Storm Brendan made a bit of an unwelcome appearance at our run last night, but that didn't stop 30 slightly damp GoodGymers running 4km to a community garden to lend a hand.

• Welcome to the group Anna, Calanna, Becky and Emily - lovely to meet you all!

• January challenge update! We've still got along way to go, so we need to keep those missions, group runs and coach visits going. Check out where we are on the rankings here. Let's go, team!

*If you know of anybody who wants to join GoodGym but is a little nervous to come to a group run, or you simply want to do a bit of good on a Saturday morning, check out this starter session this weekend. All welcome for a big litter pick and circuits session.

After a warm up where as well as raising our heart rates and getting our systems warm and ready to run, we talked about the nicest things we had to eat over the weekend. Ikea meatballs, steak, vegan pizza, lobster (veganuary fail!), and cheese cheese cheese. Sounds like a weekend very well spent!

We took at gentle (wet) run for 2km down to the Venue community centre where we picked up some tools for our night's task. It was then just a short walk over to a local community garden which, before this summer, had been closed to the public for many years. We had previously helped local residents get it ready for opening, and our job for last night was to give it a bit of a spruce up.

With Brendan showing no signs of shoving off, we got stuck in to the jobs, which included clearing leaves, weeding, litter picking, cutting back ivy and sweeping. Half an hour of elbow grease later and the place was looking much tidier. Check out the photos to see the phenomenal number of bags of litter and leaves you cleared - great work!

We returned the tools to the Venue, got rid of the rubbish, and took a nice steady run back to base, stopping only for a few wall sits. The original plan to do hill reps was scrapped in favour of a nice inside abs blast session, so after a five minutes of intense core exercises and one plank, we were done for the evening. Well done everyone!

Next week the BAC is shut so I'm busy finding a one-off alternative starting point for us nearby. If you've got any ideas let me know - I'll keep you posted when we've got something sorted. You can sign up for what's going to be a cracking task at a children's adventure playground here. Have a lovely week, and until then, run happy!

A brilliant 36 runners met up tonight in Wandsworth to lend a hand at a local community garden, do an intense fitness session and get a run in - what better way to spend a Monday evening?

** Welcome to the group Mia, Bethany and Sandra - give them a cheer, GoodGym!**

• Don't forget to look out for the Fareshare, a food poverty charity, and GoodGym community missions like this one happening in Wimbledon

• Well done to Oliver for doing the Valencia half marathon, and to Emily and Stephen for getting out at the league races to cross country on Saturday. Great running!

• Lovely to see so many of you from different areas coming along to visit us in Wandsworth - everyone is always super welcome here!

After a warm up outside where we shared our middle names (except for the three of us who didn't have one...jealous!) we set of for Christchurch community garden. This space for local people has recently started to be looked after by a friends group. After some antisocial behaviour making it less than welcoming they wanted to make it a garden for everybody. Currently they have a big old leafy problem that needed some attention from GoodGym!

It was a short run down there so we took it at a good clip, stopping only to do some toe taps and one legged lunges on the way. We found Nigel, a memebr of the Friends group, waiting for us with tools, gloves and bin bags and we set to it.

After promising it wouldn't be too big a job I had to make my apologies, as it turned out to be a bigger task than anticipated, but essential as the leaves are stopping the grass and other plants growing as well as being a slippy hazard for people using the garden. We got stuck straight in piling the leaves into bags, raking, sweeping and using some interesting stick-based techniques. It worked though, and just half an hour later we had collected an impressive 53 bags! Many hands really do make light work....

After piling up the bags ready for collecting, we nipped over to the football pitches to do our work out, which tonight was tabata. This tough session is divided up into 20 second segments with 10 seconds recovery and is a very efficient workout in a short amount of time. We smashed out two rounds of 4 minutes, featuring power lunges and squats, mountain climbers, tuck jumps and more in cardio blasts. All that was left was a run back to base, that tough old hill, and a few stretches. Great work everybody! Next week we will be spreading the word about a free Christmas lunch for the elderly in Battersea so that as few people as possible are alone on the day itself. Until then, run happy!

Loads to celebrate last night, not least lots of great new faces joining us for their first run! Please give a big GoodGym cheer to:

• Vanessa, Tina and Alice

As always, we got the weekly news done before we set off for our evening task:

• We have a community mission coming up this weekend helping put away chairs and equipment after the community day in Tooting where all profits go to St George's hospital. Sign up here to help out.

• But the best news of the night came in the shape of a double 100 milestone - that's right, we have not one but two new GoodGym centurions! After clocking up 100 good deeds, many community organisations helped, and a huge number of kilometres run, it was three cheers for the lovely Helen and Emily. Give them a high five when you see them next for all the amazing effort and commitment they've put in!

Summer runnin', happened so fast

After all that great news, a warm up and a poll where we discussed our favourite things about London (the parks, food, pubs and people came out on top!) we headed down to the Venue Community Centre.

The Venue is a busy centre managed by Hadas which is home to amazing organisations like Waste Not Want Not - the first project in Battersea which collects surplus food from nearby markets and distributes it through the local area - and many other community projects such as intergenerational art and support for children and parents.

So after a 2km run down there we arrived to find Hadas with a list of jobs including composting boxes of unusable lettuces, sanding benches, litter picking the outside area, clearing the overgrown plants and transporting compost to the roof garden.

Getting stuck straight in, there was lots to talk about while we worked. The brilliant weekend GoodGymers had enjoyed at Love Trails and Night of the 10000m PBs, how brilliant the flash new litter pickers are that even manage to do cig butts and cocktail sticks, and why cherries are the most expensive soft fruit (something to do with them having to be dried if they get wet on the tree? This is being verified for next week's run!). We even had the newly patented 'lettuce train' - thanks to Viv for her bright idea to get the heavy boxes up to the roof garden!

After 45 minutes of hard work we waved goodbye to Hadas and set off for a local green space to do our fitness session, which this week focussed on alternating core conditioning with exercises to get our heart rates up. That way we got a tough all over workout, whilst getting some strength work in too. Nice work team, especially Emily who soldiered on with a helium balloon tied to her waist, and all of the rest of you who had a very vocal and very young audience 'supporting' you!

You all faced the hill head on on the way back, with every single one of you running all the way to the top, which was fantastic. Next week we're back for more fun and fitness. Go on, get yourself signed up!

It was a whopper of a night in Wandsworth last night, and good job too as we had a massive task!

Welcome to Marika, Ben, Ingrid, Emma, Emily, Chloe, Karen, Thomas, Izzy and Guy - give them a big cheer GoodGym!

We started the night with a round up of the week's news:

• Congratulations to all those runners and volunteers at the Hackney Half on Sunday!

• We have been invited by one of our task locations, Elay Networks, to their Ramadan Iftar on Friday. If you would like to go, check out the details and book your place here. Elay is an amazing organisation founded to provide a community support structure for young people and students at risk of exclusion from school, and not in employment, education or training.

• Plogolution is coming to Wandsworth. Fancy running (5k) or walking (2k) whilst picking up rubbish at the same time? Get that double endorphin hit of not only keeping fit but also making a massive difference at the same time. Everyone welcome, pop along and make some friends! Sign up here for all the details of these event on 8th June.

• A big welcome to Klara, who is the new trainer for GoodGym Exeter - spread the word about GG's newest area!

Next stop was to head outside for our warm up, which featured lots of dynamic moves designed to get our heart rates up, and a very quick survey to find out all the places we'd like to go that we haven't visited yet - New Zealand came up pretty high, as did anywhere hot and tropical, and even the moon. Better start saving those airmiles!

It was week three at our massive ongoing task last night, so we ran down to the Venue Community Centre to pick up our tools, then headed over to the Doddington Estate in Battersea. This huge space right in the middle of a big residential estate has been shut for many years, but we have been helping with the project to transform it into somewhere that can be opened up for the local people, is welcoming and safe for everybody.

The garden is already looking much better, but there is still a lot to do. So we got straight into weeding, clearing, pulling up astroturf and plastic, cutting back shrubs and ivy, scraping moss, litter picking, sweeping, and digging over. After 40 minutes of hard work, the garden was looking even better - there is still some stuff to do including painting benches and planting, so we'll be back in a couple of weeks to the last few jobs before the big opening. We even had Chi there taking some pretty amazing pictures to document our work!

So after returning the tools, we jogged over to a nearby green space to do a bit of a fitness session, which last night focused on a variety of unusual planks. Not only does a strong core improve your running posture and speed, but it increases stabilization in the torso, keeps you upright, reduces rocking and so lessens the energy you need to maintain form, and improves balance. For 30 seconds each we held bear, reverse, X, side, single leg and dip planks and gave our abs and proper good work out.

All that was left was to run back to base, tackle that last hill, and do some stretches kindly led by Klara. Great work everybody! Next week it's a bank holiday - but don't worry, you can still get your GoodGym fix! We'll be meeting at the BAC as normal, although there's nowhere to leave bags on this week only. Spend your day off doing good and getting fit - sign up here for all the details. See you there!