And so begins our spring time Goodgym group runs!

We have arrived at the time of year when head torches suddenly become less essential, and we can almost run without additional warm clothing! The first Goodgym session within British Summertime!

Area Activator Simon was proud to christen his special 500 good deed t-shirt this evening, and was joined by 8 other Goodgym legends from all the London boroughs. After a series of warm up drills on the Emirates slope, we ran 1.6 miles together through Angel and down towards The ARC Centre via the Packington Estate. We caught up with John, Louise and Benedict at the ARC HQ, along with resident gardening expert, Kelly.

We split our full crew into two groups for this evenings tasks. Team 1 (Veg Patrol) were in charge of clearing two full planters of vegetables (chard, bay leaves, wild mustard, beetroot), and moving the soil over to another planter near the main entrance of the ARC Centre. Team 2 (Lifters and Shifters) were tasked with moving 8 timber planks from the locked up Riverside Gardens space, back to the ARC Centre. Afterwards, we successfully shifted a very heavy concrete slab back to Riverside Gardens, with the help of one of the squeakiest wheelbarrows in existence!

In appreciation for our efforts, we were offered the opportunity to take home some of the freshly uprooted vegetables! Our team ran back to the Emirates Stadium together, while carrying an array of veggies in hand or sticking out of various pockets or trail vests!

Area Activator Simon will be back in two weeks for his next group run (our "Moving the Masses" exercise facility verification run on Bank Holiday Monday). However, long time Goodgym Islington task force member Patrick will be leading our group run to The Rose Bowl Youth Club next Monday.

Sign up here to get involved:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-rose-bowl-youth-club-run

Our Goodgym running crew avoided a continuation of the weekend's rain and mud (especially for those running parkrun or travelling to Wales for trail races!), and arrived the The Arsenal Community Hub on a mild spring time evening! Last one before the clocks go forward next weekend. Happy Birthday to Alex on Sunday, welcome back to Claire after her awesome trip to Hawaii, and Monday greetings to Louise after a weekend of completing Goodgym tasks across most of London! One of these being Area Activator Simon's official 500th Good Deed over at Caledonian Park junior parkrun on Sunday morning.

After a short warm-up along the slopes of the Emirates Stadium, we ran the 1.6 mile route along Upper Street in Angel (nice and quiet after a bit of rain) past Compton Square Gardens and down to the lovely ARC Centre on the Packington Estate. Kelly, the local resident and volunteer gardening expert took us over to the newly remodeled Riverside Gardens space, literally next door to Regent's Canal. This was actually part of our Slow Ways running task a few weeks back, so it was wonderful to see the spot being utilised for a new community project!

Between us, we set about digging up two large plots of soil and mulch, clearing the beds of roots, plants, older seeds and bulbs. We successfully pulled up some really quite huge plants, while avoiding our worm, snail and beetle friends, of course! The plan for the space involves re-designing the beds themselves (a carpenter will create some new dovetail joins for the containers on Tuesday), ready to be filled with nutritious plants and green shoots for the local residents (human or otherwise!).

We returned our shovels back to The ARC Centre after about 40 minutes of graft, and ran approximately 2 miles back to The Emirates Stadium, following our lovely Highbury Fields extension by Drayton Park.

Great job everyone! We will be back again next week, same time, same place!

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NEWS

Achilles International group run- Now at The Emirates Stadium

Thursday 23rd March, 6pm, Arsenal Tube Station

We will be collaborating with Achilles International for our weekly VI guide running group session at The Emirates Stadium. New and experienced guides encouraged and supported!

Come and join us here:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-paddington-rec-track-6230acbc-f1a0-4d10-b155-a35da078259a

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Camino Ultra London- Lea Valley 50km Goodgym Official Aid Station

Saturday 25th March, Ponder's End Lock, from 10am until approximately 3pm

Area Activator Simon and the team from Camino Ultra will be hosting a special Goodgym aid station (for water, nutrition and support) as part of this classic London ultra running challenge. Your cheers and well wishes could make someone's race!

Sign up here for more information:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/camino-ultra-lea-valley-50km-goodgym-aid-station

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Penn Road Gardens Open Volunteer Morning

Sunday 26th March, 10am, Penn Road Gardens

The local resident gardeners of Penn Road Gardens have invited fellow green fingered folk to assist with their monthly projects. A perfect post junior parkrun volunteering community mission!

Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/penn-road-gardens-open-morning-february-e9cc97e0-a004-4cc7-9da6-43d6b41994be

5 Goodgymmers joined Area Activator Simon for our slightly drizzly Monday evening group run session yesterday evening (Alex and Paul ran over, and Benedict and Zoe arrived on bikes). Great to have Benedict back after a few months away in Mexico! We performed a warm-up together on the Emirates Stadium slopes (involving dips, lunges, springs and twists), and run together towards the Hilldrop Estate, Camden Road.

Plogging

Plogging is a combination of jogging with picking up litter (merging the Swedish verbs plocka upp (pick up) and jogga (jog) gives the new Swedish verb plogga, from which the word plogging derives).[1] It started as an organized activity in Sweden around 2016 and spread to other countries in 2018, following increased concern about plastic pollution. As a workout, it provides variation in body movements by adding bending, squatting and stretching to the main action of running, hiking, or walking.

"Plogging Wikipedia entry"

Our task this evening was one that AA Simon had planned for quite a while- a guerrilla litter pick on the roadside between the Camden and Islington boroughs. This particular spot, located near Hilldrop House outreach, the former Holloway Road prison site and The Cat and Mouse Library (named after the "Cat and Mouse Act to prevent force feeding of hunger strike protesters within the suffragette movement), has become a windblock for litter and refuse from the connecting neighborhoods. A lot of the roadside is lined with hedgerows as well, habitats for the wildlife around North London.

Luckily, we had some excellent folding litter pickers, sturdy gloves and refuse bags to hand and committed to 35 minutes of picking along the roadside. 6 large bags were collected within a short time, and we were so happy to take a lot of this debris from the streets!

Upon our return to the Emirates Stadium, we hosted our monthly Arsenal Stadium Time Trial, a personal challenge to run around the 700m loop of the stadium concourse as fast as possible. The rain had stopped just early enough to make the conditions perfect for speedy running. Excellent work everyone!