Last night GoodGym Wandsworth started off the week with a record number of runners, a whole group of lovely new faces, some ace dance moves, a squat competition in the rain and lots and lots of delicious CAKE.

If Carlsberg did Monday nights….

It all began as usual at the BAC, where we started off snug and dry. Little did we know what was about to happen, but more on that later. We had some excellent new runners to say hello to – welcome to the team Judith, Hanna, Lizzie, Samantha, Sean and Ella. Thumbs up too to Deepak who joined us from Southwark for the evening, way to go! It was red laces for Alicia and Lizzie for being excellent GG recruiters.

Then we had some big ol’ well dones. Deep breath! Here goes: congrats to Sarah and Matthew for a great Mile End park run, to Tom for nice even park run pacing, to Sean for doing the Clapham Common Rabble games and still making it to a group run the next day, to Helen and Vicki for smashing the Winter 10k run on Sunday and joining us for a (not short) run last night, to Roshan for organising what sounds like the pub run to end all pub runs (more details coming soon!), to David Mathieson for dong the most good deeds, to Jack and Luke for running the greatest distance, to Matthew for supporting others by giving the most cheers, and to Sophie and Jack for getting the most cheers. What an amazing bunch of people you are!

After a quick CoRUNdrum – which is the largest borough by area? (Clue: it’s home to GG’s newest group) we set off…straight into heavy rain that pelted us without stop for the rest of the night. David led us down to the lovely Wendelsworth Community Gardens (with Will taking the corners) where we said hello to our GG tree, and then set about moving heavy paving slabs, bagging up wood chippings, and taking down flyers. It was a supertough work out for the slab-shifters who managed to transport the whole lot on a series of trolleys – even fashioning a ramp to make it easier (way to go Kylee). Team Flyer flew from building to building letting nothing get in their way, while in the wood chipping corner Roshan sung beautifully to us while Jim showed off his legendary dance moves.

It was too wet and too cold for a full-on fitness session, but we managed a mini one. Maximising on time and space we did a short stint of HIT, busting out power squats, power lunges and high knees. We even managed to fit in a squat hold competition which saw Tom, Jordan, and Deepak battle it out – with Deepak emerging as the supreme squatter. Good work everyone!

It was a soggy old run back to the BAC, but totally worth it for the surprise treats that were waiting for us when we got back. A massive thank you to Sophie, Vicki and Jack for spoiling us – Sophie with extraordinary banoffee pie (so good it saw somebody who shall remain nameless licking the dish), Vicki for a delicious and well-named Victoria sponge (much like the girl herself) and to Jack for bringing us back some amazing sweet pastries and nibbles all the way from sunny Malaysia. Such sugary goodness!

Well done everybody for powering through the rain. Wandsworth is a better place because of you all. For more (less damp) GG fun, sign up for next week’s run here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/doing-good-and-getting-fit