24 GoodGymers ran 7km to help The Church of St Michael and St George, White City

January and the January Challenge are over, but this didn't stop 23 wonderful GoodGymers from joining me to lend a hand at a BRAND NEW TASK tonight! The evening was decidedly mild for February and many decided to get their legs out and rock the shorts 🩳.

For some reason, here at GoodGym H&F we often seem to have runners with the same name, which both helps and hinders with remembering names and nicknames! - the official term is 'homonymous'.

There was no excuse to forget one name tonight...a big welcome along to Beth who joined us tonight for her first GoodGym H&F group run.

News, news, news

1. January Challenge 2020: H&F's final totals...a whopping 160 good deeds completed and 1897km run. 16th place in the 'Gold' League. Smashed it! Well done team 🙌.

2. Upcoming events: Sat 8th Feb at 10am - Richmond Park 5km & 10km and Sun 9th Feb at 9.30am - Wimbledon's Second Sunday Five.

3. Hackney Half Aid Station Volunteering - Sun 17th May: you'll have a great day out cheering on fellow runners and earn yourself some nice freebies, these include a free entry to a future race and a t-shirt! For all the details, click here.

AND FINALLY....

1. Team Nash are running the London Marathon for the brilliant charity, Barnardo's who do fantastic work to protect and support vulnerable children and young people. Please click here to sponsor them.

Team Nash ran with Daley Thompson at the weekend and is also a fan of my favourite brain and body warm-up which involves different moves for each number...I learnt from the best, we always hang out at weekends 😉

Pray it by ear

Tonight's brand new task was at The Church of St Michael and St George, White City, a nice long run to get our legs turning. Following a quick-warm up which included high knees, jumping jacks, spotty dogs and lunges. Heart rates raised we set off towards White City. All the traffic lights seemed against us, but they handily enabled us to regroup. With lots of pedestrian dodging inside and around Shepherds Bush Green we happily headed onto Wood Lane which was far clearer and wider.

There was also a perfectly placed long wall which allowed for the weekly wall sit to be completed - hooray!

"I know where we're going. It's a left, then a right at QPR's stadium and up" - Tom

With Tom sounding very assured of where we were heading he took the lead. Katie and Andrew had timed their 'running lates' to perfection and met us as we headed up towards the church.

The state of pray

Church located we headed inside through the side entrance and were greeted by the vicar, Ben. Ben welcomed everyone in and explained all the jobs that needed doing tonight:

• Clean the kitchen area
• Clean both sets of toilets
• Clean in the vestibules
• Tidy the crèche area
• Clean all the windows
• Polish the brass plaques
• A garden litter-pick
• Hoover - lots of it with trusty Henry!

The team split into lots of smaller groups to tackle the list of jobs.

Like two pees in a pod

Katie and Catriona did their best Kim and Aggy impression in the toilets and left them sparkling clean!

So crèche & clean

In the crèche area, there was lots of tidying of stuffed animals, books and toys, and cleaning of the windows by Eloise, Sarah, Sophie and Milla.

Alice become very well acquited with Henry as she set to work hoovering the carpets and around the chairs, finding Zanoubia's locker key in the process - a fab find! Analiese was on polishing duty, putting the Brasso to work on the brass plaque so that it would be lovely and shiny again.

Matt stepped up to tackle the window cleaning on the large windows in the hall, with Andrew kindly holding the ladder to provide rock solid support.

Also in the hall area, Zanoubia cleaned all the fingerprints from the doors, while Lucy hoovered, Chi tidied and Biscuits cleaned in the other toilets...there definitely wasn't any childish behaviour involving hoovers here....

Mary, Luis and Beth set to work cleaning the kitchen area, with Luis ensuring the basin was the cleanest one you'd ever set eyes upon! Mary and Beth also ensured all the plants in the church had their thirst quinched with a good watering.

A litter pick of this, and a litter pick of that

While the others were hard at work inside, 'team bags' - Cookie, Helen, Marissa, Tom and Maddie (sorry for the name team!) - were working hard outside to clear-up all the litter and a bit of a "Brucie Bonus", a quick weed in the garden area....how to pray your cards right!

No altaring this photo!

Amazingly, in just half an hour all the jobs were completed! All that was left to do was to pose for Chi as he took this week's team photo. Boom! Task complete.

We said our goodbyes and thankyous to Ben and headed outside. Despite it feeling that no one was heading back to base with me when asked who was heading or peeling off on the way, many of the group ran the quicker and more direct 3km run back. Here we were treated to a stretch off led by Tom, in the words of Mo, "that's lovely that!".

Thank you all for coming along and for all your terrific efforts tonight team. Have a great rest of your week! Sign up for next week's run here. Don't forget it's the monthly social following the run!

Shoutouts 📣

• Thank you to Matt for tonight's pun, Chi for his photography skills, Helen for backmarking and to Tom for leading the cool down!
• Well done to those who did the wonderfully muddy 'Splash & Dash' on Wimbledon Common and the Regents Park 10km!
• Good luck to those parkrunning and racing this weekend.

31 GoodGymers ran 4km to help TRAID and The Masbro Centre

There was a real chill in the air tonight but this didn't stop a record-equalling 31 GoodGymers coming along to get fit and do good in their community on a special TWO-TASK TUESDAY!...with Chi briefly in attendance we did have a record, but sadly work called and in true Chi style he did his smooth disappearing act!

It was lovely to welcome Aine and Will along to their first H&F group run - hope you both enjoyed it!

Once gathered outside, we first congratulated this month's 'good deed machine', Helen on her 100th good deed and ensured she was dressed appropriately for the run...with her '100' wings of course! So much good done for the community, looking forward to seeing you repping your shiny new red GG tee with wings. Well done Helen! 💯🙌🥳 .

AND, apologies that I forgot until the end of the evening, well done to Mr ‘Speedy Jonzales’ Jonny Knight on his 50th parkrun! 5️⃣0️⃣🙌🏼.

I guess that's why they call it the news...

1. January Challenge 2020 - With 113 good deeds racked up so far we've officially beaten our 2019 good deed total of 107!! Great job team! 🥳 Will we beat the 1,627kms run/walked?! You check on H&F's progress in the GoodGym leagues here.
2. GoodGym H&F Starter Session - Saturday 25th January at 10am - Not just for those who are new to GoodGym! Please come along after Fulham Palace parkrun and lend a hand weeding the historical moat at Bishop's Park. Please click here for all the details and to sign up.
3. Up & Running 10k - Meet at Chiswick Bridge at 8.45am for a 9am start.
4. Ragnar Run - weekend of 19th September - 1 more person is needed for the 10 man team. Please speak to 'Speedy' for more information.

Following a quick-warm up which included high knees, jumping jacks, spotty dogs and a fully mastered brain body warm-up combo with different moves for each number, the team split into two groups. With Helen completing all the poses for the 'gram both teams set off in the direction of Shepherd's Bush.

Task 1 - TRAID Shepherd's Bush

Catriona led 10 runners on a short run up to TRAID Shepherd's Bush. TRAID is a charity working to stop clothes from being thrown away - they believe clothes should be resused and recycled to reduce the environmental and social impacts of our clothes.

Hopefully this isn't too fabricated

Once inside, the team set about moving clothes from the clothing racks to boxes and stock the old display clothes into lots of cages 👕👚. Check out Lucy in action!

Some of the clothing was superbly modelled as they worked away, Matt with a cream dress (definitely your colour!) and Katie with the red trousers was a personal favourite!

With such efficient team working the job was completed, all that was left to do was to take a lovely team photo infront of the 'fully clothed' cages. TRAID's Store Manager was very impressed and thankful for the extra pairs of hands tonight. Good job team!

Task 2 - The Masbro Centre

The rest of the group headed up to the Masbro Centre, a slightly scenic way so as to get in those kms! With Tom and Alice neck-and-neck in the distance rankings for the month both were very amusingly at every opportunity trying to get in those extra few steps over the other.

Despite a slightly longer route, it wasn't long before we arrived at The Masbro Centre, which is the hub of all the Masbro Community Centres. Masbro offer a total community service from early years to older people – with arts and cultural events, sports and fitness classes, adult learning, help with gaining employment, and much more!

Sweep thrills

Tonight we had been tasked with giving the back garden, front garden and car park area a bit of a tidy-up of leaves, plants and weeds. Once we'd got some light, bin bags and a few tools the team gloved up and set to work. Helen set to work sweeping, and the rest of the team began some manual weeding and leaf collected. There was also a few bits of wood that needed a quick chop. Arba and Aine bravely held the wood, though turned away in fear as Biscuits began to chop with his shears. Thankfully, no fingers were lost, and no eyes harmed 😬.

With so many pairs of hands the back garden was completed within minutes, although Arba, head of quality control noticed one patch that had not been cleared of leaves up to standard. Once these leaves had been bagged the team walked through the wonderful inside of the Centre around the 5-a-side football pitch to the front garden and car park area.

Sweeping up appearances

Helen and Bev formed a powerful sweeping duo as Helen swept with the broom while Bev used the dustpan and brush to collect piles of leaves 🍁🍂. Cookie went deep into the depths of the garden area to weed and pull out the dead plants, while Luis and Rosie moved benches to ensure every inch of the car park was covered. Matt and Phoebe carefully nursed the rather split bin bag, continuing to fill it with the last few weeds.

We called it a night and with the other team arriving through the gates managed one big team photo around Helen and her wings. Tools returned we set off back to base with Cookie leading the way.

Drop it like it's squat!

Back at base, I decided to let Helen have the final say on tonight's fitness session....to be, or squat to be? The decision was one of the team's old favourites, 'Sally Squats'! 3mins 25seconds of squatting, what's not to love?! In what resembled a strange camp-like gathering, we formed a circle around 3 phones co-ordinated to start the song Flower by Moby at the same time. Everyone went very quiet as we all felt the burn! Top work team. Check out the song here if you'd like to get in some extra squat practice!

We finished with a stretch off and some well-deserved banana bread made by Helen, with bananas saved from the City Harvest Community Mission at the weekend. Absolutely delicious. Thanks Helen!

Next week we're heading to Eloise’s school, John Betts Primary to lend a hand with a whole range of INDOOR jobs! For all the details and to sign up, click here. Have a great rest of your week and weekend. Hopefully see you next week!

It was all Gogh, Gogh, Gogh again as 24 GoodGym'ers ran 3km to white up a room!

On an unseasonably warm and Spring-like February evening - the kind of weather where everyone quickly locates their GoodGym t-shirts and shorts! - a fantastic 23 smiling GoodGym'ers greeted me at the Better Gym to run and do good. A big welcome to our 2 runderful new runners Libby and Sarah who joined us for their first GoodGym run, and welcome back to self-professed 'fair weather runner' Luis. It was also lovely to see so many runners back for their second and third runs, and of course my fab regulars - thank you all for coming along!

With everyone present and correct we all headed outside to our warm-up spot where I ran through a quick intro and round-up of the week's news.

News, news, news

1) Community Missions - Up for a weekend community mission? No DBS check is required for a community mission.

• Sat 2nd March from 12pm - help sort food donations for City Harvest in Acton, sign up here.
• Sat 9th March from 10.30am - help finish sort clothes donations for St Mungo's Reconnection Post in Hammersmith, sign up here.

2) Sunday 3rd March - Long Runs - Tower Hamlets Run Leader, Simon is leading a 21km run along stages 6 & 7 of the Capital Ring. For all the details and to sign up, click here. There is also talk of H&F long run as well, keep an eye on the WhatsApp group for details!

3) Volunteering opportunities - If you volunteer for either the Adidas City Runs 1 hour on Sun 7th April or the Hackney Half on Sun 19th May, you'll have a great day out cheering on fellow runners and earn yourself some nice freebies that include free entry to a future race, a t-shirt, and possibly even some jelly babies!

The 'artist part was finding the way...

With the news and intros complete we did a name and number count followed by a quick pulse raising warm-up and some dynamic stretches, that of course included some 'shooing of the chickens' and closing of the gate, all in the wrong order! With the warm-up complete and Stravas set, we were ready to head off on our short 1.6km run down to our task tonight at Gibbs Green Tenants Hall, with Jason as always being the trusty backmarker. Along the way there was a short group wall sit to enable everyone to re-group as we headed down off the main road. In a complete déjà vu of our last run to Gibbs Green Tenants Hall I took the group on a minor 'scenic' detour around the back of West Kensington tube station - don't say I don't treat you all to the sights of H&F team!

Water great place to come

It wasn't long before we arrived at Gibbs Green Tenants Hall and were warmly welcomed in by Sara and Peggie. Sara and Peggie had kindly provided water for the group which was gratefully welcomed. As the group rehydrated Sara briefly explained the vast range activities and engagment events that are provided at Gibbs Green Tenants Hall for the community – this ranged from low cost yoga to providing meals from surplus food.

The walls are all white now

Two years ago the group had visited and transformed the green walls of the main hall from green to white, however, over the years the space has been incredibly well used and as result was bearing some very visible dirt, scuffs and stains that needed a bit of GoodGym painting love. Tonight's task was simple, but big, repaint the main hall area walls with a nice fresh coat of white paint. With Sara and Peggie providing a wonderful selection of rollers, paint brushes and trays, the team quickly divided up and began distributing the white paint into the trays ready to tackle the big painting challenge.

Blinded by the white!

Many went up ladders, under ladders or even stood on chairs to ensure that no hard to reach spots were missed. With so many pairs of hands quickly and efficiently painting the walls and skirting boards, it wasn't long before the area that Sara and Peggie had originally prepped with ground sheets for us to paint, so as to protect their newly washed and cleaned floors, needed to be extended out a lot further and wider.

As always the half an hour quickly passed, and not wanting to leave the main hall looking unfinished the group pushed on for a few additional minutes until most of the walls were all completed, and there was no paint left to paint with! With the painting completed, equipment washed, and everyone fed and rehydrated the group posed for a fabulous 'jazz hands' group photo with the ever smiling, Sara and Peggie. We all said our thank yous and goodbyes as we headed outside to the nice grassy area for some quick fitness-based games. After enjoying the Sally squats so much a few weeks ago, Tom had requested more squats and so as to be fair to the whole group I ensured that everyone got to do lots of squats tonight - big thank you to Tom!

Off in squat pursuit

We started off with a fun but tough game of championship knee tag, with lots of squat action and good tactical game play on display - well done to those who were victorious! Next up was a game of squat, squat, goose, where it transpired that many had never played the childhood classic of duck, duck, goose - what madness! After ironing out the rules we had a quick few rounds, all of which were very closely run. With the squat fix not quite acquired we finished off with three exercises to improve our strength, flexibility and balance: pistol squats, alternating supermans and squat thrusts. Great effort all!

Fitness session complete we all began the short run back to base for a cool down and stretch. Cool down and stretches complete we all headed off home our separate ways, with some going via the pub for the monthly social. Excellent work tonight all, hope you all had fun and hope to see you all again soon!

Next week we're heading back to Flora Gardens Primary School to continue our big painting challenge task, sign up for next week's run here. Have a great week!