10 runners on the second hottest day of the year ran 3.5km and moved about a lot of cupboards.

On another hot and steamy Wednesday, we met in the Roastery

not an ideal meeting place in the heat of our two day summer

We had a first timer, hi Leah and a a first Southwark timer, hi Matt. Little did they know that innocent conversations about perfecting burpees and pushing ourselves a bit harder would lead to such sweaty consequences. More of that later...

We ran the mile to Copleston Centre including the hill and survived despite the suns best effort. Catherine met us there and still managed to sort us water and the tasks out despite lots of people turning up for a meeting.

Due to a bit of building damage, they're having a refurb and needed some cabinets moved around as well as 2 big cupboards emptied in order to be filled with the contents of another cupboard that they otherwise wouldn't have access to during the refurb. Clear?

Anyway, the sweaty superstars set to work and made light work of heavy filing cabinets and, once again, showed how organised they all are when arranging items.

We were finished in no time. As a warm up to the planned time trial, we headed down to the Rye. There were lots of people sunbathing, laughing and chilling out.

Looks of envy went around the group...

But no, first up, in teams of 3, was the bear crawl relay. One person bear crawls out and back whilst the other two plank. Then person two goes and then the double planker, person number three goes. A race of core, determination and long limbs.

Next up was a wheelbarrow race. With a team of three I hear you say? We tag teamed it. Each team got to choose if one person wanted to be the wheelbarrow for both runs or if there would be runners swapping. It got complicated, but it got sorted and we got started.

Epic work. A little more jumping (burpees) and core work left and we were ready for the time trial. No mean feat after all of that exercise and in the heat.

Superb effort from all. And we rewarded ourselves with cold drinks from the Rye pub to boot.

Until next time lovely GG Southwark people.

8 runners, 2 teams, 6km(ish) a piece, a borough to explore and prizes to be won.

Tonight's GG Southwark run and deed was a bit different to normal. A last minute change on task and need to make sure we put our efforts into something worthwhile led to something quite fun! We also welcomed Vivian to her first ever GoodGym experience and GG Lambeth coach runner/photographer/old timer John. Hiya!

Back to the task at hand...

Link Age Southwark are getting ready to launch their Autumn campaign for recruiting volunteers to support the services they provide. They need to put up posters in the best locations around the different parts of Southwark.

Two teams...

both alike in dignity,

...were given three checkpoints to reach each spread 6km across either Nunhead or Dulwich. Not only were decent poster sites required, but they also had a variety of other tasks to achieve. The more tasks ticked off, the more prizes!

The not-so-random acts of kindness included rubbish collecting and even helping someone with the mechanics of their car. Though it's possible this may have been staged for the photographic evidence.

The best team pose was a hard one to call though the sunset and London backdrop for the Nunhead team did swing it. But strong lunging from team Dulwich.

We covered up some shabby stickers, posed beneath road signs, hugged lampposts, hugged fake foxes, told people about GoodGym, gave them a flyer and asked them very kindly for pictures of the event.

time of the signs

Both teams found some excellent locations for posters within the local community. They were all duly and appropriately rewarded with love hearts.

Map reading was required throughout the evening and there may have been a few wrong turns along the way resulting in further running ... More fitness! But everyone made it back to the Rye for photo sharing, story telling and prize giving.

Not done with traversing the borough, we had a mini body weight exercise session. A few 'I hate press ups,' 'what are these things, mountain climbers?' and 'can we go to the pub?' requests and we were done. We have photos to prove it.

Never before has a cool down seen so many chocolate rolls, jelly tots and Freddos devoured. #balance

See you next week!

11 runners take on 3km in Camberwell and garden / sweat with joy.

This week guest starred Ana, the new GoodGym Wandsworth trainer (launch day: 1st August) who came along to see what happens in Southwark and put us through our paces.

lunge nice and tall

A warm up on the edge of the rye got us nice and ready to clamber up the hills of Camberwell back to Grove Park Allotments. We met Lizzie there who had some strimming to be done, paths to be cleared and leaks to be found (or not found).

Michael set off to sort out the wild grass, goggles in place, and soon sorted out the orchard into a much more manageable area.

Helena, Matt, Deepak and Zoe got to work clearing the crazy weeds towards the back of the allotment areas.

Joelle and Jess did a sterling job of digging up the flag stones and around a potential leaky pipe under close observations. A lot of sweat, mud shifting and tap testing later and though the leak wasn't found, at least it wasn't in the most awkward place it could have been! Another job for another night? Hmm.

Becky, Ana and Lianne were focused in clearing the entrance of the allotments and watering any thirsty plants in sight.

40 minutes later, and much admiration of the land and how amazing it would be to have an allotment in London, and we were ready to say our goodbyes. After an easy amble down the hill, Ana led us onto the Rye. One lap, timed, at 95% followed by core work. During crunches and planks, we did our best to drown out any cheers and groans from the local pub showing the football.

some excellent side planking!

Not quite ready to finish the session, it was time to set off on lap two to try and beat the first lap. Either the core work had warmed everyone up or a little bit of extra effort had been held back for the final piece of work. Either way, some excellent sprinting to finish off a lovely evening.

11 runners, 3km, some killer weeding and huge tree planting.

We welcomed Matt for his first time ever at a GoodGym tonight and Jess and Chris from GoodGym Camden were on a tour to see what we get up to south of the river.

After a quick intro, warm up and a short but sweaty run, we arrived at Cossall Park Community Garden. We were a bit early so used the time wisely...

Stuck in the mud

Who knew how much effort a bit of short sprinting would take?! It kept us warm and ready for some proper gardening action. We split off into 3 groups.

Group one were in a resident's garden clearing it of weeds and turning the soil ready for lots of new planting. We could have stayed all night so watch this space for a mission heading that way.

Group two were working on the main flower and vegetable beds, clearing out weeds and brambles and generally making sure the lettuce, courgettes and cauliflower have enough room to flourish. Last time we were here we cleared the bed completely so it was brilliant to see how many veggies have grown and that are on offer for the residents.

Group three helped a slightly weightier project. An elm and a horse chestnut tree were delivered and carried into the adjacent Kirkwood Nature Reserve to be planted. But first, more clearing of nettles and stones before the final resting place was set. I hear you ask

'How many GoodGymmers does it take to plant a tree?'

The answer is not so clear. But I'd argue at least 2 to dig and plant and another 3 to advise and monitor.

Once we'd all rounded up and had our squash and malted milks, there was time for 1 sports day race.... the timeless wheelbarrow race

We were heckled by the local kids playing footy who couldn't quite believe that adults do this sort of thing and set off. Competitive natures and epic core and shoulder strength came out in full force. Big congrats to our gold medal winners, Michael and Becky.

Warm, tired and a little bit stung, we set off back to Old Spike Roastery with a pink sky for company.

A lovely evening and a(many) job(s) well done.

14 runners crossing a borough (again) to clear hedges & weeds at Surrey Docks Farm.

Finally, the rain cleared and the mugginess came back for us to run across into the shadow of Canary Wharf to the lovely farm. After bobbing and weaving down Rye Lane and waiting for a lot of green men, we eventually, and rather sweatily, made it to meet Gemma. She had already gotten to work with a chain saw on the hedge along the Thames Path and we were to clear it.

Lots of glove matching and hoeing later and we were filling wheelbarrows with green stuff. Zoe took the challenge of jumping on the compost heap to crush it down.

Trampoline time!

After almost no time, we had to pack away. Luckily, we got to walk passed all of the animals we'd seen last time. The tallest goats in the world were hiding. too much height pressure the beautiful calf was looking much more grown up. Esther, the pregnant sow was due to give birth on Monday. We watched with baited breath for her to...

go to the toilet...

No piglets tonight but it was still lovely to see all of the animals and work somewhere so amazing in the shadow of the concrete jungle.

A few press ups, tricep dips and wall sits later and we were back at Old Spike.

A decent crew of us made our way over to The Rye pub for some food and much needed fluids.

Lovely stuff GoodGym Southwark. Until next week.