Monday is fun day and means only one thing...... GoodGym Brent of course!!

On a significant night in the GG Brent calendar (Coach Ellie's last run for a month!!), the group collected on a drizzly and muggy Monday eve, in the midst of this Great British summer.

Housekeeping welcomed one new face, the delightful Darren, who despite his best efforts to mask it, nearly fainted when he heard he'd turned up to the bi-monthly "Long Run" session.

"I've never run that far before" Darren gulped, "You'll be fine, there's lots of traffic lights" Coach Ellie explained with a wink.

Wembley, seemed far away, but the team assured Darren, it was a meer hop skip and a jump over the north circular, then just 3 and smidge and you're there.......Not going into great detail of course about the smidge or the journey back either!!!

With the nerves beginning to semi calm down, the group prepared for set off, feeling pumped and excited to be Branching out further in the borough...... (Pun will make far more sense when you see what the task was...LOL)

Setting off the pace was tight Rasi, Dan and Claire pushing up the front and Ellie with Darren not far behind. Soon enough Darren's full tracksuit, including leather shoulder patches, became the most fashionable live-in sauna you've ever seen. Like a boxer shedding pounds for weigh-in, he began shrinking before our very eyes!! To counter this, Darren ran with a full 2 litre water and you'd better believe that thing was empty by the end!

Arriving at our destination we were greeted by the awesome crew at 3rd Wembley Scout Hut, including the gorgeous Reggie... Ellie was in love........ Reggie is a dog BTW. Straight away, Jay showed us the task at hand, but not before kindly providing the team with jugs of squash and water, what a champ.

As we filtered outside the mission was clear, chop down the dead tree branches and vines (See I told you it would make sense), to clear a space for Scout Summer camping!! What better cause is there than that! The team began sawing and chopping, feeling very strong and powerful in the wake of our destruction. We also had to uproot some stubborn bulbs that had mutated into concrete blocks in the earth. Unyielding and fierce, Sadhana and Dan began the great fight with grit and determination.

After working up a sweat for a good 40minutes, time was up and our work here was done. Bidding farewell to our fantastic hosts we hit the road again for the journey back. With sprints and hill drives thrown into the mix, the team pushed their bodies to the max and motivated their way back to the home stretch.

One last hill to finish, on - Out-of-Puffington Road and a raucous cheer for Darren as he thrashed out the last of the 7mile journey, not really believing what he had just achieved with the help of a few Good-Gym Friends.

Never one to miss a celebration - Pritesh arrived yay!!!! After cycling 10miles and stopping into his cousins for a slice of lasagne - as you do!! It must of been a bloody good lasagne.

With Garfield, I mean Pritesh now in tow, we set to work at the final task of the evening........ A trip to the pub, finally Ellie's first time and to think Bodil wasn't here to witness it!!!

The drizzle had cleared and the mild evening beckoned a team gathering in the outdoor beer garden for one last toast - To Coach Ellie and to wish her well on her trip to Malaysia. Laughs and revelations and a few more laughs, a fabulous team, a brilliant night and one hell of a send off!

Until next time....

DO GOOD. FELL GOOD. INSPIRE

Run Report brought to you by Claire Thomson AKA Clairey-bell

No need for introductions on this first Brent Monday in July, all six runners were GG regulars, sporting bare legs and summer attire, raring to go.

Once we got caught up about our activities since we last saw each other - which included Glasto, a big family wedding and a stag weekend in Dan´s case, and a Pug Society Convention in Ellie´s case - you can´t say we don´t have varied interests in Brent!!!

Then we were off for this week´s task of sprucing up the surroundings of the Harlesden Methodist Church.

We set off, following our noses - because that usually seems to work! But not this time... Someone had rearranged the streets of Harlesden since our previous visit, no electronic device was up to the task of directing us to where we needed to be so we did some stretches on the pavement whilst we scanned the horizon for clues to tell us where the church might be...

There was nothing else for it, before panic descended, Ellie asked a passer by, who told us that the church was in completely the opposite direction that we had been running!! Whoops - and also on the opposite side of the road to what we expected?!?!? We plan to petition to the council to get them to put Harlesden back to the way it was!! And also - Tip number one - never trust google-maps when your phone gets too hot in the heat!!

Eventually the last leg of the journey was in sight and sighing with relief after successfully locating the church, Marcia greeted us. Unfortunately what we were met with was some bad news............... - There was no thingy to connect the hose to the jet washer, uurgh! No water fights tonight, BOOOOOO.

Undefeated, we set to work cleaning the front of the church with paper towels and soundtrack of Michael Jackson, leaving a community of spiders homeless and ourselves covered in a layer of cobwebs. Coralie and Isabelle bagged an impressive bag and a half of litter with the help of a grabbing stick, and Sadhana got busy sweeping up the paving.

30 minutes shot by, and no sooner had we finished the task than we were feeling the burn in our calves as Ellie taught us how to strengthen them with the help of the steps outside the church. Calf raises to failure were just the ticket, now with legs this sexy looking, they should be il-leg-al

Almost back to base, we stopped to do some quick drills and work on our running technique to slash seconds off our personal bests - great for Catherine and Sadana who are signed up for races in the near future. A quick sprint up the infamous (out of p)Uffington Road giving it 80% and we were back to base and doing some final stretches before heading off home, till next week...

Bw, Claire xxx