It was the last group run of January last night in Wandsworth - and what a month of doing good and getting fit it's been! It was great to see 37 runners meeting to help out at a community garden. We also welcomed Benjamin, Rachel and Grainne to the group - give them a cheer!

We started off the night with some news:

• Free this lunchtime and want to squeeze in a quick and very helpful mission? Then look no further than this one for Free2Be, a charity which supports LGBTQ+ young people in Wandsworth. They need a hand moving their office, and have GoodGym to help out at 12pm at their offices near Clapham Junction.

• It's the last week of the January challenge - just one final push to make the 8000 good deeds and 100 000 kms we've got as a target. Wandsworth is looking good with 179 good deeds and 1,636 - can we get any more in before January runs out?

• It's the monthly Wandsworth social next week - hope to see you after for the session for 2-4-1 burgers and post-run fun. Sign up for all the details

We headed outside to do our warm up and, as it was the last run of January, to discuss whether we had kept to any new year's resolutions we had made. Quite a few of us had avoided making one altogether, but there have been some excellent successes - eating fewer biscuits, doing something that challenges us (like Frances jumping into a freezing January Brockwell lido!), coming to GoodGym (hooray), and doing first parkruns.

We set off on our run down to Christchurch community garden, a small public space in the middle of Battersea that a group of volunteers are trying to make as welcoming as possible for local people. They have some beautiful mature trees there but a problem with the leaves they drop which are stopping other plants from growing and causing a nuisance on the paths.

When we arrived we found volunteer Nigel waiting for us with loads of bin bags, gloves and some litter pickers, and we got to it. While one group started on the rubbish people had chucked over from the nearby bus stop, the rest of us started clearing leaves - and if you've ever wondered how many bags of leaves a team of 37 people can fill in half an hour (and why wouldn't you?) then the answer is a phenomenal number. Just check out those photos!

We took a short jog over to the local park for our fitness, which this week was all about teamwork. After pairing up we took a quick lap around the park, high fived our partner, and then raced them back to base, before working on some conditioning exercises such a partner pistol squats and back to back holds. There was some pretty impressive balancing going on, and a lot of trust! Nice work everyone.

With the hill waiting for us at the end of the run, we set off for base, and finished the night off with some stretching. Fancy more fun and fitness next week? Then sign up here for your weekly dose of GoodGym Wandsworth. Until then, run happy!

Yesterday was Blue Monday - apparently the most depressing day of the year. In Wandsworth last night there was zero evidence of that, with 46 happy GoodGymers running 6km to lend a hand at a children's adventure playground. We even started off the night discussing what cheers us up when we're feeling down; food definitely came out on top along with running (of course), dogs, cat videos, rum and sunshine. If last night is anything to go by, we can most definitely add GoodGym to that list!

With the BAC being shut for the night we were lucky enough to be given a temporary home by the lovely people at Share Community, a brilliant charity that supports local disabled people. Thanks Share!

It was really lovely to see new faces, familiar faces, runners from different areas, from central office and even from Wandsworth council. Everybody is welcome at GoodGym, and always will be. A special welcome to Sara, Alex, Alexa, Becky, Rachel and Jessica who all came for their first group run last night. Give them a cheer, GoodGym!

We started off with a run through of the news - here's a recap:

• The January challenge is in full swing. In Wandsworth we racked up 129 good deeds and run a total of 1,176 kms which is pretty great. There's still a way to go though, so get yourself to as many group runs and missions as possible and don't forget to strava the heck out of every run!

• Looking for a community mission? Then check out this brilliant one next Tuesday lunchtime. The job is shifting furniture for a LGBTQ+ charity which supports young people locally, so not only will you get a great upper body workout but you'll be helping out an important organisation too. What's not to love?

• Like burgers? Feeling social? Want to catch up with other GoodGymers while not trying to trip up on the pavement or elbow deep in mud? Then our monthly port-run social is for you. Every first Monday of the month, just round the corner from our starting place at the Four Thieves. And it's even two for one on the burgers!What more could you ask for? Sign up here to join us at the next one.

After a rather squished warm up, we set off for our task at Oasis adventure playground. This wonderful place is a local charity that has fun facilities and learning opportunities for disabled and non-disabled young people enabling them to lead happy, fulfilled lives and play positive roles in the community.

We arrived to find David, who manages the place, waiting for us with tools and a pretty inspiring welcome. We were only there for 40 minutes, but he reminded us in that time that we would be playing an active role in improving the lives of young people. With that feel good factor, we got straight to work shifting old pallets from an area that needed to be dug over. We got a nice little chain gang going, before the real hard work began digging over the area, as well as creating a firepit. Which sounds about the most excellent and dangerous thing to introduce in to a children's playground.

Meanwhile, some of the group were treated to an extra conditioning session (lucky!), before getting on with weeding the enormous area - as well as testing out the facilities (which GoodGym trainer was spotted having fun on the trampoline cough, Beth?).

After just over half an hour of hard graft, we downed tools and headed over to the neighbouring park for a very short fitness blast. We warmed up with a game of clusters. While I wouldn't like to fling around any wild accusations of cheating, there was definitely some interesting counting going on! We then knocked out a little conditioning versus high intensity drills, with Chi encouraging everybody to work harder as we squatted, lunged, balanced and high kneed.

All that was left was to run the three kms back to base, and stretch out those tired muscles. Well done on working hard for a brilliant charity, getting a good run under your belt in the process, and giving blue Monday a smack about the chops. Next week we're off to clear leaves in a community garden, you can find out all about it right here. Hope to see you, until then, run happy!