21 GoodGymers rounded off their London Marathon preparations with a 6k run to Hollybush Community Garden in Bethnal Green.

Sunshine has arrived!! Making an amazing change from the months of running in the Ice, sleet and snow we had a warm spring evening to have a running play.

Amazing location to meet in the London Marathon Store and great to have so many runners out in force finishing off their race day preparations and getting to chat to others embarking on the same challenge.

Amazing to have our own amazing running paparazzi taking amazing shots of us as we zipped around London’s inner City. Thanks James!!

With Ivo leading the way with some intricate back street, under/over bridge, through park 2.5k route East to Weavers Field. Where we were able to mobilise, activate and coordinate with some key running warm up and form drills before letting loose with a series of relaxed running strides to finish off.

With our heart rates elevated and our bodies ready to go we took the short run over to meet Margaret at the multi award winning urban community garden that is Hollybush.

As always Margaret had plenty for us to do and set us to work on a range of tasks to get the Rocky Garden prepped and ready for families to plant in.

With 40 mini allotment beds which are used by the Estates residents as a way of having their own green space to clear of all debris we had a big job to complete. Working in pairs we dismantled, de cluttered, weeded, removed wood and even untied netting to get the plots clear and free ready to grow!

The the plots clearing nicely and the mound of debris ready for collection growing we had just enough time to daisy chain 50 long planks of wood to complete the wood Mountain!!

With pictures taken and really warm thanks from Margaret and the Hollybush team we set off back to the London Marathon Shop chatting through marathon fuelling, pacing, injuries, clothing to make sure we are prepared as possible for the 26.2 Mile Challege ahead.

Best of luck and enjoy every stride on Sunday!!

Be great to see you again at another GoodGym run at one of the 42 areas nationwide.

Smooth Running

Joel

22 awesome runners ran 18km to help tidy up at the Royal Hill Community Garden in Greenwich!

You were all a part of history last night as we ran our longest EVER GoodGym group run! A whopping 18km in the bank... not bad for a dark & cold Tuesday evening eh!!

London 2018

The vast majority of you guys are running the London Marathon this year, and for many of you it will be your first marathon... which is SO exciting!! The aim of last night's run was to spend a decent amount of time on your feet and to learn to keep going when you're tired, because you will get tired at some point on the day! But all of you absolutely smashed it. It was cold, the run was long but we all made it back and no one sneaked back on the train... SUCCESS!!!

Our run

So we set off from The London Marathon store after a quick little warm up outside. Our route took us out of central London, down Commercial Road and towards Canary Wharf (where you'll be at around Mile 15 of the marathon!). We came off the main road and joined onto the Thames Path and 5 miles later we had found the lovely Greenwich Foot Tunnel!!! For those that weren't too keen on the tunnel, just be thankful it wasn't the Woolwich one!!

We arrived at the Royal Hill garden and were greeted by Jonathan. Everyone grabbed some rakes and other various tools and started tidying up. We moved bricks, plant pots, compost bags and before we knew it we were done. With 22 people it doesn't take long! Even though there wasn't a huge amount to do, hopefully it was a welcome break after your 9k run!

It was getting pretty chilly so after the film team were done with their interviews, we set back off again! South of the river this time, via the Cutty Sark (probably the most iconic landmark of the marathon which you will see at around the 10km mark!). After 4 miles we reached Tower Bridge with some spectacular views of our awesome city! This is when you'll get a huge boost from the deafening roars of the crowds and it also signifies the half way point of the marathon (or thereabouts!).

We arrived back at the London Marathon Store to pick up our stuff and called it a night!!!

GoodGym near you

If you enjoyed the run last night then be sure to check out your local GoodGym area as we do these group runs (but slightly shorter!) every week in pretty much every London borough and up and down the country, so there's lots of ways to get involved and run to do good with your community! You can see all the events here!

Top tips for the final weeks!

One of our GoodGym Greenwich runners and 2:36 marathoner Ben has written up a great list of things to focus on in the last few weeks leading up to the marathon so give it a read here.

Amazing running last night everyone! Hope you had a great time! See you on April 22nd! Good luck and most importantly have fun!!! It'll be a day you will never forget!

24 GoodGymers ran 12km and helped Surrey Quays Farm for a New Balance London Marathon Special!

Wow what an evening, amazing running the furtherest a GoodGym run as ever gone and probably the most manure anyone has ever shovelled! Welcome to the GG newbies - Jennifer, Selasi, Dan, Lucy, Kirby, Jamal, Alex and Joelle - great to have you along.

In the build up to the New Balance London Marathon, and other races this Spring, last night was planned a special training session and a taster of what makes GoodGym soooooo GOOD! If you'd like to read more about GoodGym, go here.

After a quick intro and mostly remembering our counting skills, we set off south to Surrey Quays Farm via Tower Bridge. On our way we discussed marathon and half marathon aims, trying to work out what our individual paces might be.

What's your MP pace?!

Staying as a group we got through all the busy traffic areas and hit the calmness of the Thames Path, any time we needed to collect together the front group got to do some lovely squats, a circuit session or balancing technique. Boucing along the river in our glorious red we then cut in through Rotherhithe and towards the farm itself.

Upon our arrival at the farm we met Gemma the Manager, who explained the working charitable city farm had lots going on - including a cafe, all the farm animals you could ever want, School Programmes, Community plots and more.

Our tasks for the evening were as follows:

• Shovelling, forking and wheelbarrowing large quantities of manure from one side of the farm to another to fill a flower bed.
• Giving the windows and classrooms a Spring Clean - lovely stuff!
• Sweeping, clearing and tidying the sheep's pen and general pathways

Corrrrr that's a good smell

After 25 minutes of hard work we took a group picture and headed home. Taking the most direct route we were able to enjoy Tower Bridge light up in all it's glory as we ran along the Thames Pathway. After over 12km of running a group of 10 people, led by Lucy, decided a sprint finish was needed - boom! That's some good running!

Thank you to everyone who came along, the next GGxLondon Marathon Run will take place on Tuesday 20th March.

PB out.