Week 2 of Goodgym Oxford and it was brilliant to see so many familiar faces back, as well as 13 first timers (hopefully not unlucky for some!).

After an impromptu photo shoot with Jamila Begum Azad, the councillor for St Clement's Ward who had dropped by to meet us, a poster delivery on behalf of Flo's The Place in the Park to our hosts at East Oxford Community Centre, and a game of 'tell us your favourite place in Oxford' we headed off to Rose Hill Community Centre. Councillor and Goodgymer Mark Lygo back-marked, making sure that no-one got left behind.

Now, I know that in a city as flat as Oxford it's an achievement to manage to find a hill to run up 2 weeks in a row, but find another hill I did (you're welcome). Up we went, with a couple of stretches of magical mystery tour en-route to keep things interesting. It's good for you to mix up your surfaces afterall. With plenty of chat on the way, in no time at all we were at Rose Hill Community Centre to collect litter-pickers and bin bags, then straight round the corner to the Oval.

I know you've always wondered how many bags of litter 27 runners can collect in 25 minutes, and the answer is 16. Most unusual pieces of litter found:

• Bottle of Vodka

• Car registration plate

which means top trumps goes to the team that found.......

• Boxers shorts (hope you didn't pick them up without a litter picker!)

Delivering our bin bags to RHCC it was time to get ourselves back down the hill, this time with Stuart taking up back-marking duties. We took the scenic route back through Iffley and along Meadow Lane, with a game of sprint between the lamp posts as we approached the Roger Bannister track.

I'm sure some of you were going WAY faster than 4 minute mile pace, putting Roger to shame.

Fab plogging everyone! We'll be doing it all over again in West Oxford on Saturday, which is an extra session so that we can take part in OxClean's Spring Clean weekend, and then there will of course be our usual Wednesday evening Group Run from East Oxford Community Centre next week. You can sign up here.

Several months of plotting and planning all came together for the launch of Goodgym Oxford last night. 40 runners gathered at East Oxford Community Centre, and after speeches from Councillor Pat Kennedy and the Sheriff of Oxford Craig Simmons, we divided into 2 groups and headed off into the night to do good deeds.

Team South Park (without a Kenny-esque parka between us) headed straight to Morrell Avenue, and showing grit and determination ran the first half a mile UPHILL:That's dedication for you!

Cutting across South Park we were a little surprised to be passed by a man in a bunny onesie, but Oxford-dwellers know this to be normal Wednesday night attire and didn't even comment.

The railings along South Park on Cheney Lane are choked with ivy, which is blocking the sight-lines into the Park. Donning gardening gloves, we quickly set to work ridding the railings of ivy. Our team of 30 Goodgymers made light work of it, getting stuck in with enthusiasm. Brilliant teamwork meant we filled 40 binbags with ivy in 30 minutes. Thanks to Mark for promising to arrange for the bags to be collected.

After a quick stop for a team photo we headed back down the side of the park (down was definitely more popular than up!), and over to the bottom of South Park. A friendly game of tag with fitness forfeits ensued, with Mike and Mat playing 'It' very tactically. Then everyone had a go along the monkey bars before heading back out onto the street. The run back to base included an encounter with a running group all dressed in bowties - we really must up our fashion game next week.

Meanwhile team Donnington Doorstep assembled for what was billed as the walking group. But did we want to walk?! NO WAY! After a quick game of 'high 5 as many people as you can' we were off into the night and were most definitely running.

Soon we arrived at the Donnington Doorstep Children's Centre and were met by the AMAZING Dilyana who had made us all date and nut treats. Yummy! We'll definitely be back to this task.

The centre provides loads of support and activities for local children and families. Tonight they needed some GoodGym help sorting out the store cupboard. It was stuffed to the brim with activities, games and books for the kids to enjoy but was in a bit of a mess. We got to work emptying shelves, stacking boxes, sorting toys and reminiscing about our favourite kids books. Where's Wally, obviously.

After returning the neatly organised books and boxes to the shelves we hit the road. Heading towards the iconic Iffley Road running track we felt inspired to do a bit of speed training ourselves and sprinted between lampposts.

So much for walking!

Thank you everyone - this was fun and both groups achieved a lot. Next week we will be taking part in OxClean's Spring Clean. Sign up here