17 runners ran 6km to tidy up at the Giraffe House Comunity Centre

Southwark News

• This Saturday is the GoodGym Olympics at Parliament Hill Athletics track. If you're not registered for an event come and cheer, eat cake (there's a bake off) and drink beer! If you can't make the day, come join us at the after party at the Vine pub in Highgate from 6pm.

• 15th July is the British 10k and GoodGym are taking over a water aid station! You get a free Virgin race place for volunteering, a hat and a tshirt!

• If you're interested in the Team 100 scheme that Vernon told us about last night - please fill out this form. You can find out more at the reach volunteering website.

That's enough of the business!

17 runners gathered last night at Old Spike Roastery to enjoy a glorious summer evening and some do-gooding. Big shout out to Charlotte, Helen and Jordan who joined us for the first time last night and also Chi who's on a whirlwind GoodGym tour, bringing core sessions and 1km reps to everyone! Thanks Chi!

We split into two groups post warm-up. Beth leading one at party pace and Lucy leading a group wanting to stretch their legs a little. By perfect synchronicity we arrived at exactly the same time by the BMX park in Burgess Park where we met Vernon. The group has helped out Vernon many times but it's my first visit! The site is amazing and whilst there Vernon showed me the Tigers Club House which is in need of a lick of paint from us in a few weeks time. Can't wait! On site we met Franco, a Sicilian chef who's just started volunteering at the Giraffe House. He's currently working on a bed for tomato plants that he will tend with groups of volunteers. Ultimately he wants to set up a kiosk in the park selling his tomato sauce. Sounds like a job for GoodGym!

There was loads to get done last night! We split into three groups:

• Moving scrap wood
• Litter picking/general clear up
• Sifting the new tomato flower bed for stones and unwanted items with chef Franco

30 minutes whizzed by! With all the wood shifted, flower beds mostly sifted (Franco couldn't keep up with you!) and the car park looking super tidy - Chi treated us to a short (but hard!) core session. The session involved planks, bicycles, scissor kicks and more. Cores pleasantly aching, we bid our farewells to Vernon and Franco and headed off.

#GGOlympics2018

Before leaving, we had the opportunity to complete a 1km rep to put on Strava to count towards Southwark's standing in the GoodGym Olympics Nationwide Race. Beth led a group home whilst 6 of us stayed to do our 1km rep. Chi has been doing these on his GoodGym tourism so far and is hoping to get his 1km time down to 03:29. 1km is further than you think it is! Really great running from everyone. Don't forget to hashtag the Strava activity #GGOlympics2018 and link your strava to your GoodGym profile to make it count!

What a gorgeous evening to spend with you all. I was treated to a really beautiful sunset on the way home.

Looking forward to seeing you next week - we're running 3km total to do some gardening at Grove Park Allotments.

Keep running happy! Lucy

Last night 13 runners ran 6km to weed at Bell House

Southwark News

• The next GoodGym RaceTeam race is East Farm Frolic run by the wonderful White Star Running. Distances are varied - 10km, half marathon, marathon and a 12 hour race you can take on with a team or solo. I'm running the 10km, we've got 37 signups already. Come and meet GoodGymers from around the country for some muddy, traily fun in Dorset. Sign up here.

• Soon GoodGym will be rolling out community missions - this means turning up to tasks that we can't usually reach on a weekend. We don't meet at Old Spike, but run there individually (or in groups). You don't have to have a DBS check for these. They're going to be an awesome way to reach places we can't get to on a Wednesday night. Let me know if you have ideas of particular places to go!

• A huge shout out to Stuart, Helen and Anna who joined us for the first time last night!

That's enough of the business

Last night we gathered at a rather stuffy Old Spike sniffling and eye-rubbing due to the insane hayfever. I'm convinced its mixed with some delightful pollution round these parts... After a headcount and a warm up we split into two groups:

• Team 'leg stretch' headed off at a stiff pace and included a lap of Dulwich Park taking them to 4.8km for their run out.
• Team 'we're going to get there on time' led by Girija ran directly there and got to work before the others arrived.

We came we saw we weeded

Sarah from Bell House set us to work weeding infront of the house. We spent a good 25 minutes tugging, digging and hauling out weeds (and some old chains!) and then popped inside to have a look at the exhibition being held. The choice to do that had nothing to do with the free wine...! Sarah and Chloe were absolutely thrilled with how much we got done and took a lovely team photo of us outside the house. It makes for a pretty hilarious photo!

We took the way home easy although everyone was absolutely flying down Barry Road (yes it is called that!) which is much more fun to run down than run up. As we reached the last set of lights we set up a game of chase the hare. Stuart volunteered to be the hare and I set him off at a speedy pace and three seconds later the whole group had the challenge of chasing him down to Old Spike. No one caught him this time... but there will be more rounds, just you wait!

Great job everyone, Sarah and Chloe were thrilled and I'm particularly looking forward to doing some stuff with them over winter.

See you next week! Lucy