What a night in Wandsworth, with some great news and sunny skies for a task planting hundreds of bulbs at a local estate!

There's been some brilliant racing over the past weekend, including some trail running from Helen, Beth, John and Emily, and a half marathon PB from Morag! We also welcomed back our marathon runners - congratulations Lewis, Sam, Nicky and Phil!

We had a wonderful milestone to cheer, as James reached that magic 50 mark! Well done to excellent James for all the good deeds and miles covered - fantastic job!

It was lovely to welcome Henry to his first GoodGym run - give him a big cheer!

This Saturday sees the monthly long run. With a choice of 10k or 19k starting from either Brixton or Crystal Palace respectively, this is a good chance to get out and stretch your legs. No one, as ever, will be left behind. Sign up here for all the details.

Light bulb moments

During our warm up we talked about the best things that have happened to us over the past week. PBs, meeting puppies, good roast dinners, job interviews, successful missions, stag dos, wedding invites, good books and watching Beth roll down a hill - what a week it's been!

We took a quick run down to our task which was only a mile away, and found super organised Kambala Cares chairwoman Donna waiting for us. This non-profit organisation, run solely by volunteers who are committed to supporting the local community,helps with local problem solving, running projects, taking residents on day trips and events and providing the very best help and support for the community. It's a brilliant organisation that is really making a difference to local lives.

We divided up into four teams - three to plant bulbs in the various closes, and one to weed the main raised bed. With so many different bulbs to be planted - gladioli, tulips and many more - the beds are going to look incredible and make the estate even more welcoming when they bloom.

After 40 minutes of hard work, and a lot of 'is this a weed? I don't know!' the bulbs were in, the (hopefully) weeds were up, and our job for the night was done.

We ran the short way to a local green area and kicked off with a quick ball game to get our heart rates back up. The competition was to get each ball and your whole team to the end of the park and back - and in true GG form, it was a dead heat! We then moved on to pyramid sprints, which are a true toughy of speed work, but totally worth the pain for the results you can achieve. High intensity speed sessions increase anaerobic endurance, can help improve the efficiency of your stride, and changing paces helps you think about your running economy. It was great to see everybody pushing themselves - and we even got a sneak preview of the school garden we have been working on in previous GG sessions!

Next week we're back at the community garden we've been busy transforming from an unused and unwelcome space into somewhere the community can be proud of - sign up here. See you then!

With a massive new task ahead of us, 38 amazing GoodGymers turned up to run 4km and transform a neglected community garden!

And we also got to welcome new runners Mitzi, Julia and Anna - give them a cheer! It was also great to see visitors from other areas including Croydon, Barnet and of course our lovely central officers- a big Wandsworth welcome to you all!

We kicked off the night with a bumper news session. To recap:

Inspired by the London Marathon on Sunday? Ballot entry is now open! It's one of the best major marathons in the world, and if you're thinking about taking on the ultimate challenge, you've got nothing to lose by entering the ballot! Just going to leave the link here...

The 2019 GoodGym Olympics are fast approaching! If you haven't been before, this is a very fun day where every GoodGym area goes head to head to compete for the title! Events include track racing, the sack race, a baking competition and lots more. There's the chance to race competitively or just to have a lovely day out - so sign up here to help defend Wandsworth's silver medal position!

Interested in making a real difference in the life of somebody suffering from isolation in the local community? Coach running - where GoodGym pairs you up with an elderly person, 'your coach' - is a fantastic way to spend just a small amount of time which has a big impact on both your own wellbeing and that of the person you're visiting. If you've got any questions come and talk to me about it!

Well done to Oliver who took on the Dubrovnik Half Marathon at the weekend and still made it for the run last night!

Garden State

After all that chat, we headed outside to do a warm up and discuss the best superpowers to have - flying came up pretty high, as did mind reading, the ability to teletransport, speak any language and never to get a hangover!

We set off for our task at Doddington Activity Centre, which was 2 km away, at a good pace. This huge patch of land in the middle of Battersea has been shut for the past eight years, but the decision has been made to open it up again so it can be enjoyed by the community. This is a massive job as it has been so neglected over the years, but something for GoodGym really to get its teeth into! So while some of the group went off to collect the tools, the rest of us got ourselves ready for the job in hand with a few squats and lunges - what better way to prepare?

Getting Turfed Out!

As soon as the gates were open we got cracking with a list of jobs that included rolling up massive sections of old astroturf, sanding down benches, digging over soil, weeding, sweeping and generally making the place more welcoming. We have three weeks planned at this task, and it is going to be incredible seeing the place slowly transform into somewhere the community can be proud of! I'll save the before and after pictures until we're done - watch this space! Amazing efforts from everyone, well done gang.

After 40 minutes of hard work, we popped over to the local community centre to drop of the tools and do a quick fitness blast - unfortunately after all that fun hard work we didn't have much time left for a full on session (I could see you were devastated...!) but we still managed some bear planks, hollow holds, lunge kicks and inchworms. Nice work.

All that was left was to head back to the BAC, tackle that last hill, and stretch it out. It's bank holiday next week, but don't worry, you can still get your GoodGym fix! We're back at the garden for week two of the transformation, then we'll be doing some fun fitness games, and we'll even follow the session with a social at the local pub. What's not to love?! Sign up here. Until then, run happy everyone.

27 runners, 6 km, one massive skip full of junk - all for an incredible charity!

Lovely to see some new faces tonight - welcome to the group AJ, Timothy, Hamish and Jules! Give them all a big GG cheer.

We WILL be running next Monday as normal, but we won't have anywhere to store our bags as the BAC will be shut. So leave the bags at home next Monday and sign up for some Easter fun right here!

GoodGym will be doing a takeover at Fulham Palace parkrun on Saturday 29th June to celebrate their 300th run. There are loads of pacing and volunteering slots to fill, so sign up here for all the details and to choose your role!

Tonight's task was at Oasis play, an incredible hidden space that provides innovative and inclusive outdoor play and learning opportunities that enable disabled and non-disabled children and young people to lead happy, fulfilled lives and play positive roles in the community. The place is huge, and managed by a voluntary management committee. So, after a warm up where we discussed our favourite condiments ( sweet chilli came out top, with ketchup lagging surprisingly low with only three votes) we set off for the organisation.

David, who manages the site, was waiting for us there with a few jobs. The biggest was clearing an area of rubbish that needed moving so that a huge mural can be painted on the wall behind it all. So after managing to dismantle the fences we got straight to it, working together to clear and shift - team work makes the dream work!

Meanwhile, a smaller team had gone to the other site to help move more junk, and weeds and nettles were being cleared as well. It was amazing how much you guys got done in a short amount of time, in between playing on the swings, trampoline and spotting frogs and foxes! David was really pleased and said that the kids were going to be really excited when they saw it the next day, so a huge well done.

With the GoT deadline looming, we only had a short fitness session in the park next door, but it was still a tough one. Alternating three sets of core exercises and then sprints, we knocked out twists, dead bugs, plank walk-outs and much more, before heading back to the BAC for stretches - thank you Sophie!

We also enjoyed some fabulous cake courtesy of Sophie and Luke - thank you guys so much for the treats and of course the excellent singing too!

Sadly the kitchen was closed, so we have rescheduled our monthly post-run social to Monday 29th April - check out the sign up page for all the details.

Have a lovely week gang - run happy!

• Thanks to Beth for this week's pun! ;)