18 GoodGym'ers ran 5km to help the residents of Askham Court with some gardening work

The Sahara air and 30 degree temperatures didn't stop 17 wonderful GoodGym'ers joining me to do good in Costa del H&F tonight. With many (myself included!) arriving in the Better Gym reception area already hot and sweaty despite no running as yet, we were filled with slight trepidation as to just how hot and sweaty tonight's run would be! As the clock struck 7pm we headed out from the nicely air conditioned building for our weekly news round-up...

The weekly news 📰...what's hot to like?

1. Community Mission - Wednesday 24th July from 5pm - help move furniture for the Barons Court Project, please sign up here.
2. Morden Hall 10K - Sunday 28th July at 8.30am - the monthly FREE 10km trail run. Click here for all the details.
3. London City Relay - Sunday 28th July at 4.15pm - the finale party, a 5km run to conclude the epic 3,837 mile journey for The Running Charity. To join in, click here.

We also welcomed along GoodGym Newham tourist, Mary - lovely to have you along tonight, hope you enjoyed it" And there was also much amusement at Lucy's not so phantom Gunnersbury parkrun 'bum pincher'!

Hot to trot 🥵

With everyone already feeling rather warm we completed a short warm-up and stretch before we headed off on our run up to Askham Court at a relaxed, but slightly quicker than 'party pace'. Many welcomed the half-way pause for our weekly wall sit as it meant a nice little breather from the running and a chance to clear the sweat droplets from foreheads and eyes!

Thirst aid 🚰

Despite a couple of brief pauses waiting for traffic lights to turn red it wasn't long before we arrived at Askham Court, all very hot and sweaty, with many of us sporting red faces that perfectly matched out GoodGym tees. The first thing we all spotted was a couple of garden hoses that looked rather appealing and cooling, one of which was armed by Chi. Lucy took full advantage of this cooling method and with her full consent 😉 was gladly doused in water.

Kumaran and June, both members of the Resident Club welcomed the group and kindly offered the team some much needed thirst clenching liquids. Johnny and Jonathan had barely stepped foot in the garden before they set to work completing one of tonight's jobs which was to turn the gazebo on the patioed area round so that Kumaran could continue his marvellous paving work - one job completed in record-quick time!

Once everyone's thirst had been clenched the group didn't waste any time in setting to work, with everyone gloved up and armed with a tool/weapon of choice from the shopping trolley ready to tackle the weeds in the garden beds.

Keep your hose clean 💦

As Chi and Mo took it in turns to water the garden (and their fellow GoodGym'ers) the rest of the group got stuck into the large flowerbeds removing the weeds and unwanted plants - anything that hadn't been marked out with a stick by June needed removing!

Sarah was overjoyed to be reunited with her beloved bags and did a sterling job holding them open sturdily (a bag pro!) as everyone placed their piles of weeds inside.

While Andrew and Jonathan began pulling out and bagging handfuls of the never ending bindweed, Bex did a very David and Goliath job on one very small weed, removing it with one overly large fork!

In a short space of time there was a marked difference from when the team had arrived, and Kumaran was full of praise for everyone - he has a bad back so really appreciated the extra helping hands.

30 mins x 17 runners = 8.5 hours of gardening work completed! Impressive work team!

What Roman numeral can climb the fence?.....IV! 🧗🌱

The final job tonight was to remove all the climbing ivy from the fence. Using their sheer brut strength, Matt, Andrew, Mary and Jonathan made light work of pulling down all the ivy to ensure the fence was now ivy-free!

All that was left to do was to put the gloves and tools away, take a chocolate kindly provided by Kumaran as a thank you, and pose for the team photo in-front of the fence and the team's hard work. Another set of jobs well done by the team 😊.

Feeling chop, chop, chop! 🎶

Before we headed off another of the residents, Mirko was excited to show us an area of the garden that we helped transform last year - for those that don't remember the task, think lots of chopping and machete action on bindweed...

Diving into the run report photo archives I found a few photos which really show the striking transformation, well done team!

We said our final goodbyes to the June, Kumaran and Mirko, and regrouped outside before we headed off on our run back to base for a thorough stretch and cool down (the latter, debatable!) before heading our separate ways for dinner and a cooling shower. Excellent work in the heat this evening team!

Special shout outs to...📢🙌🏼

• Catriona for completing her 50th parkrun in Telford at the weekend - an amazing 250km completed! Well done!
• Lucy, Katie, Jonny, Matt and Eloise on their London Relay 10km stages
• All those who volunteered bright and early on Sunday morning to operate Water Aid Station 3.2 at the ASICS 10K. Some fabulous cup stacking and water filling action!

Next week we've got a short run up to Loris Community Garden to help weed and sand their path, and spruce up their garden area. Sign up here.

Don't forget it's Johnny's 200th parkrun on Saturday in Kingston, it would be lovely if you could join him, you may even get a pinch of speed on your way round! Have a lovely rest of your week and weekend - remember to stay hydrated out on your runs (and in general!). See you next week!