30 GoodGym Runners ran between 5 and 7k to help three projects!

On the final week of Paul's absence we had Pritesh in charge. Twenty-nine lovely runners joined him to help out at the American International Church as we made beds for the last time this season; Ashdown Crescent Sheltered Housing where we had three tasks for the residents and St Luke's Community Centre in (whisper it) Islington, where we helped with final preparations for the community garden there.

This evening we welcomed Estelle, Krista and Rebecca for the first time - thanks for coming along!

Thirty runners, three tasks, 2 boroughs, 1 GG Camden

Big thank you to our Run Leaders - Polly and Frances, and our Task Force members - Chris and Jess for their help on the night and with the tasks!

Here are the reports from our tasks tonight:

American International Church from Pritesh

Eleven of us headed the short distance to our final time helping out C4WS Camden. We had around 15 beds to make and we got them done in less than 10 minutes! All of the volunteers at the church were very grateful and thanked us for our endeavours over the last three months! It's been a great task to do and we know we have made a big difference here! After that we headed over to Granary Square for some 'out and backs'. We worked everyone hard by adding some exercises after the fast runs out but everyone pushed themselves hard! After that we had a gentle run back to base and finished off with some good stretches.

St Luke's Community Centre from Frances

Eight runners went along for our third visit to St Luke’s community centre. On previous visits, alongside those from GG Islington, we’ve filled the planters with soil ready to turn into a lovely community garden. This is now nearing completion, with lots of plants out ready to be planted. Our job for tonight was to add a bit more soil to one of the larger planters and give it a good mix, as well as to move a few bags of compost around to the planters ready for use. With the job done, we headed back to base to meet the others. We’re looking forward to seeing the finished garden soon!

Ashdown Crescent Sheltered Housing from Jess

Eleven runners headed with run leader Polly to do some gardening at a sheltered housing block. We were met by Nigel, who explained that the garden is enjoyed by the block's vulnerable and elderly residents, but they need some help to keep it nice.

One team transformed a small private garden, ripping out the weeds from between paving stones and tidying the flower bed. The classic Goodgym game of 'is it a weed or is it a plant' was made more challenging by the fact they were doing it in the dark. We're looking forward to the evenings getting lighter soon!

Another group were tasked with planting some pampas grasses in the big flower bed that we've worked on in previous visits. When we first came last year it was a bare, rocky patch. After lots of digging, planting and bark spreading, it's full of colour and texture, with lots of plants and spring flowers, including some lovely daffodils. Much better!

The final group headed to the roof terrace, pulling up hundreds of weeds and keeping warm with some vigorous sweeping of leaves and moss. As time ticked away, everyone came up to join them, getting stuck in to clear the area so that residents can sit out there when the weather gets nicer.

All too soon it was time to head back, so after a quick photo opp, we ran back to the Living Centre, with Polly keeping us warm along the way with star jumps and jump squats whenever we stopped at traffic lights.

With everyone safely back and warmed down and stretched a few of us headed to the local public house and had a few well deserved drinks.

News Update

Just a quick recap on the news items from this week:

• GoodGym RaceTeam Monthly time trial is this Sunday 26th March at 10.30 am. All the details here

• The next monthly social will be on the 6th April - details to come!

• The inaugural GoodGym Olympics are on the 10th June! This will be amazing, it's being held at the Parliament Hill Athletics track and will be followed by June's monthly social. More importantly we need to design a GG Camden flag so get your creative hats on now!

That's all from me, PB will be back next week - we are hopeful we'll be at Southbank but sign up and keep an eye on twitter for details!

Thanks - Pritesh