An amazing 23 GoodGymers ran between 4-10km, delivered 150 leaflets for Abbey Community Centre and shifted two tons of gravel for Skip Garden!

Welcome along to Sian and Harriet whose first time it was at GoodGym, great to have you along and seeing you get stuck in!

In the news this week: 1. Well done to all the Regent's Park 10k-ers and Tom Benson for doing the Grim last weekend! Some amazing PBs, first-timers and mud in there! 2. There is the GG London Christmas Party tomorrow and the GG Camden Christmas Party next Wednesday, we are planning to go for a meal after the group run next week. Please sign up by tomorrow so we can book a table. 3. Tom Benson and GG Race Team are organising the first monthly time trial at Battersea Park on Sunday! It's gonna be great! Sign up here

Onto the reports from last night. Skip Garden report below:

After an active warm up 12 of us headed to Skip Garden, which is managed by Global Generation, to help shift 2 tons of (not so pea) gravel around the garden.

Not pea gravel, bean gravel?

Gwen from Skip Garden explained the task and the need for the gravel to be spread over the garden in preparation for their FIRE FEAST this Friday. We particularly had to focus on the entrance, between the skips and around some of the buildings. We split into the following teams - shovellers, lifters and rakers!

Everyone got really stuck in and we were done after 30 minutes of shovel, carry, rake, repeat! Before leaving Gwen explained the amazing work Global Generation do with providing projects for children and an alternative perspective of life in the middle of King's Cross.

Onto to the fitness session, it went something like this:

1. Progression run around Granary 'Rectangle'
2. Three conditioning exercises using the benches
3. Interval run around the fountains
4. Two balancing exercises that engage the glutes
5. Final progression run around Granary 'Rectangle'

Abbey Community Centre report by Pritesh:

On the penultimate GoodGym Camden of 2016 we headed up to one of our favourite places – Abbey Community Centre. Close to the outskirts of Camden borough, ten of us headed out knowing we’d get 10k under our belts tonight and we were going to a party too!

We took our usual route heading over primrose hill, stopped for a breather and took in the view and made it with good time to the centre! Abbey were having their volunteer Christmas party and amid many offers of snacks, water and other more ‘fun’ drinks we found Laura who had our task ready for us! We had 150 leaflets to deliver to a local estate letting them know of the upcoming activities for 2017. We decided we would head on our way and get the task done before we partook in any merriment

Party!

Steve had leafleted on the Rowley Way estate previously so he told us the best way to go about getting the leaflets out and we split into pairs and were off. It didn’t take us long to get them all delivered and after a few photos (including in front of the best Christmas display ever!) we headed back to the community centre.

Christmas display

One of the community centre volunteers told us how much of a difference the work we did for them and that they had seen a number of new faces at the centre since we had helped with some leafleting drives previously – so good to get feedback and to know that we are making a difference.

We had a bit of time so took in some refreshments and then headed back to base! Excellent night and a pleasure to lead as always.

Thanks to everyone that came, next week is the last GG Camden of the year and our Christmas meal, sign up here.

PB out.

It's another Wednesday thankfully which can only mean one thing-GoodGym !

We met as usual at Leisure World and were joined by new member Emily.

Welcome to her and we hope she enjoys many evenings with GoodGym in the future.

This was the first time our beloved leader Angela wasn't there since we started back in August,but I'm sure we can forgive her just this once...

Would it be a case of while the cats away the mice would play......?

She was replaced(if that's possible) by Axel from GoodGym HQ and after a brief warm up the 15 wonderful GoodGym people headed to St Leonard's church in Lexden.

We went through the Kings Meadow,then up Balkerne Hill(a chance to practice our hill technique),along Crouch Street and then along Lexden Road which I think is one of the best roads to run on in Colchester as you can get a decent pace up , has a nice wide path for a group to run on and is well lit.

We arrived at the task after a enjoyable run .We were ready for the evenings task of leaf clearing.

During the task there was the usual banter(some directed at Tommy but we all love you really Tommy!) and chat.We had Tommy running up and down the hill to empty the sacks of leaves,trying to get him to go quicker every time.

Everyone worked hard while we were there and in no time we'd made a massive improvement to the path leading up to the church.

The church in question is a special place for Angela & David as it's where they were married.

On a personal note it is for me too as my Dad's ashes are interred in the Garden of Rest at the back of the churchyard.

After the task we ran back to base via the same route we came on with different groups setting off at different times.

Well I same the same route as I understand Tommys group were briefly heading towards Stanway !

We all arrived back at base for the usual warm down .

Thank you to Axel for looking after us tonight.

Another excellent evening of GoodGym.Well done to everyone.

Looking forward to next Wednesday evening mafter which we will be having our monthly social at the New Inn.

Ian Bown

After a night of gardening and a 4K run didn't even know it was winter!!

St Catherines Church is a hidden away gem, a beautiful church that were grateful for some help maintaining their grounds. Well done to Andy and Ivo with keeping a good pace during the aftermath run, sight seeing the streets of Chiswick on our route back to base. We even got to see a work of art - please see photos!!

Chiswick Buzz joined us at St Michaels to get an insight into GoodGym and how we like to help the community. I will be sure to get the Link out to you guys when the article is released.

As we ran through the streets of Chiswick we found a house that had images projected on it. This form of art was refreshing and looked amazing. I recommend anyone in the area to take a look!! Heading back to base we finished up with some wonderful squats during our fitness session to ensure that cold wasn't getting to us!

Join us next week for another run and task !! Remember come rain or shine we are there!!!

Happy running, and I look forward to hearing from you soon!!

15 goodgymers run 10k delivering posters and fliers for CoHoC

This week we had a sequel. Like any good movie sequel, it was bigger, better, longer faster with more special effects. No seriously, the firework going off just as I got to the turning off Ipswich Road was really a special effect I hadn't bargained for!

Tonight we welcomed 6 new runners from the Emmaus community. Because of some task jiggling, what would have been a shorter run on the 2nd November actually became our longest run to date, but that didn't detract them, and there was the usual chatter and anticipation as we set off on our run.

Because it was a long run and relatively short task, the fitness session took place on the run, and Angela explained an uphill running technique at the base of Ipswich road which will become key for those planning on doing Colchester Half Marathon Sign up here

Ian was so excited about this new technique as it made running up Ipswich road a breeze, and he will definitely be using it going forward.

We got to The Crescent to deliver the posters, and unlike last week, some businesses were still open so we could go in and tell them about the Santa run as well. Once the posters were delivered, we said good bye to Sue and Helen, (as they had already run from Severall's to meet us at Leisure World - they did the run in reverse), and made our way back to Leisure world.

This time we ran via Mill Road and Northern Approach, and Angela managed to even include a jungle adventure detour on what most thought was a completely residential route.

We made our way back to Leisure World for a stretch and debrief, and Angela reminded the runners about the DBS Doc Check Party taking place at parkrun this week You must sign up if you intend for your docs to be checked.

Next week, we'll be returning for some Wombling for Rivercare - Sign up here - Make sure you bring your gloves and headtorches!

Run Report written by Angela Isherwood

4 awesome Greenwich runners ran over 5km to spread the word about the Big Bike Ride in aid of the Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice

Last night we were joined by Stacey who came on a few runs earlier in the year and is now back woohoo! Welcome back Stacie! It was lovely to meet you! We also had the lovely Simona back after a few weeks off and brilliant Ben and his head torch!

We did a little warm up and got going relatively quickly as we had a lot of leaflets to get through! Even if we were to only deliver half of them it would have been a success but we had quite a bit of time so I was hopeful! So we set off towards Maze Hill station. There is a good cluster of residential streets around there and the plan was to hit as many as possible in the 45 minutes we had. So off they went, running between each house.. AMAZING! Good interval training right there!

There were some pretty annoying post boxes. Those ones with the brushes in are a real pain and the ones really low down on the floor as well. Ben and I got stuck on the high side of the road for a good 5 minutes with each door having a flight of stairs leading up to it! What a workout! And then the houses with the gates... urgh! #postmanproblems.

After 15 minutes everyone's flyer pile was noticeably smaller, and the end was in sight! Just a few more houses to go! Simona struck gold with a block of flats with all of the postboxes on the outside.. Nice one! A few minutes later and they were all cleared! Amazing! We took a group photo and headed back for the fitness session.

Even though we were running and walking the whole time, it was at quite a nice chilled pace so we finished off by a little track workout! We did 5 sets of 30 seconds at 80-90% effort and 30 seconds rest in between and the idea was to run further round the track each time. We used the quad back at the college which made a pretty good makeshift track! This is a pretty hard workout but everyone absolute nailed it!

Really well done guys, hopefully the event will have lots of attendees now! Thanks so much for all your hard work and see you next week!

On a lovely Wednesday evening 23 GoodGymers ran between 4-10km, delivered leaflets and did some DIY.

Wow lots of newcomers to GoodGym, welcome to Kat, Lucy, Mara, Sylwia, Rosie and Frederic. Fantastic to have you along!

In the news this week:

1. GG monthly drinks, an opportunity for everyone from GoodGym to meet up, is on Thursday 6th October (Pritesh's birthday), sign up here
2. Well done to Danica who completed Richmond Half Marathon on Sunday in 1.59.29 - completing her sub-2 hour goal. Well done #proud.
3. Also well done to Steve Moody for doing Hull Marathon at the weekend, he is planning to do a marathon a month between now and April, amazing!

Our tasks this week were to help Abbey Community Centre spread the word of their amazing work through leafleting and doing some DIY for C4WS, a national homeless charity.

DIY Run Report:

After a game of tag we did a short run to C4WS led by the wonderful Sophie Hedges, arriving to find a cabinet and desk to put together.

Ikea!

With Ikea instructions, great minds, allen keys, and focused hands we were sure to complete the task. We lacked a little space in the room so five of us headed for a run around the block while the other 10 split into teams, with Polly in overall charge, putting the furniture together.

With a swap of DIYers and runners we were only getting closer to finishing the mammoth task. Boom the cabinet was first to be put together, after a group pic 10 people headed to Russell Square while five team members stayed to continue the finishing the job.

We've done the Good now for the GYM!

Intervals - this weeks fitness session was based around a PYRAMID, using time as our tool. It went something like this:

• 1 min fast
• 1 min slow
• 2 min fast
• 2 min slow
• 1 min fast
• 1 min slow

Everyone did very well and really smashed the fitness session!

Meanwhile the DIYers continued to put together the table, with Steve, Arnulfo and Polly staying until 8.45pm! #commitment #good

Leaflet report written by Pritesh:

Tonight I had seven hardy runners joining me on my favourite run up to Abbey Community Centre. It was a great little group and we kept a good pace (including the ‘stomp’ up Primrose Hill) and had some nice chats about what we’d been up to over the summer and various race plans for the winter too.

Tower Block Climb!

We weren’t sure if there’d been a ‘cock-up’ as we arrived at the community centre as there seemed to be no lights on but Laura was awaiting us and was just saving some energy. Tonight’s task was some leaflet distribution in two nearby tower blocks to let the residents know about the various upcoming activities at the community centre. We had a 102 flats in each tower block and so we split into two teams (“How about girls vs boys?”) and Laura then led us out to the blocks.

Girls vs boys

The girls took on ‘Casterbridge’ and the boys ‘Snowman’, yup there really is a Snowman House – we suggested Steve might want to consider a new place here so he could have the address ‘Steve Coman, Snowman…’ Both teams went hard at the task but in the end the boys prevailed and were first back to the community centre. The girls were not far behind and Laura then showed us the mural that has gone up (we whitewashed the walls on a previous task so great to see the outcome) in the kids playground. There was some discussion over whether the boys might’ve taken the lift but the evidence was inconclusive and so thoughts turned to the pun…with ‘Snowman’ and ‘Thomas Hardy’ as possible references we thought we’d be in for a jackpot… we came up with nothing!

Lemonades!

So with that we had a quick group pic and some goodbyes and then we headed back into the night. We naturally split into a fast and faster group and headed back home for a good stretch and then a few lemonades at the pub. Smashing night – thanks all.

Thank you as always for coming along, sign up for next week's run here.

PB out.

On a very hot & sweaty night, 12 intrepid runners made their way 11km to help out on the farm.

The promise of piglet viewing meant that most people weren't put off by running in the heat. We assembled at Old Spike, did a quick warm up of high knees, bum kicks and lunge twists and got on our way. It was a pretty pacey group as we avoided Rye Lane and made our way up into Rotherhide.

Michael and Helena led the way ensuring that everyone got there safely though

We were guided by the scent

As soon as we arrived, Gemma welcomed us by showing us how big the piglets had gotten since the last time we visited. They were still pretty cute even if they were disappointed when they realised the commotion was a load of runners and not dinner time.

This week, we were clearing the yard next to the goats. It's the area where all of the volunteers come in and the farm is going through the post-summer holidays quiet with few volunteers available.

Sweeping, shovelling and wheeling shhhh

We had the help of Roo the bottle fed goat who helpfully stood in swept piles of manure and let us say hello without head butting us. Together, we proved we really are the goat-to people to tidy up the farm!

Once we'd cleared the yard, there was time to see the new pig hut and say a quick hi-bye to the sheep. As ever, time was too short and we had to leave tearing runners away from the animals.

We knew what was in store for us... Another 6.5km back. But we triumphed and made it to Old Spike ready for a lot of water and to say Bon Voyage to GG regular Becky for 6 months as she goes off travelling. And a mini goodbye to our new-regulars (it's a thing) Hanna & Chris as they head off on an epic safari-hike adventure. And not forgetting Michael who's off on a birthday adventure. We'll miss you all.

Don't worry everyone else, we've got GoodGym to keep us going! Post run drink anyone? 28th September

22 GoodGymers ran between 4-7km, gardened for Sheltered Housing, worked the Skip Garden compost machine and litter picked!

Triple tasking, love it! Welcome to newcomer Caroline, it's great to have you along and awesome to meet you!

In the news this week:

• We said farewell to Lucia Gobbi, Coach Runner Rep and awesome GGer, who is off to Italy to learn how to be a Roman for 4 months. See you soon LG!
• Tonight is GG Monthly Drinks down in Brixton, there'll be International Pun of the Month, Heroes and Pritesh standing on a chair! Sign up here and see you there!

Right triple tasking means triple reporting, first up Litter Picking by PB:

After an active warm up with the entire group we split in three directions to do good and get fit in the wonderful Camden. Litter picking, as ever is important and helps keep our local parks and community areas cleaner and more welcoming. Seven of us headed over to the local Somers Town Park to do just that, getting into pairs we spread across the park and picked all the rubbish.

Beer bottles!

After 15 minutes of picking up bottles, cigarettes, cans, wrappers and more. With a surprise final weigh in Liv and Arnulfo were the winners. We then ran over to Skip Garden to meet the other group.

Skip Garden Run Report by Lucia Gobbi

Seven of us were greeted at the skip garden by the lovely Paul and given three jobs to do. One group quickly got to raking the gravel as gaps had started to appear and it needed some 'tlc'. The rest of us worked our arms at the compost machine. We turned and also sieved the compost coming out, it was warm and VERY fragrant! Mmmmmm....

Did it smell LG?

With the two task groups combined we headed to Granary Square to do a fitness session. It went something like this:

1. Socket to Pocket Technique session
2. Progression Running around the square
3. Drill & tag game - mountain climbers, squats and an amazing looking at the moon pose!
4. Monthly Time Trial!

Time Trial results:

3.14 - Sarah H 3.16 - Anthony 3.18 - Lucia 3.22 - Arnulfo 3.31 - Laura 3.39 - Damaris 3.53 - Becky 3.56 - Caroline 3.58 - Freya 4.10 - Sarah R

Sheltered Housing Run Report by Pritesh:

Eight of us headed up to Kentish Town, it really wasn't a night for running with it being very humid and hot. We had a two mile journey and were ably led by Chris. We arrived at Ashdown Crescent Sheltered Housing and there met Cathi, the Sheltered Housing Manager. She outlined the task, we had some leaf collecting, digging and pruning to do! We all split in to our groups and worked solidly for 30 minutes! The garden looked great and it was a really nice task. Before we left we were treated to some refreshments (shock horror - biscuits in C and learned all about the Sheltered Housing scheme which helps adults 65 and over who need some assistance but can still live on their own. It was really good to learn about who we were helping and we hope to come back and help out more! With that we headed back to base for a good stretch down!

Sign up for next week here.

PB out.