It stopped...the rain stopped!

And nine lovely runners believed me and came along for a top night in Southwark.

A big GoodGym welcome to Carole, Jessamy and Becky who joined for the first time.

After a rather long intro speech (sorry!) we got going with Michael kindly backmarking and myself leading the way. We took a slightly longer route to avoid the hordes on Peckham Rye before cutting down the old Surrey Canal and making our way to Burgess Park, the home of the Southwark Tigers junior rugby club. There we were met by Vernon who outlined the tasks at hand.

This week we were building some shelves, landscaping some potholes and moving some equipment between the storage containers. Vernon described the storage containers as the hub of the club as the equipment is so important to what they do. The problem is that with all that equipment going in and out things had got a bit messy - enter GoodGym Southwark.

We split into three teams and under the headlights of the club minibus we got started! We had a good 40 mins of working time and in that time we cleared the area around the containers, moved some rugby equipment, flattened out the potholes and with a big team effort got two sets of shelves built, connected together and moved into the container. We stopped for a group pic (arms please!) and then headed off for a slightly shorter run back to Old Spike (thanks for backmarking Stuart).

Thanks so much for having me everyone and I hope to see you all again soon!

Top work GGS!

Pritesh

What a year it's been. We've seen the group go from strength to strength, have helped countless charities and community organisations, covered many, many miles and had a pretty great time while we did it. We've seen the first ever 50 milestones reached in Hounslow, cheered our members through races and PBs and celebrated our first birthday. 2018 is shaping up to be a truly brilliant year.

Our last run of 2017 was a very festive one - not only were we feeling very Christmassy, but we also had Hanukkah to celebrate. Double the fun! So we jingled all the way outside to warm up, and to hear about each other's favourite points of 2017. Reaching 50 good deeds, joining GoodGym, traveling to exotic places and simply that it's almost over were our highlights.

'Borrowing' the lovely Ealing group's idea, our run to the task tonight was accompanied by a festive quiz, which included questions like how many good deeds have been done across the whole of GoodGym (73 112!) and who is top of the Hounslow leader board for good deeds (Remy and Andy). Each incorrect answer resulted in a fitness-based forfeit for the team, and there was one unfortunate moment when the roles were reversed and the questionmaster was punished with a mean old set of tricep dips. That wasn't supposed to happen!

We soon arrived at our task, which was to pick up and deliver a pile of leaflets for a community Christmas concert happening in Brentford. We're well practised at this particular job now, and so as soon as we got the leaflets in our chilly little hands, we set off into the local streets, stopping only for a quick snap in front of Brentford FC's home ground.

We still had a two mile run back ahead of us, so after we had had got rid of all the leaflets we set off in the direction of home. The drizzle started not long after, putting the future of our fitness session (the 12 days of Fitmas) in peril. By the time we got back to Turnham Green it was coming down pretty badly so we decided to do the festive thing, and head inside. A good job we did for two reasons. The first was that shortly after the heavens opened and the rain became apocalyptic, and the second was much much nicer. Thank you so much team for all the amazing words and treats - you are a brilliant bunch. We saw off the night drinking prosecco and toasting the year we've had, before retiring to the pub to spin the dreidel and eat the incredible spread of delicious things that Remy kindly brought us. It's been a wonderful year, and it's all down to the people that every week dedicate their time to make other people's lives better. That's you! Here's to 2018 xxx

There was so much good news last night, we barely knew where to start.

First all hail team (Tom) Cruisin' About, Doing Good for they reign supreme as winners of the inaugural Mission Possible. That's right, Remy, Andy and Michelle saw off all the competition to complete two great deeds and a whole scavenger hunt on Sunday. Way to do good! You should have seen their human pyramid.

We had some fabulous running as well as good doing this weekend, with Remy smashing her 24th and last half marathon of the year. Some of the Hounslow team were lucky enough to be there to watch her do it, and can confirm that she powered across the line in fine form. Well done Remy, a fantastic challenge completed. Will 'PB' Yates also showed us how it's done this weekend, with not one but two personal bests over 5k and 10k at the weekend. Fantastic stuff, keep it up!

Yes, we were unprepared for some of the biggest news of the night, but that did not stop us being massively impressed by none other than the gorgeous Vix who casually rocked up for her 100th milestone. You total superstar! 100 good deeds is an incredible achievement and shows huge dedication to making other people's lives better. Give that lady a cheer, she deserves it!

Our task last night was a slightly different one, but we did our warm up as usual, finding out at the same time what the best winter drinks were. Peppermint mochas, black forest gateaux lattes, Baileys, mulled cider, mulled gin, mulled wine (anything mulled) and Harvey Wallbangers were all top of the winter pops.

We then ran around the corner to the library to pick up two huge sheets of aluminium which are going to make up the beautiful new mural under Turnham Green Bridge - the very bridge we had scrubbed free of graffiti a few weeks ago. We divided up into two teams, and after a very thorough health and safety briefing plus demonstration (ahem), we set off down the road to deliver the new artwork ready to be displayed in local schools.

Past the beautiful Christmas lights we went, under the underpass and along the A4, attracting a few odd looks as we went on our merry way. Precious cargo deposited, it was only a short run back to Turnham Green, doing some extra and unexpected good on the roads along the way. It took until this point in the run to discover that Andy had spent the day hobnobbing with royalty, having a very interesting discussion about chip fat with Prince Charles. WHAT! Two crowns in a matter of days, Andy, you are so regal.

After a short run we had plenty of time to do a lovely fitness session, which started with a game of Chase the Hare. Remy was our sprinting hare, just pipped to the post by Andy and Will. After that warm up we launched into everybody's favourite test of speed, the bleeping Bleep Test. This is a really hard but effective exercise, and great for speed and endurance building. If that wasn't enough, we finished off the evening with some conditioning exercises to build up strength to support all that lovely running we're doing. After that, it truly was job done, and we finished with some stretches and a chat about next week's task. Well done everybody, a task well done and a tough session to boot. Same again next week?!.

It was a blustery evening in Chiswick last night, but that didn't stop the 13 runners who knocked out a speedy 6.4k to help out a local charity that supports those with longterm mental health issues.

But first of all we welcomed three whole new lovely members to the group, let's hear it for Ieva, Aysha and https://www.goodgym.org/runners/emmanuel-oyelowo. Give them a cheer!

We also had a another special reason to celebrate last night as it was Will's 50th ever good deed! What a superstar. That's a lot of running, and a whole load of doing good. Well done, Will.

After all that cheering we headed outside to warm up with some dynamic exercises, during which we found out which animal we would all be. There were a couple of cats, a squirrel, a grasshopper, a bird of prey, a rat and a, erm, dragon.

For the first leg of the run we set off at a good pace, stopping only for a few jumping jacks and squats to keep the group together. With an 8 minute mile, we were doing well, so pushed it even faster in the second and got to the Friends of Cathja shop in record time. Waiting for us there was terrifying Bruce the Dog, complete with natty red kerchief, and Karl and Rin who run the shop, which raises money to be able to support local people with mental health illnesses that rely on their help.

Our job tonight was to shift a load of mattresses and furniture from the front of the warehouse to the yard outside, and we got straight to it. Ieva and Emmanuel moved furniture and swept, Matthew, Adam and Andy got those mattresses moving, and Ross could be found teetering on top of a pile of boxes and tables sorting out all the stuff the shop could sell. Meanwhile the rest of the team was efficiently shifting and carrying things to the yard and bin area. 20 minutes later, we were done.

Apart from the grueling HIT session ahead of us, that is. We waved goodbye to Bruce and the shop, and ran the short distance to Waterman's Park where we found a nice spot to work hard. Five hard exercises each for 20 seconds, followed by 15 seconds of high knees, a short rest, then starting again. It was tough going, but the idea is that short, high intensity, high effort bursts of exercise are fantastic for burning fat, increasing cardio capacity and endurance. While that was enough for most of the group, Andy, Adam and Will stayed behind to complete Will's 50th challenge, which involved three sprints, 25 push ups and 25 press ups, before running to catch us up on the way back.

It was getting windier, which as Michelle pointed out was just good resistance training, and after a good steady run back to Chiswick Town Hall, we stretched out what was a fantastic but tough session. Then, because we had truly earned it, and it was a celebratory night after all, pub. Well done everybody, and welcome to the group for those whose first run it was. Hope to see you all next week for some more doing good, a shorter run, and of course a whole load of squats.