It was the very last GoodGym group run of the year last night in Hounslow, where four runners met at the stately Chiswick Town Hall to see off 2016 by making the borough a better place to live and smashing a huge fitness session.

We said hello to founding member Olivia, who came to the very first Hounslow run back in at the beginning of November , cheered Wandsworth visitor Matthew who'd come to see us for the evening, and welcomed local resident Mark, who, with a half iron man under his belt is sure to be a great member of the team!

With a short burst of Indian file running followed by some dynamic warm ups exercises, our heart rate was up and we were ready to start our task for the evening. Friends of Turnham Green are supporters of GoodGym Hounslow, and we've done quite a bit of work for them in the past making sure that the much-used green space in the middle of Chiswick is a nice place to be. This week we grabbed bin bags and gloves and cleared the park of litter. We met with a few curious bystanders, and one extremely friendly golden retriever, all whilst spying on the Bikram yoga class going on across the road.

When the park was clear, we moved on to our fitness session - and tonight's was a tough one. To begin with we worked on some technical drills focusing on positive backwards arm drive, agility, and posture. We found out Olivia has ace balance, even managing to stay steady on one leg with her eyes closed. Way to go! Then came the sprints - four sessions of working up to maximum velocity - before a series of conditioning exercises split up with short bursts of running. There was some fantastic sprinting from Mark, and Matthew smashed out a very relaxed plank.

After a few stretches, we wrapped up the session, but not before making a plans for 2017. The lovely trainer Gemma will be back to lead the first run of the year on the 4th January, and there are lots of great tasks coming up. Don't miss out!

Happy holidays, keep running, and get ready for a great year ahead at Hounslow GG!