Four goodgymers met the Friends of Furnivall Gardens this morning - we all commented on how fortunate we had been with the weather today (which makes a change from recent weather at these monthly sessions!) Welcome to Uliana who joined us for her first goodgym group task.

There were two jobs:

1. Moving a sapling, which had been planted in the middle of a nice patch of green space, closer to the river

2. Scarifying and mulching around the base of one of the older trees

We split into 2 teams, with Uliana and Beth taking on the more manual task of digging the sapling up whilst Clare & Laura began scarifying.

Team sapling came up against many obstacles as they dug, finding bricks, an old milk bottle and some chunks of lead around the tree. Many passers by (including the 4-legged variety 🐶) stopped by to check out our handiwork and have a chat with us. Under the direction of Jane, we made good progress digging out the sapling. The real challenge was getting the supporting posts out of the ground, as these were set much deeper.

Over in the middle of the gardens, Clare and Laura first took off the top layer of turf surrounding the tree. Clare bode us farewell after some excellent scarifying work, so Laura took on the role of chief shoveler, filling the wheelbarrow with mulch to spread around the tree's base.

As Uliana and Beth were digging, they were approached by a passer by who inquired about the weekly goodgym group runs in Hammersmith and Fulham. This lovely passer by was in fact Elizabeth, a pre-pandemic H&F goodgymer. And, what an absolute hero - Elizabeth had a little time to spare before meeting some friends, so rolled up her sleeves and got stuck in! 👏

With the enthusiasm brought by Elizabeth, we managed to dig out a new hole for the sapling, and free the supporting posts from the sapling's original spot. A couple of planting attempts and a wide variety of tools were required to get it settled into its new home, but we did it!

We grabbed a quick group photo before Elizabeth and Uliana headed off, then Beth lent Laura a hand to finish mulching the tree. Excellent job this morning everyone! That's two very physical tasks completed - no doubt we will all be a little achy tomorrow. We will be back at Furnivall gardens the same time next month (the first Saturday, sign up here). Hopefully see you all again soon!

What a weekend it was! We had the biggest OCR group yet following the success of the Spartan Races. We managed to gather a big fun team that was full of life and ready for many of the challenges even though I know most did not trained for it.

We managed to adopt Serca who volunteered the day before by herself but quickly became acquainted with Alice, Jonathan and Kapil who invited her to run with us the following day. Now she is a believer of Goodgym after she told us she was afraid due to assuming we had a fitness criteria. We also had one of Callum’s friend join us as well as Rachel’s friend Gaia.

This was a 10 km course with 16 obstacles. The team took each challenge with a smile and bravery. The most challenging obstacles seemed to be the most fun one for some runners. Bouy Zone got attempted by all 17 of us but only 1 person made (It’s much tougher than it looks). Balancing on a plank of wood also seemed to be harder than expected (More core workouts will be needed after this). Our upper body strength was tested when it came to the 3 formidable. This Big tipper which was a yellow inflatable that would have the runners trying to jump over an awkward hump in the middle of this inflatable. This took quite a bit of grip strength. Up and Under had the runners trying to navigate over a pool of water with only some nets to hang on to. As you go over some nets you also have to go under some too. This was quite a technical challenge especially towards the end, but you can see that some people was not giving up, especially Alice who seemed to be hanging on for dear life. But team worked prevailed. The hanging tough was the one that people remembered from Gladiators and could do as a child but doing it as an adult is another story. Everyone tried it, not everyone made it but no got hurt. It was all smiles

Now the final obstacle was the travellator which was the finisher to our 10 km adventure. There were free speeds at an incline. 5mph, 4 mph, 3 mph and then reverse. We all tried to do the fastest one first, but it wasn’t to be for everyone. You can see many people have the ability to do it but there was a technique to trying to get onto the massive treadmill. With everyone making it to the top. We all took a triumphant dunk into the pool at the bottom of the slide. The end was insight and we did a triumphant GoodGym Chant to cross the finish line. As the day draws to an end, everyone seemed happy with the new people they have met, the challenges they took on and the support that they got. A big thank you and congratulations to everyone who turned up to Volunteer as well as Run. They day would not of been made without.

Welcome to the world of Obstacle course racing. Next one will either be the Spartan in October 5th and 6th or the Mordon rough Runner.

We had cake-off in H&F last night as 31 GoodGym'ers made a piece of cake of weeding and cleaning at Springvale Tenants Hall

It was our 3rd birthday celebrations in H&F last night which meant alongside our run and good deed for our community tonight there would also be three additions: cake, games, and well more cake! What made it extra special was that it was a record-breaking night in H&F with a massive 31 GoodGym'ers!

It was lovely to welcome along Joshua for his first H&F group run - you choose a good one to begin on! Thank you for coming along and lending a hand with all my wonderful regulars, and tourists from Wandsworth and Lewisham tonight!

With everyone donning one very fashionable party hat 🥳, or in Catriona’s case about four(!!) we headed outside for a quick round-up of this week’s news...

• Tomorrow (5th Sept) is the next GoodGym social at The Court on Tottenham Court Road, all details are here.
• GoodGym is turning 10! 🔟🎉 There's a big party at City Hall on Thursday 12th September and there will also be a BIG day of missions on Saturday 21st September - more details coming soon!
• New FREE Local Run Group - Meet at the Stable Yard in Holland Park at 5.45pm for a 6pm start 🕕. The Sept dates are as follows: Weds 4th, Thurs 12th, Weds 18th & Thurs 26th. Each run will be approx. 5-10kms. No sign-up is required, there is also bag storage ✅ & toilets ✅.

Three running 3️⃣🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

Before we headed off on our short run over to Springvale Tenants Hall we had a quick warm-up to get the pulses raising, after some exercises that tested everyone's co-ordination skills, we had a special honesty quiz on all things H&F. Some fun facts we all learnt was that this was our 175th group run, the 1st H&F group run was on 6th Sept 2016, there were 27 runners at the 1st run and 11 runners have celebrated their 50th good deed on a H&F group run (well I think it's 11!). For those that chose the incorrect answer there was the punishment of jumping jacks and squats.

After one final burst of fast feet we headed off towards our tasks tonight at Springvale Tenants Hall with Bex and Sarah backmarking. As it was a short run tonight we had a bit of fun on the way there as we looped back on ourselves through Brook Green to get in a few extra metres!

Weeds, three afraid, be very afraid!

When we arrived at the Hall we were greeted by the lovely Berni and Tom, and some very high and might weeds! With everyone in and gathered around Berni ran through the list of jobs for tonight:

• Weeding in the garden area between the path cracks 🌱
• Weeding and sweeping at the front of the hall 🧹
• Weeding and chopping of ivy outside the garden area ✂️
• Sweeping of leaves 🍂
• Removal of cobwebs 🕸️

There was lots for everyone to get stuck in to! And luckily tonight there were lots of hands to make light work of all the jobs.

The good knife

While we had a few of our favourite pointed weeding tools to help us weed between the lines, Berni also had the genius idea of using the cutlery knives from the kitchen. They were on point as they helped everyone to get to the roots of the weeds and it wasn't long before there were piles of weeds that had been removed from where they were very much not welcome!

Amazingly, the party hats remained on everyone's heads, with Catriona doing a particularly good Lisa Simpson/Garden Gnome impression and Chi rocking the alternative shoulder hat...

The powers that three declared that the weeds shall not path! 🛑

As ever, 40 minutes flew by and it was time to down tools and complete the final tidy-up. Phoebe and Joshua ensured absolute perfection on the front path before they joined the others inside for some treats that Berni had kindly provided to the group as a big thank you.

Check out the difference!!...

Before heading off we all gathered for some group photos infront of the red GoodGym t-shirt Berni has displayed up in the Hall next to a number of photos from our previous visits over the past year, what a lovely gesture!

We've never ab'd it so good!

Filled with the first round of treats we all gathered outside and headed off towards Brook Green for tonight's fitness session, With 'Mr Abs on Tour', Chi in attendance the group were treated to a hardcore 5-minute abs blast before a slightly more chilled game of 'plank the parcel' which essentially become 'squat & pass the parcel'...

There were sweets, challenges and cheesy party tunes galore as the two parcels made their way around the circle, with everyone seemingly picking on Mo and Catriona each time, and they definitely were not competitive in their plank off! An honourable draw!

As the nice light summer nights are now sadly behind us we ended the game very much in the dark, but with lots of amusement as we ended on none other than S Club Party! Well done to the winners, Catherine and Alice.

Cake the bit by your teeth 🧁

There wasn't much between the group and all the post-run cake celebrations. In what I think was record-quick time we made it back to base and were stretched off ready to either head to the pub, or home.

In the pub the celebrations continued with bakers Catherine, Bex, Tom and Jonathon all offering out fabulous cakes, naturally we all had to have a piece of each. The night was completed with some oops upside your head, retro polaroid snaps and flexed muscles! Most importantly, Alice ended the night with her favourite bottle from the Olympics, enjoy the apple goodness!

How to cake it in H&F 🎂

Thank you for an absolutely brilliant evening, and the most amazing array of delicious cakes that catered for all...Bake Off eat your heart out! Here's to the 4th year of getting fit and doing good in H&F! Thank you for your efforts each week and for making Tuesday my favourite night of the week.

AND...a big thank you to everyone who baked, bought party hats and helped with the fun and games.

Next week, the wonderful Ana is leading you to Flora Gardens to lend a hand with some painting, please sign up here. Have a lovely rest of your week and weekend! See you in a couple of weeks!

Another scorcher of an evening and the start of a new series of Bake Off didn't stop 26 runners at GoodGym H&F from turning out to run, sweat (lots!) and do good for their community tonight!

It was wonderful to welcome along Sophie and Ella for their first GoodGym H&F run - thank you for coming along, it was lovely to have you both involved tonight, hope you enjoyed it!

Sweat it be!

We slightly reluctantly left the nicely air conditioned Better Gym reception area and immediately were hit by the oven-esk 30 degree heat outside, this was going to be a warm and sweaty run! With sweat droplets already beginning to form we gathered outside for some special announcements and the weekly news round-up.

Today was extra special for two reasons:

1. Today was Eloise and Matt's last group run before their wedding (not weeding as autocorrect seems to think!) 👰🤵
2. It was Sarah's birthday! 🥳

Obviously both had to be celebrated in true H&F style; Eloise was presented with a veil, rosette and runners numbers 310819 (the date of the big day) for both herself and Matt #dogoodgetwed and Sarah a birthday rosette!

A reminder of this week's news:

• Next Tuesday it's our 3rd birthday! There will be cake and lots of post-run celebrations, please come along.
• Thursday 5th September is the next GoodGym social in Central London, all details are here.
• GoodGym is turning 10! There's a big party at City Hall on Thursday 12th September, please register here if you'd like to come along! There will also be a BIG day of missions on Saturday 21st September - more details coming soon.

Tonight's task was flyering for the wonderful charity Family Friends that offers parent befriending and child mentoring services in the three London Boroughs of H&F, Kensington and Brent. Next month they have some volunteer training planned so our aim tonight was to spread the word about Family Friends before next month's training all around Hammersmith tonight.

With everyone already feeling rather warm we completed a short warm-up and stretch before we split off into two groups and headed in opposite directions so we could cover as many shops, newsagents and supermarkets as possible in 45 minutes.

Catriona kindly led half the group along King Street and up Goldhawk Road while I led the other half of the group up Shepherd's Bush Road and along Goldhawk Road, with both groups splitting in two up the roads so as to cover the entire street!

In the pair tonight

Amazingly we all reconvened as planned at Ravenscourt Park bang on 8pm with all runners accounted for! With the weather not being sprint friendly the group were treated to some fun partner games and exercises. We started off with rock, paper, scissors in the press-up/plank position, after five rounds we tallied up the totals...no one won all five rounds but Mo did manage four! Next up were some high tens sit-ups, followed by some lean out squats back-to-back and some controlled holding squats.

A new back and field event!

The best was saved for last, BACKWARDS JUMPING!! An event we're sure will be included in next year's GoodGym Olympics after it's debut at Bristol last week, so we thought we'd get some secret practice in (hence why the video below is dark and blurred...)

With time ticking and the light quickly fading we called it a night and headed back to base where we had our cool down and stretch off. We also had our sweet-based treats handed over to us by Graham as a big thank you, and an array of cake and biscuit-based goodies to continue the celebrations and ensure we replenished our energy before we headed home.

Thank you for a fab evening all, great work getting so many leaflets distributed despite the heat. Next week we'll be celebrating our 3rd birthday and lending a hand at Springvale Tenants Residents Hall, please sign up here. Have a great rest of your week and weekend!

We've had a lot of balmy weather systems come through on Tuesday evenings recently, but luckily tonight we had the perfect conditions for a run. It was great to be met with lots of GoodGym'ers in their red and black tees at the Better Gym, and really lovely to welcome along Morwenna and Mable for their first GoodGym H&F run - thank you for coming along, hope you enjoyed it!

Before we headed off on tonight's run we headed outside to our makeshift warm-up spot and begun with the round-up of this week's news...

The weekly news 📰...

1. Big Half 2020 - There are a limited number of £10 community entries for the Big Half in London on Sunday 1st March 2020. If you are interested in a £10 place, please drop me an email (or see the details in the weekly fitness email that I know you all read 😉).
2. Rough Runner - at Finsbury Park, on Saturday 7th September where you can volunteer on the Saturday for a free place on the Sunday!
3. GoodGym turns 10! - GoodGym will soon celebrate being 10 years old! We want to know what GoodGym means to you and your community, please have a look at this link as we’d love to hear your story. There's also a big party in central London on Thursday 12th of September! - hopefully you've received the email with the link to register, please drop me an email if not.

Come flyer with me, come flyer come flyer away

For today's task we were going to be handing out flyers for the wonderful Age UK H&F. Nicely warmed up with some skips, side-to-sides and fast feet we headed off on our short run to down to their Activity Centre on Greyhound Road. As ever, we paused en route for the weekly wall sit, with many mumours of "it's actually getting easier" heard!

Johnny's got the key, he's got the secret...

We all arrived at the Activity Centre and Johnny pulled the keys out of his pocket to unlock the door and allow us to enter. As everyone gathered in the main room Johnny appeared with a big box of flyers, of course with biscuits placed carefully on top!

The AGE old question, how many leaflets can GoodGym H&F flyer in one go?

Johnny explained all the services that Age UK H&F offer for the over 50s, these range from home cooked meals to physical activity classes to IT classes, led by the man himself. Part of the programme Johnny is heading up is getting those in the community more IT literate, and one side of the leaflet promoted this service. The other side of the leaflet was a call for volunteers as at present, there are only 2 volunteers.

Leaf'let out

With the challenge of 2,000 leaflets and a map of the surrounding streets to target infront of the team we decided it would be most efficient to split into two smaller teams. One led by Lucy (after we confirmed it wasn't a competition!) and the other by Johnny.

Fully leafleted up we headed outside for a quick team photo before heading down and around the surrounding streets.

Baptism of flyer

We haven't done much flyering recently in H&F, but both teams implemented the efficient 'flyer chain' down all the streets with perfection. After 40 minutes of flyering had covered a substantial amount of the surrounding streets. As both teams regrouped and headed back to the Activity Centre we realised we were two red shirts down...where were Eloise and Sarah?! After a couple of calls, they were located safely back at the Activity Centre...obviously smart thinking to ensure they got a headstart on the biscuits before the biscuit man, Johnny!

The great flyer of H&F

As everyone placed their remaining leaflets back in the big box it was amazing to see lots of empty space due the number of flyers that were handed out by the team, as Johnny fantastically summed up "we've made a big dent on the box of flyers".

Once everyone had filled their boots with juice, water and biscuits we headed over to the green opposite for a quick fitness session.

The team had attracted a particularly friendly dog who enjoyed a quick game of fetch with Rob and Lucy. However, the dog was less keen to get involved with tonight's fitness challenge, the old favourite, Sally Squats! 3mins 25seconds of squatting, what's not to love?!

As always the team dug deep and triumphantly finished. With quads burning we called it a night and headed off on a gentle run back to base for a cool down and stretch off. Brillant work tonight all!

Special shout outs to...📢🙌🏼

• Lucy for her parkrun PB at Gunnersbury on Saturday - her second PB in a row!!
• Elizabeth for volunteered bright and early on Sunday morning at the PrideRun10k.

Well done both 😊.

Next week we've got a Two Task Tuesday and you'll have a choice of tasks: heading up to the Nubian Life Resource Centre to help out at their Josiah Braithwaite Community Garden - we'll be helping out with some weeding and sweeping of their pathways OR 2) Heading up to Groundwork to lend a hand with transferring bags of soil to their new wooden raised beds. Sign up here. Have a lovely rest of your week. Hopefully see you next week!