WELCOME TO BARNET. You have to shout it cos it's so good. Tonight we welcomed Bryony and Jo along for their first GoodGym runs.

This evening we were delivering flyers for RSPCA clinic. Paul, Heather and Graham led groups around the Oak Lane area, and once we managed to find houses with letterboxes the doing good bit of our evening was done in no time. Which left plenty of time for the getting fit part.

First up it was CIRCLE OF DOOM. Well, circuit of exercises. Each of the 16 GGers in attendance chose their favourite exercise for the group to perform for 20 seconds. This included some classics such as press ups, some evils such as burpees with tuck jumps (thanks, Uncle Albert), and a set of squats in honour of the missing Pennie.

Next up, we got technical with some running drills. We did Leg Cycles, A-Walk and B-walk.

Finally it was time for a step-up challenge. Who can do 50 step ups quickest? While standing on the street explaining a window above us opened and a head popped out. Had we disturbed somebody? Had we annoyed somebody? Of course not, we're GoodGym. Local resident Tania just wondered who we were.

We explained the concept of GoodGym and she was so impressed she joined in the step-up challenge while cute little kitty "Humbug" looked on. She also knows a few folk around the area who might need out help for some missions, so keep your eyes peeled.

Right-leg step-up champion was Hazel and left-leg champion was Chris. Well done, both. These skills will come in handy if you ever have to run for a tube.

Biscuits were provided by Joanna, a deliciously sweet cinnamon mix. And there were plenty to go around. Nice baking.

Thanks for having me, Barnet. I really enjoyed myself. Pennie'll be back next week for a trip to Barnet Furniture Centre.

xxx,
Simon

P.S. did anybody leave a hat behind? Heather has it.

P.P.S thanks again to what is becoming my personal pun mascot Chris for pun report title :-D

This week 16 fabulous GoodGym-ers ran over 7km to recycle discarded Christmas trees in North Finchley

This week we were joined by two GG newbies: Chris and Darren – give them both a cheer! We were also joined by cousins Maya and Preety who joined us for the starter session on Saturday.

After a quick warm up by the Phoenix we headed the 3km to the Civic Recycling Centre. I lead the pack, while Hazel was my trusty back-marker. We did a couple of run-backs on the way out, where the speedier runners zoomed off ahead to the next bus stop and back to the group.

Once we reached the recycling point we split into groups and ran off in search of discarded Christmas trees. The team did a splendid job, finding a total of four trees – one of which was was still in the net wrapping! Madness.

The group then split into groups for a sprint relay. Some very impressive speeds were hit during this section. Top marks all round!

After a few lengths of road, it was time to run back to base for some stretching and some biscuits. I brought some chocolate bourbons and Chris brought some chocolate chip cookies. Graham says he knows a bakery that does great biscuits, so that'll be next week's treat if we're lucky!

Well done to those of you who brought your docs along this week for DBS checks. You guys are amazing! Don't forget you can bring photo ID and proof of address (two of one and one of the other) along to any group run to get the ball rolling on getting mission verified.

We have a mega mission coming up on Saturday. It's all hands on deck for this one, so if you can make it, sign up here.

Don't forget about our Starter Session on the 28th at Sweettree farms. Sign up here

Well done to Damian for coming up with this week's run report headline. That deserves some applause (or cheers).

See you at next week's run

Pennie

PS. Can we all please take a moment to appreciate that pop band photo!

15 GoodGym-ers ran a total of 4.5km to help a care home with a rather unusual task.

It was great to see so many GG-ers at this week’s run, particularly so many newbies! Massive shout out to Jess, Jeff and Nicola who came along for the first time – be sure to give them a cheer on the GG website! (Click their names – you can support each other from each others profiles, too.) Also a big welcome to Tejeswita and Dan who joined the Barnet crew this week from other boroughs. It was such a treat to see so many new faces! (It's also very much a treat to see so many of the same faces, so keep coming back.)

Jess actually decided to come along after seeing the GoodGym BBC feature this week, so that’s exciting! I’m pleased it worked!

Dorian was the first GG-er to join me this week, followed soon after by the rest of the gang. As it was halloween this week, Hazel brought along her cape, which Damian wore beautifully as he lead us up the Bishop’s Avenue to the Nightingale Hammerson care home.

We were greeted by 6 wonderful residents and activities coordinator Chris, who even provided a box of chocolates to share. Our task this evening was to hang out with the residents and tell them about what we do; we came by a few weeks ago to clean out their shed and they were very curious about us. Thank you to Freya and Heather for helping with photo-taking duties. I think today might be the first week I have GG Barnet pictures I’m actually in, apart from Long Lane Pasture! That’s a treat. For me, anyway.

It was a really nice task. Being able to have a direct impact on somebody’s day is a really nice thing and these women were all so pleased to see us. I gave a quick intro into GoodGym Barnet and GG more generally, before the rest of you wonderful runners explained a bit more. We then spent about half an hour chatting and sharing stories. The care home is being cleared at the moment for an upgrade and residents are slowly moving to other facilities, so there aren’t too many people left. Chris said this was the busiest the living room had been for quite some time and thanked us lots for coming and filling it with so much positivity.

She then offered us the common room to do our fitness session in before our run back to base, which was a massive treat! Exercising on carpet is definitely much nicer than tarmac and meant we could do a loads of fun exercises like burpies and squat walkouts. I know everybody loves burpies, secretly. And just look how high Hazel was getting in the picture above! BOOM

We did some squat and side-lunge walks followed by three rounds of full-body strength and conditioning exercises. There was a focus on core strength, because a strong core makes for all the difference as you take on those longer runs.

We then said our goodbyes and headed back to base, taking a slightly longer route home. Special thanks to Teje, Jess, Heather and Jeff for keeping me company at the back of the pack tonight.

After a quick stretch, Damian whipped out the homemade pumpkin seed flapjacks he brought along, which everybody agreed were yummy.

This week’s Barnet Biscuit of the Week is: Party Rings. Classic.

Freya has requested next week we find some ice gems. I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

Don’t forget this Saturday is the GG Parkrun tour in Oakhill Park, which means it’s on our turf. So we should all go! It’ll be great if you can make it down. The run starts at 9am, there’s no pressure if you wanna go fast or you wanna go slow. If you’d like to sort your DBS checks out, bring your docs along and I’ll do it afterwards.

And Sunday is Zombie Evac. We’re in the 10am wave, so meet at Allianz Park at 9.30 to sort ourselves out. I’ve been offered a free ticket if anyone wants it in exchange for writing a review. They offered it to me too late and I’ve already bought mine! Book here if you wanna play.

Sign up for next week’s task here. We’ll be running to do good nearby. It’ll be fun and good and I’ll reveal more soon.

More pics to be added soon! Just waiting on the ladies to say it's ok.