Three of us were keen to do a nice long run over to The Bridgelink Centre in Isleworth this evening. Joining regulars Simon and Andy was Matthew from Wandsworth doing a spot of tourism and in the mood for getting a few miles in the legs.

We worked our way through the streets, chatting about running, and counting down the kilometres, occasionally mentioning that none of us knew where we were or had been in this area before.

And finally we made it. We went in the centre to find Kevin, the caretaker, who we'd been told had lots of jobs for us. Except.... he didn't :( Nope, apparently there was a bit of raking to do earlier on, but somebody had already done it.

Any window cleaning? Sweeping? Tidying up? Nope, 'fraid not. Any leaflets we could drop off on the way back? Nope, 'fraid not.

So, we had a tour of the centre, a glass of water and then headed back.

This time our attention turned to food, which is unsurprisingly quite a common topic for runners on longer runs. And what are our favourite post-run foods? Porridge and Peanut Butter for Matthew, Peanut Butter and Jam on Toast for Simon and Jacket Potato with Tuna and Sweetcorn for Andy.

Why not all three?

We are doing a shorter run of 2.5k to Ealing Road Baptist Church next week where there will definitely be a task and there's loads for us to do, and where Roger (former chef) has promised to cook us up some takeaway food. The last batch was delicious.

So, get down, get fit and get fed.

See you there,
Simon

Six delightful GoodGymmers hit the streets of Hounslow last night to run and continue clearing up at Ealing Baptist Church. The Church does lots of good work including serving as a homeless shelter during winter months.

We had Simon and Graham from Islington, Alex from Ealing, and Hounslow regulars Andy, Olivia and Leanne.

After a 2.5k jog we arrived at the church to see work had been in full flow and Roger, the minister, had lashings of Ginger Beer to keep us hydrated while working.

We started by shifting a pile of bags and mattresses upstairs. Then we moved stacks of chairs around (carefully positioned so they would not be spied by the congregation), before finally checking out the basement and removing some debris, including the world's heaviest mini pool table, and having a bit of a sweep up.

Post-task, Roger had a special treat for us. He had gone to the trouble of preparing four chicken and rice dishes to take home for dinner. Roger was previously a chef and it was delicious. There was talk of goat curry for next visit in two weeks' time.....

On the journey home we stopped for a relay time trial. 1 minute 39 was the time. Hmmm, not bad. But how can we improve? Some great suggestions including stretching things out a bit with "open the gate", warming up a bit with high knees and star jumps and practising our standing starts. The second time trial proved beyond a doubt that it's worth preparing because we set a new record of 1:28. There you go.

Great work everybody. It's a trip to Bridgelink Centre next week. It's a long one, so bring your oyster card!

See you there,
Simon

It's another Wednesday thankfully which can only mean one thing-GoodGym !

We met as usual at Leisure World and were joined by new member Emily.

Welcome to her and we hope she enjoys many evenings with GoodGym in the future.

This was the first time our beloved leader Angela wasn't there since we started back in August,but I'm sure we can forgive her just this once...

Would it be a case of while the cats away the mice would play......?

She was replaced(if that's possible) by Axel from GoodGym HQ and after a brief warm up the 15 wonderful GoodGym people headed to St Leonard's church in Lexden.

We went through the Kings Meadow,then up Balkerne Hill(a chance to practice our hill technique),along Crouch Street and then along Lexden Road which I think is one of the best roads to run on in Colchester as you can get a decent pace up , has a nice wide path for a group to run on and is well lit.

We arrived at the task after a enjoyable run .We were ready for the evenings task of leaf clearing.

During the task there was the usual banter(some directed at Tommy but we all love you really Tommy!) and chat.We had Tommy running up and down the hill to empty the sacks of leaves,trying to get him to go quicker every time.

Everyone worked hard while we were there and in no time we'd made a massive improvement to the path leading up to the church.

The church in question is a special place for Angela & David as it's where they were married.

On a personal note it is for me too as my Dad's ashes are interred in the Garden of Rest at the back of the churchyard.

After the task we ran back to base via the same route we came on with different groups setting off at different times.

Well I same the same route as I understand Tommys group were briefly heading towards Stanway !

We all arrived back at base for the usual warm down .

Thank you to Axel for looking after us tonight.

Another excellent evening of GoodGym.Well done to everyone.

Looking forward to next Wednesday evening mafter which we will be having our monthly social at the New Inn.

Ian Bown

19 runners deliver 100 posters for CoHoC

We gathered together for our longest run to date. Sue and Lucy had completed the Chelmsford Marathon on Sunday, and Tav the Greenwich 10k. All had had very successful races and were looking forward to a gentle run to help ease their aching muscles.

In our pre-run briefing, we learnt about Colchester Hospitals Charity, and how they are raising money for the Time Garden - a garden for End of Life Patients at Colchester Hospital. Whilst many of our tasks involve gardening, and we will no doubt be called in to help maintain the Time Garden, Wednesday's task involved delivering posters to the businesses on Whitehall Industrial Estate.

I made sure to mention the risk of paper cuts in the pre-run risk assessment, and then proceeded to demonstrate that risk by getting a paper cut whilst putting the posters in my backpack!

Genius!

The posters were to advertise the Santa Run in Castle Park, a great event, and I'm sure some of us will take part.

We made the longer run to Whitehall Industrial Estate, and regrouped to come up with a plan to cover the area. We split in half taking opposite sides of the road. Unfortunately, parts of the industrial estate were locked and we couldn't deliver posters to them. In addition, some places didn't have post boxes. But, we made sure that those that did have delivery slots were adorned with a lovely poster!

We got 100 posters delivered in 15 minutes actually it was more like 17 but still good going, it would have taken one or two people much longer than that.

After we'd finished the task, half of us ran back to Leisure World, lead by Lucy, and half of us ran to the New Inn pub for our monthly social. This was a welcome change of scene organised by Ian. I think everyone was really impressed by the good value and good quality food, as well as being able to move onto cozy sofas after we'd finished eating.

Well done every one!

Run Report by Angela Isherwood

Next week, same task, different location - we'll be running up to Severalls to deliver more posters - an even longer run than this week. Sign up here

October, 9 runners, a grey morning, a sunny day, some talking to do and some litter to pick.

We met up for a #runandtalk session on what started as a sunny evening and soon dropped down a wet and somewhat wintery session. After a bit of a task let down, we jogged around the Rye getting nice and warmed up whilst welcoming Ellen to her first ever GoodGym experience.

Then it was into teams, gloves on, black bin bags in hand and a direction each to go in to litter pick. The idea being to clean up the area where we live as well as have a chance to chat to each other.

Shoes, balls and cans later, we rendezvoused and it was time for our regular time trial. 720 metres against ourselves. There's a regular route we use and we had already recce'd it during our warm up. Amazing first effort for some and repeat effort for others.

EVERYONE matched or bettered their time

Time to work you harder, and that we did....

5 exercises as the heavens opened. Did someone say #nationalburpeeday? Burpees, mountain climbers, complete abs, squat jumps and planks climbs... 10 of each, 9 of each, 8 of each.... I could go on but it'll seem never-ending. You get the idea and everyone kept each other going. Despite the burn, despite the sweat and the rain.

Such an amazing effort could only be rewarded with... a gentle jog home. We stretched off, we dried off and washed our hands clean of anything untoward.

Running, doing good, having a chat and getting fit check.

7 runners ran the dreaded hill that doesn't look like a hill to shift manure.

With the wind swirling around, we congregated unsure whether we needed layers or not. October has arrived with autumn and darker evenings.

After a warmup and some strong leg - arm co-ordination, we got going running the short distance to Grove Park Allotments where we were met with 115 bags of manure and a few head torches!

Strong scented gardens

It was our job under the guidance of Lizzie, community allotment extraordinaire, to get the bags and barrows full of manure inside the gates of the allotment.

Beware of the manure thieves

It turns out that lightweight Peat is a liar and is pretty heavy but mulch is much easier to handle. Beware of leaky wheelbarrows and tight corners when moving fine manure.

Somehow, shovelling soil passed quickly and we'd gotten all bags inside within our 40 minutes at Grove Park.

Leaving the non-Goodgymmers pretty happy, we 7 wanderers set off back down the hill.

Before we could get rid of the aromas of the evening, it was time for some pair work. Tricep dips, squat jumps, v-sits and mountain climbers coupled with some lamp posts to run to finished off the session nicely.

Time to jog back to Old Spike, catch our breath and stretch off.

Fingers crossed for some nice, clean fun next week.