A beautiful summer's evening, lot of lovely faces both returning and new, and a task in Paradise (cooperative garden...!) all added up to a fantastic night of GoodGymming!

Welcome to:

• Emily, Imogen, Amy, Natalie, Ashlyn and Maurice, who all came for their first GoodGym run last night!

And in case you need a reminder of the news we started off the night with, then here it is:

• If you're looking for a beautiful 10k trail run then check out the Morden Park Trail Run - every last Sunday of the month in this lovely National Trust park - it's even free!

• We've got an aid station at the British 10K on Sunday 21st July from 7.30am - volunteers get a free place for the Oxford Half, Hackney Half or the next London 10K. Sign up here - today is your last day to sign up so get in there quick!

• Well done to Oliver who did the Shoreditch 10km on Saturday, to all those who volunteered there, and to all our parkrunners too!

After a warm up outside and a quick survey on our favourite breakfast dishes - eggs well and truly topped the pops, but there were also votes for waffles, rice crispies and of course bacon sarnies - we set off for Paradise Cooperative garden, and arrived 2.5km later to find chairman John waiting for us with a list of jobs.

This organisation aims to connect food, nature and people through sustainable urban farming and community gardening, and has transformed an overgrown and derelict site owned by Wandsworth prison into a beautiful space which includes an orchard, poly-tunnels, raised vegetable beds, a fish-pond, bush-craft area and community celebration area with pizza oven and running water. All this takes hard work though, so we are happy to lend a bit of GoodGym muscle!

The first group got straight on with shovelling gravel and woodchip, unloading bags of clay, shifting pallets and logs - all amazing upper body work! Meanwhile, the weeding team tackled the raised beds and paths and watered, while the third group spread the new pond liner and started filling it.

After 40 minutes loads of jobs were done, and John said that we had achieved a month's worth of work for them in our time there - many hands make light work! For all that effort we were rewarded with beautiful fresh basil, carrots and herbs which as well as being delicious, made for an unusual and highly fragranced run back!

But first we stopped at Wandsworth Common to do our fitness session - I had planned one that featured running drills, but the tasks at the garden had overtaken us a bit, so this was replaced by some high octane tabata instead. It was only 4 minutes of hard work split into 20 second segments, but it was tough! The idea is that you raise your heart rate during this time which increases aerobic performance and burns fat effectively. Those frog jumps though...

We finished off the evening with a motivational hill sprint led by Chi, and some stretches back at base. Next week we're going to Harding House, a residential home for deaf people to help sort out their garden. You can find out more and sign up here. Until then, have a week of happy running GoodGym!

Loads to celebrate last night, not least lots of great new faces joining us for their first run! Please give a big GoodGym cheer to:

• Vanessa, Tina and Alice

As always, we got the weekly news done before we set off for our evening task:

• We have a community mission coming up this weekend helping put away chairs and equipment after the community day in Tooting where all profits go to St George's hospital. Sign up here to help out.

• But the best news of the night came in the shape of a double 100 milestone - that's right, we have not one but two new GoodGym centurions! After clocking up 100 good deeds, many community organisations helped, and a huge number of kilometres run, it was three cheers for the lovely Helen and Emily. Give them a high five when you see them next for all the amazing effort and commitment they've put in!

Summer runnin', happened so fast

After all that great news, a warm up and a poll where we discussed our favourite things about London (the parks, food, pubs and people came out on top!) we headed down to the Venue Community Centre.

The Venue is a busy centre managed by Hadas which is home to amazing organisations like Waste Not Want Not - the first project in Battersea which collects surplus food from nearby markets and distributes it through the local area - and many other community projects such as intergenerational art and support for children and parents.

So after a 2km run down there we arrived to find Hadas with a list of jobs including composting boxes of unusable lettuces, sanding benches, litter picking the outside area, clearing the overgrown plants and transporting compost to the roof garden.

Getting stuck straight in, there was lots to talk about while we worked. The brilliant weekend GoodGymers had enjoyed at Love Trails and Night of the 10000m PBs, how brilliant the flash new litter pickers are that even manage to do cig butts and cocktail sticks, and why cherries are the most expensive soft fruit (something to do with them having to be dried if they get wet on the tree? This is being verified for next week's run!). We even had the newly patented 'lettuce train' - thanks to Viv for her bright idea to get the heavy boxes up to the roof garden!

After 45 minutes of hard work we waved goodbye to Hadas and set off for a local green space to do our fitness session, which this week focussed on alternating core conditioning with exercises to get our heart rates up. That way we got a tough all over workout, whilst getting some strength work in too. Nice work team, especially Emily who soldiered on with a helium balloon tied to her waist, and all of the rest of you who had a very vocal and very young audience 'supporting' you!

You all faced the hill head on on the way back, with every single one of you running all the way to the top, which was fantastic. Next week we're back for more fun and fitness. Go on, get yourself signed up!

With two choices of task and distance last night, it was great to see 42 runners gather to do good and get fit in Wandsworth!

We had lots of lovely new runners last night - please welcome:

• Dave, Jennie, Alina, Kirsten, Abbie, Kathryn and Yvonne

Before we divided up the group and set off for our two tasks, we did a very quick run down of the week's news. In case you missed bits, here's a recap:

• GoodGym is looking after an aid station at the British 10K on Sunday 21st July from 7.30am - volunteers get a free place for the Oxford Half, Hackney Half or the next London 10K. Sign up here

• There's a GoodGym takeover for Fulham Palace's 300th run on Saturday - we still need a few roles filled! Click here for all the details

• Fancy a community mission? You don't need to be DBS checked, and it we're still looking for some runners to help. Check out the details of this event that's happening on Saturday 6th July.

• It's the last couple of days to enter the GoodGym Olympics - go on, you won't regret it! Here is all the info you need

Back to School

With a longer 10.5km run to Broadwater school to sort out an overgrown pond area and turn it into a science learning zone, and a 3.5km run to Bolingbroke School to turn a neglected outside space into somewhere inspiring for the kids, there was plenty to choose from. Our local schools are under pressure from budget so are increasingly rely on help from volunteers.

After a warm up where we also talked about what we wanted to be when we were kids - lots of tiny aspiring vets, dancers, doctors, missionaries, chefs and even one channel four continuity announcer - we divided up into two groups.

Chris' team set off to sort out the outside area, and after a conditioning stop on the way, arrived to find plenty to do waiting for them. They set about strimming, watering, digging, composting, and clearing and after 40 minutes of hard work still wanted to do more! However, there was a fitness session waiting for them on Wandsworth Common, where Chris took them through their paces with some intervals and technical points and even through in a core blast for good measure. This was Chris' first time leading a GoodGym run and I think we can all agree he is a superstar! Way to go team.

Meanwhile the second group were off on a very twisty turny long route down to Tooting, which even saw us do a spot of trail running (almost!). After a very muggy run, we arrived to find Naz waiting for us with tools and instructions to clear a very overgrown pond area so that it can be turned into a learning space for the kids. We got stuck in straight away, finding all sorts of treasures including a lost shoe and an ants nest. We didn't have long at the task, but after some serious elbow grease the area looked much clearer and well on the way to be able to be used by the kids. With such a long run there was no time for a fitness session but we still had that 5.1km to tackle on the way back.

What a lot of effort from everybody last night - 42 pairs of hands really making a difference in the local communities. Next week we will be helping the amazing Providence House out spreading the word about their summer program for young people. Sign up here for all the details. Happy sunny running until then - and make sure you rehydrate in the heat!