettles. Our enthusiasm reined once more as we started singing another children's favourite song to express our happiness and even moved into a Christmas number once we realised we had to remove the holly but leave the ivy. Seeing the incredible pile of brambles and nettles was incredibly satisfying but we hope to return to do more soon.

We ran back, some the right way and some....Mark's way! But all met at the end for a cool down and a chance to watch France head into the final of the World Cup

Au revior, see you next week