Big bags, Zigzags and Wig gags

Two tasks this week, so two reports

The first from Shaun's Hair:

Shaun was away this week and Simon was a bit concerned about filling his boots, so an attempt to grow a new Shaun was undertaken. On reflection top genetics labs probably don't advertise in the local Guardian under the heading "Earn £400 per day from your own home". This oversight meant that the results were less than expected and instead of a Shaun Clone we ended up with just his hair. And to be honest, that looked more like Brian May's.

Anyway, this little wig gag backfired when Beth promised that if Simon wore the wig all night she would donate £10 to comic relief. Then Sarah suggested that he wear it to the pub and she would donate another £5. Sigh!

A brief introduction, during which we welcomed newcomers Stefan, John and Jackie and it was task time.

Those of us with big bags were ready to tackle the "nutters' task". See Pritesh's report below for details.

The rest of us did a few drills that were totally inappropriate for somebody with a gigantic perm and then jogged off to St Mary's Flats where we met Lee who had a few jobs for us. We set to work wheelbarrowing a pile of chippings to lay in a front garden, raking bits and pieces, collecting discarded cigarette butts, so many cigarette butts, having a bit of a sweep and a general tidy up. Thanks to large numbers and hard work we finished super quickly so headed over to Russel Square to get some extra training in.

First off was the continuous relay. Five GoodGymmers to each of three corners (while injured Ax cheered on). No real structure - just run until you get to somebody else and then they can run - but a good workout. We dodged dogs and did our best to de-grump pedestrians while working up a bit of a sweat for ten minutes.

Time for some fun and games next and the opportunity to zigzag around a bit with a game of tag. Too much heat to the brain meant Simon had gone mad and started chasing everybody around. Luckily the penalty for getting caught was not having your brains eaten, but rather walking/jogging a "penalty lap" around an imaginary square. It's hard work being a zombie, so Steve and Collins were converted and joined in with the chase. But "oh no", just like in pacman the tables turned and everybody started chasing them instead. A few high-pitched squeals later we were finished.

Still 5 minutes left before we needed to head back, so we decided to smash out a quick lap of the square. 3, 2, 1, go and off we went again. A tough night of running and exercise, but our Strava maps will look very interesting.

We jogged back for a stretch and got stuck into some sandwiches offered by Bob and some dried fruit from Urban Fruits, said goodnight and it was off to the boozer for the thirstier members.

What happened to the wig? Well, it was worn in the pub, but there was a little accident when Ax spilled some Bordeaux on it while re-enacting a scene from Les Sucettes. Simon wore it home and something strange began to happen to him. We can only imagine what effect this will have on GoodGym Camden. Find out next week

Sibriaun

p.s. I can't believe so many of you are falling for this

---

And the second report from Pritesh:

Strange things were afoot this week at GG Camden, we were told Simon from GG Islington would be covering for Shaun while he was off (who signed that off?!) but instead rock and astrophysics legend Brian May turned up! We weren't deterred and 'Brian' did a great job giving us the lowdown on GoodGym, welcoming some newcomers and explaining the tasks.

With our group 'going long' we set off quite promptly and headed over to the compost hub over at Alara Foods compost cam!. Thirteen of us had decided to brave running with heavy bags and doing a total of 11km and we set off at an easy pace to the compost hub. There we filled up our bags, with Will Dowsett, looking great in his 100 good deeds t-shirt (congrats Will!), using a sign as a make shift spade and getting everyone loaded and ready for the run.

We then set off for the long run to Kilburn, taking a route along the canal and then up through the busy streets of Camden Town and Chalk Farm. Everyone did a great job, despite a fairly good pace (sorry everyone) and in no time we had made our way to the community centre. Unfortunately the lovely Laura was unable to meet us this time but we left our many bags of compost in the centre and were soon ready to head back to base.

Having already run a fair distance with heavy bags I decided that what we all deserved was the wonderful view from the summit of Primrose Hill and so we pumped up the legs and headed back to Somers Town via Primrose Hill before another week of 'impromptu' drinks!

A great night, a great task and a wonderful bunch of GoodGymers (including Jackie and John on their first ever run!) working really really hard and having a great time. Thank guys, you made my evening!

Pritesh

p.s. For those that did the task a few weeks back here's a thank you message from the Abbey Community Centre -- http://goo.gl/cEjL7R