It was a bright, bright, bright, bright sun-shining day in Wandsworth this evening and we made it evening brighter by using our runs to do some good in the local community this evening.

Before we set off we had a big round of applause for our new runners Jamie and Eve-Marie who joined us for their first ever GoodGym group runs this evening - give them a cheer Wandsworth. We also gave David a huge series of congratulations for completing the London Marathon YESTERDAY, and still making it to the run this evening - what a man! His account of the Marathon was something along the lines of : very warm, but a fantastic way to experience what London is all about, plus the support from spectators was great. We heard that the GoodGym support was immense and that everyone had a fab day out cheering - so well done to all those that supported too!

We had just a short run down to the task, for an arts for mental health charity called Sound Minds, however we had been told there was a lot to do, so we set off quickly and after just over 1 km we arrived to meet Paul. Paul told us all about the charity and the project we were helping with before assigning us to different tasks. They are setting up a space for use as a festival to showcase the arts for mental health and all that Sound Minds do - there will be bands playing in there, arts exhibitions, and lots of other great projects! Before this space can be used, they needed us to help clear it all out.

The Task: We split into groups to tackle different rooms and tasks to try and get done as much as we could in 45 mins. Some were cleaning windows inside and out, one group took on the basins in the bathroom (check out the comparison pics!), we formed a human chain to move leftover building materials down to the basement, a few people removed blu tac from the walls before giving the walls a good clean, plus we had people sweeping and hoovering! There was a LOT to do, but many hands make light work and we achieved a lot in just a short space of time.

Once the 45 mins was up, and the place was sparkling, we left Paul with a venue smelling of every cleaning product under the sun, and made our way back to base. Right at the end of the run we stopped briefly to go over some tips for hill sprints, such as an upright posture, landing with the front section of your foot, and pumping your arms. This quick chat was followed by a superb hill sprint, up our favourite hill, by everyone. Great work team!

We finished the evening with some much needed stretches.

Thanks for having me Wandsworth - Ana will be back next week - so come along to hear all about her holiday, and I'm sure she will have a fun fitness session up her sleeve!

The sun was shining down on us for our entire Monday evening run, so everyone in Wandsworth could see all the good we were doing as we ran about 5km and helped at Paradise Gardens by spreading some woodchip on their paths.

Before heading out we welcomed Eilidh for her first ever Group Run - give her a cheer for using her run to do some good in the local community for the first time! We also heard about the GoodGym London Marathon Cheering that's happening this weekend. It looks like we will mainly be based on Embankment outside Somerset House, so come and join us to soak up the amazing atmosphere of this phenomenal race!

It was Ana's birthday today (hence why Alyx led the run instead), so after a quick warm up and introductions (that revealed we're all a happy, but apparently forever hungry, group of people) we filmed a short happy birthday message for her, and then off we set.

Arriving in speedy time, we met Rosie at the Paradise Gardens and she showed us where the woodchip pile and all the tools were. We've been here a couple of times now, so lots of us knew exactly what to do and we got stuck in straight away. One group piled woodchip into wheelbarrows and buckets, with another group ferrying these back and forth to the paths that needed a top up. On the paths there were a couple of teams armed with rakes, ready to spread the woodchip for an even layering. As there were so many of us there were still some hands with no work to do, so we found some bags and litter pickers and managed to do a sweep of the outskirts of the Gardens, collecting litter as we went. In what seemed like no time at all, the task was complete. I think we are getting too good at spreading woodchip and creating paths these days - thus we should set up some king of university for it!

Cracking job Wandsworth crew!

It seemed like all the hardwork was over, but we stopped on Wandsworth Common for a fitness session on the way back, and boy it was a killer one! We split up into pairs, and while one person was practicing their sprints, the other was doing a core based exercise to work on their running posture, and then they swapped. We finished off with a wheelbarrow race with some very speedy times indeed and then headed back to the BAC.

Andrew and Jamie did a fabulous job of back marking for the whole run - so please give them a cheer everybody!

We waved goodbye to Sophie (for now), who is going away on a traveling adventure, but she promises she'll be back.

Join us next week when we are cleaning a building before the rooms are filled with art produced by the local community for an Arts for Mental Health project. Alyx will be leading again, but she promises you'll have Ana back the following week!

Great to see the GoodGym gang out in force last night, doing good and working hard despite the drizzle in Wandsworth. We had so many reasons to be cheerful last night, including having some great new people come for their very first GoodGym run. Say hello to Rosie, Ellen, Katie and Alice and give them a cheer!

Lots of exciting things coming up, starting with a lovely long training run this Saturday. There are two groups going from Cheshunt leaving at 10:25 at two different speeds. 9-10 miles will be followed by pizza so sign up here to start your weekend right.

If you're doing the London Marathon don't forget to put your name down on the spreadsheet so we know to cheer for you. Speaking of cheering, if you're up for giving team GoodGym and all the other amazing runners your support on the day, details of our cheering stations are here.

We talked about volunteering at the upcoming Hackney Half, for which you will be rewarded with a shiny free place at future races. You can sign up on the virgin sport volunteer portal here, then let Alyx know on alyx@goodgym.org so she can add you to the GG water station. You don't need to select a role when signing up.

It was a special milestone run for one of our runners last night - give Sophie a cheer for reaching that magic 100 mark. That shows an awful lot of dedication to making Wandsworth a better and kinder place - well done Sophie!

We had a big task at the beautiful Doddington & Rollo rooftop community garden last night. This special place was once a disused carpark roof before it was taken on by a bunch of volunteers and run for the use of all the local residents who don't have access to a garden themselves.

Before we set off we did a quick warm up, and a Dog v Cat debate. There was one abstention, several who voted for both, but the overwhelming result was Team Dog. They do make very good running companions after all.

After a short run down to the garden, stopping along the way for a quick superman competition, we arrived at the garden and got stuck straight into the jobs. While one team got cracking shifting several dozen heavy bags of compost up the stairs and across the garden, another group took several fruit trees to plant elsewhere on the estate. There were also weeding and mulching jobs to do, and before long we were a hive of activity. Great work everyone!

If you can't get enough of the green stuff, don't forget that they're hosting a big dig event here at the end of April, during which you will be fed a fine free lunch.

Jobs done, it was starting to rain harder, so we took ourselves off to the square next door to tackle a tough tabata session. The idea behind it is that, with 20 seconds of high intensity work followed by 10 seconds of recovery, your body burns fat and increases anaerobic and aerobic capacity in a short window of time. 10 minutes later we had worked hard, and split up into two groups to run home.

Lovely running last night, and a big pat on the back for the top effort you put into a huge task. Next week I won't be there but you will be led by King's trainer extraordinaire Alyx for the coming couple of runs - don't miss out on some fun tasks by signing up here.

Last night we started our run with a super positive vibe by finding out all the things we like best about ourselves. A few of our favourite things included our little fingers, feet, cooking skills, singing voices, legs and the ability to take the mick out of Lewis. Lovely stuff.

We had some great new faces along for their first ever GoodGym run last night - everybody give a cheer for Simon and for Mark!

And while you're there, why not extend that cheer to David, who took on the Inverness Half marathon on Sunday (and still made it to GoodGym last night - amazing) and to Simon who smashed the Milton Keynes 10k in a great time.

Our job last night was for the wonderful Scope charity. This organisation exists to make our society a place where disabled people have the same opportunities as everyone else by providing ongoing support. They have a shop in Clapham Junction and are on the look out for more donations and volunteers with their campaign 'The Great Donate'. Our job was to deliver a few hundred bags so that people could easily donate, and some information on how to get more involved.

Clutching our pile of leaflets and bags we set off, dividing up into two teams and taking on one half of the street each. We're pretty well practised at this method now, and it only took around half an hour of running to get the whole lot delivered. Hopefully the shop will be inundated with lovely donations. Great running, team.

With the job done, we headed over to Battersea Park to do our fitness session. In groups of around six, we tackled a series of different stations, keeping count of the number of reps for each exercise. Each drill was separated by a short recovery run, and at the end, the winning team had an incredible 192 reps! After a short jog to the benches, we finished off the night with an upper body and core workout before heading back to the BAC. Half a mile from the end we divided up into the sexy and steady group and the speedy group, but we all had to tackle that last little chinscraper of a hill before reaching the BAC for stretches.

Well done everybody! Next week we're washing the mobility busses for a disability charity in Battersea. Keep your fingers crossed for a nice dry evening, and sign up here. Have a brilliant week of running, team.

We're over half way through our January challenge team, and we've still got a way to go - although we're smashing the distance, with 118 out of 241 good deeds done, we're just under half way there. If you needed any more encouragement to get out there and do good, then this is it! Also, if you have any friends who are interested in getting into GoodGym, but not sure what it's all about, then point them towards our starter session on Thursday. Everybody's welcome!

It's been a very busy week in Wandsworth, with some great park run performances. Paul raced 10k at Dorney Lake, while a few other Wandsworthers did the monthly long run that GoodGym is putting on in the run up to the London marathon. If you're interested in the next one, which starts from Ealing on the 11th February then do sign up - everybody is welcome! There are also a couple of races coming up on the 4th March; the Big Half and Herne Hill Harrier's 10k. Let me know if you're interested in either.

We had some very special guests last night in the shape of Peter from Enable and Wandsworth Council, and Peter Garrido from Sky Sports. Last year GoodGym Wandsworth had the honour of winning a prize at the Active Wandsworth awards, and the guys came down to take a little video of us at work.

As we warmed up outside we had a quick chat about what motivates us to run. For loads of us it was to support mental health, for others it was to see friends and make us feel good, and for some it was the thought of those medals that gets us out the door.

It was a very short run to our task tonight at the amazing Devas Club, an organisation that supports the youth of Wandsworth's physical and mental health. So after a quick run up to the common we had a few minutes of interval file running to really warm up before heading back to the centre. Our job there was to move a load of furniture from the building into the skip they had brought in fr the job. After only 20 minutes of lifting and shifting, the skip was full and the place was looking a lot tidier. Well done team, it would have been massively time consuming and hard work for the volunteers at the centre, who were able to focus their time on the young people instead, while we managed to get it done in no time at all. The power of the many!

Job done, we smashed through a very quick pyramid of exercises, looking mainly at glutes and our lower body, before running back up to the common to do a session on ABCs (agility, balance and coordination) plus some sprinting. Of course, we couldn't finish off the night with a neglected core, and everybody put in a solid minute of plank. Fantastic job.

A quick run downhill (for a change) to our starting point, with a Wandsworth finish and a nice few stretches saw the end of the night. And a great one it was too! Well done everybody for all the hard work. Next week we're off to help out a residential home for deaf people, sign up for more GoodGym fun here.

First run of the year! It was bound to be a smasher, and it did not disappoint....

It may have been a cold and frosty evening, but that did not stop 41 post-festive runners ready to burn off those mince pies and mulled wine and make a difference in Wandsworth.

We were treated to a bumper load of new faces for our first run of the year, which always makes us very happy. Ladies and gents of GoodGym, please put your hands together for the lovely Charlotte, Abi, Georgina, Julie, Ashleigh, Lindsay, Tamsin, and Monica who all joined us for their very first GoodGym session last night. We hope you'll all be back next week!

It was clear that you guys hadn't slacked off over the festive period, but have instead been tackling those park runs, races, training sessions and missions like proper troupers. Vix and Lorna were both still away after an amazing sub zero 10k in Norway, but we cheered Emily, Paul, Amy, Helen, Chris, Daniel, Morag and Hannah for smashing a tough and hilly 10k in Brixton only the day before. Jessie and Luke both tackled some insane racing in waist-deep mud, while John put in a fine performance in the Surrey leagues at the weekend. Well done to all those who did Christmas, New Year and early January park runs. You really are an amazing bunch! If you're keen to find the right race for you then just shout - the GoodGym team will be behind you all the way.

Our target this January is a huge one, but I know we can achieve it. Between us, we have got to hit 241 good deeds, and cover a whopping 1200 kilometers. With over 450 kilometers under our belts already (thanks in part to a slightly longer run that advertised last night!) we've made a cracking start. Don't forget to connect to Strava so the team can support you and we can clock those miles up for Wandsworth.

After a last minute cancellation, our task for the evening had changed. But the sliver lining was that we were in fact doing a job for a different and amazing charity called Caius House. This youth centre offers local young people a safe place where they are supported and can develop their own unique talents. Every child is valued - which we think is a pretty awesome ethos. So we were happy to help when they asked us to spread the word for their upcoming projects in the area.

But first - a much needed warm up. A few minutes of dynamic exercises later we did a quick poll to find out what everybody hoped to achieve in January. There were an admirable number of running related resolutions, some hoped to final banish their NYE hangover, while others just wanted to get through the toughest month of the year. We're here for you!

It was just over a mile to Caius House, so we soon set off with Helen kindly backmarking for us. Sarah had the great idea of pairing up new runners with regular GoodGym runners so they could get an idea of what it was all about, and we all happily set off for the first stage of our task. With a teenytiny detour at the end - just to add on the mileage, you understand - we arrived to find Charlene waiting for us with a big pile of leaflets. She gave us a quick talk about the work they do there, and let us know that if any of us had any special skills or work experience opportunities that we could share with the young people at Caius House, that would be great. After a few minutes pause to catch our breath we were off again, and divided up into two teams to put our trusty human chain approach into practice. Way over 400 leaflets later we were almost finished, but the clock was ticking and we needed to get our fitness session in so lovely Jamie and Alyx volunteered to do the rest on their way home, while we knocked out a quick but tough session.

We started off with a game which involved being honest and sprinting. If you answered yes to questions like 'did you have a cheeky snog over Christmas' then you had to sprint across the park, if you didn't, then you had to do a conditioning exercise while you waited. We then moved on to the parlauf - which, while it may sound confusing, is actually great for speed training. We paired up to complete as many circuits of the park we could complete in our twos, with Roshan and Luke emerging as the winners.

All that was left was to run back to the BAC, not forgetting that last hill, and a few stretches to finish off the night. Well done team, you truly smashed the first run of the year. Apparently next Monday, the 15th of January, is officially the most depressing day of the year. Counteract those winter blues by joining us for our run instead to do good, get fit and feel great!