Lovely to see blue skies, new faces, and some GoodGym tourism at our Monday group last night.

• Let's give a huge cheer to Zuhaib and Jess who both came along for their first GG session - welcome to the group!

We started off with lots of bits of news...

• If you're wondering about GoodGym and the Coronavirus, have a look a look at our advice to runners here

• A huge well done to all your mission runners this weekend, you are community heroes. If you're looking for something this weekend, then check out this great River Wandle clear up on Sunday.

  • Social time - the monthly GoodGym social is BACK! If you haven't been to one before then it's a great chance to meet other GGers from different groups, find out what's been going on, and generally have a good old knees up! All the details are here.

After all that, we were ready to hit the road, but not before a warm up outside, and a quick poll to find out where in the world would be our dream running location. The places we chose were seriously exotic - Paraguay, Peru, all the mountains, by the sea, California....basically anywhere with a bit of sun. Roll on summer!

We had a new task location last night at a local school, so after a couple of kms we arrived to find headteacher Jane waiting for us with our job for the evening. We were delighted to find that it was indoors!

The school is over 130 years old, and has more than 700 children, so Jane asked us to help with a good clean down of all the woodwork. They were super prepared for us, with loads of bowls or soapy water, and with several floors and many classrooms to tackle, we got straight on with it.

We oohed and aahed over the tiny furniture, little bowls of fruit and cute kids paintings as we worked, and Frances, who had come to drama classes at the school when she was a kid, even offered to reprise her award-winning role as tin man. It was just Oscar season after all!

After half an hour of elbow grease we had scrubbed, washed, wiped and disinfected, and we all regrouped in the staff room, which felt like we'd been a bit naughty, for a group photo.

A short jog to the common later, it was time for fitness and this week we took on a twist on tabata. Usually this is short bursts of different exercises with 10 second breaks designed to raise our heart rates and increase aerobic capacity. We decided to incorporate a speed session into this as well, so switched up 20 seconds of sprinting with short rests and did it eight times over. Everyone put in max effort, which was great to see. Nice work team.

All that was left was a lovely downhill run back to base and some stretching. Fancy some more next week? I hope so, because we have got a great task shifting bags of compost up to a rooftop garden. You can sign up for more Monday fun here, and until then, run happy GoodGym!

2 Storms in 2 weeks has made for some horrendous ruining conditions recently, but storm Dennis was definitely not enough to put off the team from GoodGym Wandsworth, especially with the prospect off some great company, putting in a tonne of hard work and helping a good cause!!

We had 6 new runners join us this evening and I’d like to offer a huge GoodGym Wandsworth welcome to Helena, Ece, David, Galabina, Rosie & Emily, go ahead and give them a cheer

NEWS

There’s lots coming up at GoodGym, here’s a recap of this week’s news,

The GoodGym Shindig

The shindig is a getaway where runners from all GoodGym areas come together for a weekend of running, socialising and chatting all things GoodGym. The shindig is being held from the 7th till the 9th of August. If you are interested in attending register here

The Big Half

The Big Half Marathon is taking place in London on the 1st March, with a number of GoodGym runners already signed up to take place. If you missed out on a chance to run, you can still get involved by signing up to volunteer

There is also a social after the event taking place in the London Bridge area

The 2020 Big Six races

The big 6 races for this year have been announced and the details are now up on the race team page. There are an array of distances and locations to choose from and you'll get to meet other GoodGym members from all over the country

Community mission

On the 29th February we have a community mission helping out around Fulham Palace Gardens. So, if you’d like a chance at a post ParkRun community mission, sign up here

DO GOOD, GET FIT

This week’s task was helping at a local church called St. Saviour's Battersea Fields, who support the community by organising and running several community group sessions which include free meditation, a choir and a community space

We started by warming up outside Battersea Arts Centre to get us ready for the first leg of our run. We then covered a steady paced first 1.5km and arrived at our destination wind swept but ready to get stuck in

All 37 of us were met by the church administrator who was slightly overwhelmed by our numbers. We quickly split into small groups and got stuck into a huge list of jobs, which included cleaning the kitchen, pantry, washing up, scrubbing the oven, painting the hall, pillars and corridors, moving furniture and toys, weeding, litter picking, clearing the guttering and emptying the window display

An hour later we’d completed our tasks, leaving the church in great condition, the church team happy and all of us with a great feeling of satisfaction

Our fitness session was sacrificed in order to get the most out of our time at the church. Which was compensated by taking a longer route back to base at a nice speedy pace. After a quick stretch we were all done for the night with our tasks complete and 4km in the bag, amazing work all round team Wandsworth!!

COMING UP

Next week Ana will be back and leading us for our task where we're going to be distributing flyers for an amazing youth event being put on by local charity Providence House, sign up here

I’d like to thank you for all for the awesome effort and hard work you all put in tonight

Have a great week and Happy Running!!

While everybody else was taking shelter from the high winds, nippy temperatures and driving rain that storm Ciara brought with her, 21 water-resistant GoodGymers met to lend a hand at a community garden and knock out a drizzly 5km. Well done, storm troopers!

We delayed the inevitable moment we had to face the weather as long as possible with a run through of the news. In case you missed anything:

• On 17th May we’re doing a GG aid station at Hackney Half again this year. You can sign up to volunteer at our water station here. Aside from doing a lovely thing for your fellow runners, you will also be rewarded with a free place in the Asics 10k, the Oxford Half or the next Hackney half. They're not cheap so it's well worth it!

• Now that the January challenge is over, it's time for the Extraordinary Task award. The award will be given to a group or individual who showed extraordinary effort in doing good in their community. If you would like to nominate a task or a person, you have two more days to do so, and you can do it here

• The Big Six races have been announced - these are events happening all over the UK where, if you fancy it, you can join loads of other GGers. Loads of them are multi distance, all of them will be a lot of fun. Check out the details here.

We welcomed Lisa to her first group run - give her a cheer! - and then headed outside for our warm up. It was pretty chilly, but we were happy to see the rain had stopped. A little bit of GG magic right there! After getting our heart rates up and discussing the last film we had seen - all the new one including Star Wars, Uncut Gems, Little Women and some classics like the Matrix - we set off into the eye of the storm. Which actually wasn't that bad.

After 2.5km we arrived at Bramford Gardens. This little community garden in the middle of a green space in Wandsworth is run by Sha, a volunteer who dedicates her time and energy to growing plants and creating a healthy little ecosystem in the middle of a huge junction. Our jobs for the evening include picking the leaves out of the flowerbeds to let the plants breathe again, tidying up the twigs scattered by storm Ciara, sorting out the compost and doing a litter pick.

After half an hour of work we had stopped being able to feel our fingertips, we downed tools, and instead of doing the conditioning session we had originally planned, opted for a heart rate raising and body temp increasing tabata work out! It featured high knees, the dreaded frogs, lateral lunges, powers squats and much more. It was a high intensity, but worked well getting us warm again after our task.

We took a slightly shorter route back at only 2km, putting on a bit of speed at the end of the run. Next week I'm away so you'll be in Chris' more than capable hands and hopefully be put through your paces with a good old fitness session! You can sign up for the run here Until then, run happy, GoodGym!

We started off our run last night with some stats from our month of doing good to kick off 2020. You did an incredible job in Wandsworth, racking up a brilliant 188 good deeds, and covering a huge 1821 kilometers. Seriously impressive. As a whole, the numbers are even more amazing - the GoodGym community managed 8646 good deeds, and ran 98521 in the process. What an incredible wave of good happening across the country!

• Welcome to GoodGym Christina, Emily and Karen. It's all about getting fit and adding purpose to your run, and we're really happy you've joined us!

• Well done to all of you who got out there at the weekend, including Caroline who ran her first parkrun, and to Kate and Diego all spotted covering the miles at parkruns across London!

The Venue is a community centre we visit fairly regularly to support - it is run by Hadas, who organises the Waste Not Want Not , the first project in Battersea which collects surplus food from nearby markets and distributes it through local community . The community centre is run by volunteers, so we were happy to run the 2km down there to lend a hand.

Before we set off we did our weekly warm up, and also discussed the objects in our life that bring us joy. Top of the list were bikes, food, our beds and of course, cheese. What more could we need?

After a quick stop to knock out a wall sit, we arrived at the Venue and split into groups to tackle the jobs. While one team set about giving the community kitchen a deep clean, ready for another week of cooking for local people, a human chain was quickly formed to transport crates of mushrooms and compost to the roof garden around the corner. Meanwhile, several GGers got to work emptying the storage room to be able to fit in some beds which will be going to a refugee family. There was also a spot of tidying up to do outside the centre, as well as window washing and hoovering. What a lot of elbow grease!

With all the jobs ticked off it was time for our abs blast, and we kicked off with a core triathlon, before moving on to various planks and other abs focused moves. Great for keeping our form in good shape when we run and preventing injury, it's good to make this sort of conditioning part of your weekly training. Hello abs of steel!

We finished off the session with a run back to base, a bit of a hill sprint, and some nice stretching. Great work everybody! It was off to the pub for the monthly social for some of us - watch out for March's post-run fun on March 2nd, and in the meantime why not sign yourself up for next Monday's run here. Hopefully see you then. Until then, run happy!

It was the last group run of January last night in Wandsworth - and what a month of doing good and getting fit it's been! It was great to see 37 runners meeting to help out at a community garden. We also welcomed Benjamin, Rachel and Grainne to the group - give them a cheer!

We started off the night with some news:

• Free this lunchtime and want to squeeze in a quick and very helpful mission? Then look no further than this one for Free2Be, a charity which supports LGBTQ+ young people in Wandsworth. They need a hand moving their office, and have GoodGym to help out at 12pm at their offices near Clapham Junction.

• It's the last week of the January challenge - just one final push to make the 8000 good deeds and 100 000 kms we've got as a target. Wandsworth is looking good with 179 good deeds and 1,636 - can we get any more in before January runs out?

• It's the monthly Wandsworth social next week - hope to see you after for the session for 2-4-1 burgers and post-run fun. Sign up for all the details

We headed outside to do our warm up and, as it was the last run of January, to discuss whether we had kept to any new year's resolutions we had made. Quite a few of us had avoided making one altogether, but there have been some excellent successes - eating fewer biscuits, doing something that challenges us (like Frances jumping into a freezing January Brockwell lido!), coming to GoodGym (hooray), and doing first parkruns.

We set off on our run down to Christchurch community garden, a small public space in the middle of Battersea that a group of volunteers are trying to make as welcoming as possible for local people. They have some beautiful mature trees there but a problem with the leaves they drop which are stopping other plants from growing and causing a nuisance on the paths.

When we arrived we found volunteer Nigel waiting for us with loads of bin bags, gloves and some litter pickers, and we got to it. While one group started on the rubbish people had chucked over from the nearby bus stop, the rest of us started clearing leaves - and if you've ever wondered how many bags of leaves a team of 37 people can fill in half an hour (and why wouldn't you?) then the answer is a phenomenal number. Just check out those photos!

We took a short jog over to the local park for our fitness, which this week was all about teamwork. After pairing up we took a quick lap around the park, high fived our partner, and then raced them back to base, before working on some conditioning exercises such a partner pistol squats and back to back holds. There was some pretty impressive balancing going on, and a lot of trust! Nice work everyone.

With the hill waiting for us at the end of the run, we set off for base, and finished the night off with some stretching. Fancy more fun and fitness next week? Then sign up here for your weekly dose of GoodGym Wandsworth. Until then, run happy!

Yesterday was Blue Monday - apparently the most depressing day of the year. In Wandsworth last night there was zero evidence of that, with 46 happy GoodGymers running 6km to lend a hand at a children's adventure playground. We even started off the night discussing what cheers us up when we're feeling down; food definitely came out on top along with running (of course), dogs, cat videos, rum and sunshine. If last night is anything to go by, we can most definitely add GoodGym to that list!

With the BAC being shut for the night we were lucky enough to be given a temporary home by the lovely people at Share Community, a brilliant charity that supports local disabled people. Thanks Share!

It was really lovely to see new faces, familiar faces, runners from different areas, from central office and even from Wandsworth council. Everybody is welcome at GoodGym, and always will be. A special welcome to Sara, Alex, Alexa, Becky, Rachel and Jessica who all came for their first group run last night. Give them a cheer, GoodGym!

We started off with a run through of the news - here's a recap:

• The January challenge is in full swing. In Wandsworth we racked up 129 good deeds and run a total of 1,176 kms which is pretty great. There's still a way to go though, so get yourself to as many group runs and missions as possible and don't forget to strava the heck out of every run!

• Looking for a community mission? Then check out this brilliant one next Tuesday lunchtime. The job is shifting furniture for a LGBTQ+ charity which supports young people locally, so not only will you get a great upper body workout but you'll be helping out an important organisation too. What's not to love?

• Like burgers? Feeling social? Want to catch up with other GoodGymers while not trying to trip up on the pavement or elbow deep in mud? Then our monthly port-run social is for you. Every first Monday of the month, just round the corner from our starting place at the Four Thieves. And it's even two for one on the burgers!What more could you ask for? Sign up here to join us at the next one.

After a rather squished warm up, we set off for our task at Oasis adventure playground. This wonderful place is a local charity that has fun facilities and learning opportunities for disabled and non-disabled young people enabling them to lead happy, fulfilled lives and play positive roles in the community.

We arrived to find David, who manages the place, waiting for us with tools and a pretty inspiring welcome. We were only there for 40 minutes, but he reminded us in that time that we would be playing an active role in improving the lives of young people. With that feel good factor, we got straight to work shifting old pallets from an area that needed to be dug over. We got a nice little chain gang going, before the real hard work began digging over the area, as well as creating a firepit. Which sounds about the most excellent and dangerous thing to introduce in to a children's playground.

Meanwhile, some of the group were treated to an extra conditioning session (lucky!), before getting on with weeding the enormous area - as well as testing out the facilities (which GoodGym trainer was spotted having fun on the trampoline cough, Beth?).

After just over half an hour of hard graft, we downed tools and headed over to the neighbouring park for a very short fitness blast. We warmed up with a game of clusters. While I wouldn't like to fling around any wild accusations of cheating, there was definitely some interesting counting going on! We then knocked out a little conditioning versus high intensity drills, with Chi encouraging everybody to work harder as we squatted, lunged, balanced and high kneed.

All that was left was to run the three kms back to base, and stretch out those tired muscles. Well done on working hard for a brilliant charity, getting a good run under your belt in the process, and giving blue Monday a smack about the chops. Next week we're off to clear leaves in a community garden, you can find out all about it right here. Hope to see you, until then, run happy!

Last night 35 runners joined forces in Wandsworth to kick off 2020 by doing something great for themselves and for their community. It's the best way to start the year!

• Welcome back to GoodGym everybody! If it was your first group run yesterday or you're racking up those good deeds, we have got a cracking year ahead of us. A big welcome to Helena who came along for her first session last night - give her a cheer! It was also lovely to see faces old and new, and to welcome runners from other areas too.

• If you need a bit of January inspiration to get out there when it's a bit cold and dark, then we have just the thing for you - the january challenge! This is where each area tries to do as many good deeds and as many miles as possible this month. So get yourself down to as many missions, community missions and group runs as possible and let's get cracking!

• In a great beginning to the year, we celebrated Lorna's 50th good deed! This means that lovely Lorna has supported her community in huge ways, and covered quite a few miles in the process. Way to go, Lorna!

We kicked off our first session with not one but two tasks. The choices were to do a litter sweep of Doddington estate, where the local people have been reporting a rubbish problem, or to run to a primary school garden in Battersea to help empty raised beds of soils for the children to use to plant fruit and veg.

While deciding on which task to go for, we headed outside and, after a warm up, did a survey on new year's resolutions. While some opted for not making one so they can't break it, there were quite a few people wanting to improve their timekeeping, eat fewer biscuits, eat more biscuits, a number of great running challenges, learning how to accept a compliment and being kinder to ourselves. Keep at it, GoodGym!

We split into two groups, with Chris leading his down to Doddington, where they picked up the litter pickers from the local community centre. They got straight onto filling black bin bags with as much litter as they could lay their hands on - with bottles caps, cig butts (they can take up to 10 years to decompose and in the meantime they release nasties into the environment) and other packaging. After a good sweep, and with 4 km under their belt, they ran over to reunite the groups.

Meanwhile the other runners had been working hard at the primary school. Our job was to empty the huge raised beds of soil so that they could be rebuilt for the children to plant fruit and veg. It's a big job, but dividing into two teams we tackled it with spades and muscle. It soon became clear there was a little bit of healthy competition between the groups, and I can report that while one group shifted a massive 22 bags of soil, the other managed a whopping 29! I'll leave you to figure out which team came out on top...

We all met up at a park round the corner where we knocked out a tabata session. Great to increasing aerobic capacity and raising our heart rates through short bursts of high intensity drills, we did two round of eight exercises featuring the dreaded frogs and power lunges. Great energy levels, team!

After a short run back to base, we finished off the night with stetches and some cookies to celebrate Lorna's milestone. Lovely to see you all again in 2020, GoodGym! Sign up here for more fun, doing good and getting fit next week. Until then, run happy!

It was the last run of the decade in Wandsworth last night and we saw it out with some proper festive spirit!

Before we headed out for a very Christmassy run, we had a look back at the year and everything we've achieved together.

A massive well done for notching up

• an incredible 1906 good deeds in just 12 months

• visiting 68 individual elderly people, along with 214 coach runs

• running a whopping 22 779 kilometers

Those are some seriously impressive stats! If it was your first run last night (hello and welcome to Amy who joined us for her debut group run - a huge welcome to you!), or if you're into triple figures, you've all made a difference to your community and to yourself. Roll on 2020!

Our task last night was our annual running and carolling session to raise money for Paul's Cancer Support Centre. This small independent charity in Clapham Junction enables people affected by cancer, through community-based care and support, to find strength and resilience, and supports them through therapy, counselling and complimentary treatments. It's an incredible lifeline for those living with cancer.

So after a warm up where I shouted snowman, snowflake, super santa and Christmas tree a lot, we headed off with our song sheets and collecting tins to our first stop. And then after our local supermarket turned out to be a humbug, quickly on to our second stop to start our night of singing. We got a few contributions there, so moved on to the massive Christmas tree to try our luck.

That was a bit more successful, but we really made it big at our fourth stop at Clapham Junction. We were quite the hit with lots of passers by, one little boy that really wanted to join in, and a man who lived in the flat opposite who wanted us to sing as loudly as humanly possible. Our next pitstop was the pub and it turns out that tipsy people are also generous and appreciative of festive singers especially the running kind, which was good, because our final destination at Clapham Common tube wasn't quite as lucrative. Where was everybody? Nevermind, we just had time to knock out a few of the 12 Drills of Christmas for our fitness session before heading back for stretches and to our festive pub social. Pace your bets on how much we raised last night - final figure coming soon!

We're back on the 6th January to do more good and get even fitter after mince pie season. Enjoy your break GoodGym, but keep an eye out for the missions happening over the next couple of weeks. Happy holidays and here's to all the good stuff that we're gong to make happen in 2020!

xx

It was the penultimate Wandsworth run of the year (and the decade!) last night and it was a goodie....

It all started with a lots of nice news:

• There was some great parkrun tourism going on, and some good long racing from Rosie - well done guys

• Don't forget that it is our last run of the year next Monday when we'll be singing carols for Paul's Cancer Support Centre, followed by our Wandsworth Christmas social - join us for the last session of the year and get ready to get your Christmas on in a big way.

• If you want to warm up those voices and do your bit to support the local community at the same time, then there is a great community mission this Thursday when Kambala Cares community organisation will be hosting their annual local event. [Sign up here for carols, mince pies and a nice good deed]

• There was even more to celebrate last night as it was Morag's 100th good deed - what a superstar! Give her a cheer for all those good deeds and many, many kilometres along the way. Shout out to Matthew who hit 200 good deeds last night- getting ever closer to that 500 tshirt!

Our task for the evening was at Spear, a south west London based charity that helps get people off the street and into secure accommodation, supports young people and helps them move into education or work. They had asked us to come and paint their training rooms, which were in need of a little love.

So after a warm up and a brussel sprouts referendum ( 23 to 6 in favour...with some caveats) we headed off on a short run to St Mark's Church, Spear's base. When we got there we found all the equipment we needed waiting for us, and got straight into the job. While most of the group got painting, James and Hanna took on the challenge fixing the broken cupboard. Half and hour of work later and we were done - the walls had a good lick of paint, the cupboard was put together and replaced, and the brushes were washed up. That was the true definition of many hands making light work. Well done guys.

We took a short run up to Clapham Common for fitness, which kicked off with a squat waterfall, before moving onto Chase the Hare - with a very strong hare performance put in by Morag. Then we moved onto flying 30s, where we knocked out some good sprinting concentrating on different technical points.

A steady run back to base and some stretching and we were done for the night. Just one session left - hope to see you there! Until then, run happy everyone.

ps thanks to Helen for the punspiration and photos - photo credit also goes to Sian!