This week 16 incredible GoodGym-ers ran 2km (ish) to dig a moat around a pond and chop some sticks.

As ever, the team met at the Phoenix for intros and sign-ins. Thanks to an unexpected level of traffic along the North Circular, I was running a little late. Luckily, Freya and Damian were on hand to welcome the gang until I got there. Two new faces this week: Ves who works with me in Finsbury Park and Anja who is new to Barnet but not to GG. Give 'em a cheer!

After a super speedy intro and headcount, we gently jogged to Cherry Tree Woods to warm up in the park before heading off on a little loop to Archer. The Hammerson Nightingale care home we were supposed to be helping wasn’t ready for us yet, so Maaike at Archer came to the rescue with an extra Archer Task. This week was all about digging a moat around the pond to tuck the lining in to.

The team quickly got to work, with several people taking a go on the mattock. The ground was hard as hell today, so the mattock was the only thing to break past the solid upper layer of mud. Louis let me have a go, so I could demonstrate how to generate more power and Damian made a Buffy reference (where I was Buffy), which basically made my day.

Kim and Paul arrived slightly too late at the Phoenix and ended up running to the other Archer by mistake, meaning they ended up running an extra km. They sure made up for it on site though, with some super speedy digging.

Once the moat was dug, we tucked the pond liner in and filled the gap with mud. I even added a ceremonious branch to kickstart the decoration phase. Chris did a wonderful job filling a particularly deep bit and Phil did some great stomping.

It was soon time for finisher photos and a game of football before heading back to base.

Barnet Biscuit of the Week: White chocolate chip cookies AND Jaffa Cakes courtesy of Freya.

Thanks to Jody for this week's pun.

Next week we are running back to BFC for more upcycling of old furniture. Sign up here

If group runs were meals - stay with me here - then last night's in Barnet would have been a picnic. We had a lovely summer evening, we had the famous Barnet biscuit, and we had a task sandwich...

It all began at the beautiful Pheonix Cinema where we said hello to some ace new faces. Give a cheer to Tim, Laura, and Bethany, runners of Barnet! While you're there, why don't you also give a virtual pat on the back to Heather who, perhaps unsurprisingly, is topping the distance leader boards after running the Paris marathon last weekend. What a star! Hat tip to Hazel who is leading the cheers and the good deeds - way to go Hazel.

With Penny away on her hols, we did a head count and at the same time named our favourite biscuit in honour of the erstwhile biscuity trainer - chocolate definitely came out at the top of the rankings. Our task was only a very short run away, so off we set, looking forward to getting stuck in with the lovely Paul and Kim back marking for us. Ah, such hope, such optimism. It was only when we arrived at the Archer Academy ready to start digging a lovely big pond, did we find the building was locked. Tumbleweed skittered across the tarmac. It didn't look good. A quick call confirmed that the Easter hols meant that the school was closed. What were we to do? Luckily Barnet has a crack team of a task force, and after a moment of Damian and Hazel putting their heads together we came up with a plan. Paul still had some leaflets at home from a charity GoodGym had worked for previously - a brilliant sounding organisation called Barnet Furniture Centre that helps low-income families by providing them with affordable furniture. Phew!

We didn't want to waste the lovely quiet spot we found ourselves in and decided to do our fitness session first. It was circuits night, with five stations featuring burpees, sprints, squat holds, planks and press ups. 45 seconds of work, and 15 seconds rest between each circuit was a tough work out but Barnet meant business. There were some high energy burpees, some lovely straight-backed planks, and, well, there was some lying facedown on the tarmac too, but that was proof of a good work out. After a couple of games (Fish! Chips! Chicken??) we set off to deliver those flyers, dividing up into teams to get the job done quick smart. Which we did - in record time. Which meant that we had time for the last part of our fitness sandwich. Off we jogged with Damien leading us to a newly-mowed patch of lawn to bust out some core exercises. They were toughies, and ten minutes later our abs were well and truly worked. With that our fitness/task/fitness sandwich was done, and we had an easy run back to our start location. While we were stretching Paul and Kim told us about the chicken connoisseur - he searches for the pengest munch in London. We had some pretty peng munches with the dark chocolate post-run Barnet biscuits - thank you so much. You guys are some peng runners, Barnet! Thanks for a great night. Next week you'll be helping to spread the word about your lovely start location, you can sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/helping-out-the-phoenix

ps did you enjoy running along the streets of East Finchley with a soundtrack of your favourite tunes? I bet you did. Barnet cleverly has a spotify list YOU can add to. Just whack your choices on the list and Hazel will upload them to make a playlist for your next run:

https://open.spotify.com/user/hayzec/playlist/103nlP4rUGeecGerbkW51y