Nine runners, five kilometres, three jobs, one happy Wednesday evening!

• Loaaaads of news for you this week. Up for a community mission this weekend? You don't need to be DBS checked for this one. Come and help paint an at-risk scout hut in Putney on Sunday. For all the details sign up here.

• GoodGym is changing the way missions to help older people with one-off practical tasks are set up. Missions will now be listed on the GoodGym website with a description of the task, location and a selection of times. Don't forget to set up your mission preferences to receive mission alerts based on your location and availability.

• It's the GoodGym monthly long run this sunday! With two different pace groups, a lovely 15k route, and the promise of food and drinks to refuel afterwards, if you're in training for something specific, or you just want to get some miles under your belt, then sign up here.

• A huge congratulations to Fiona who smashed the Hampton Court half this weekend, and to Andy who got a PB at parkrun. Lovely running you guys!

Broom for improvement

After a warm up featuring heel flicks, high knees, hip flexor stretches and skips, we had a quick chat about the tips we would give a newcomer to London. With the vast majority featuring travel hacks, such as checking out the real distances between tube stops, making sure you're in the right spot for the tube doors to open, working outside of London, and cycling rather than tube or bussing, we certainly know our way round the capital!

It was a 2.4 km run down to Waterman's, so we set off at a nice steady pace keeping the group together and stopping for a breather at the world's worst set of traffic lights (or best...depending on how much you wanted a break from the running!). Our job was at this independent arts charity whose aim is to enrich local lives through art and creativity. It is a social enterprise so all profits are ploughed back into the organisation to help it achieve its aim. It costs a lot to run the building though, so they asked us to come and do a few jobs around the centre to help out.

After arriving we split up into three groups to tackle the various tasks. So, armed with tools and gloves, Natasha, Emily and Fiona hit the top deck to weed the welcome area, Remy, Andy and Jon took on the riverside space, and Eloise and Matt tackled the overgrown shrubs and bushes in the carpark. After half an hour of hard work the centre was looking a lot tidier, so well done on some tremendous efforts.

We took a slightly speedier run back to base, and arriving near the town hall to find we were just 400m short of 5km, we decided to do a quick speed drill. So dividing up into pairs, we took on a circuit of the common with a gear change half way. Then it was just a little jog back to the hall with a nice 5km done for the evening. The fun wasn't over there though as we still had our plank blast to do! Changing between various planks which we held for 30 seconds at a time, we knocked out five minutes of tough ab exercises - and as we know, a strong core is essential for good running form and to prevent injury.

Next week we're off to Cultivate London, an urban farm and social enterprise in West London which trains unemployed young people in horticulture and transforms disused space into plant nurseries. It's going to be a good one! Sign up here for all the Wednesday fun.

With no threat of snow and a new task ahead of us, it was 12 joyful GoodGym runners who met up in Chiswick last night to spend their Wednesday night adding purpose to their run.

*Newsflash!

With no fewer than 83,954km in January, equivalent to running twice around the world, and over 6000 good deeds, it was the biggest month in GoodGym history. Well done for being part of it!

Tonight is the monthly GoodGym social - this is a chance for all the GG areas to get together, hear all the good stuff people have been doing, and decide on the pun of the month winner. Sign up here for all the details.

Chi popped by to tall us about an exciting event coming up. Want to spend Early May Bank Holiday weekend doing something to challenge yourself? Then the Spartan race is the answer! Chi is organising a weekend away where if you volunteer for one shift in exchange you will receive a FREE race pass - check it out here. He will also be putting on a series of fitness session to get you ready for it in advance - all welcome!

*Hooray for Hump Day!

We had a new task to do last night at the lovely Hogarth Community Centre. This centre is a registered charity set up for the young people of Chiswick and surrounding areas and offering sessions and services for the whole family, holiday programmes, trips and other opportunities for young people. They have an outside space for the kids to enjoy, but it needed a bit of a clean up.

So after a warm up outside where we also discussed the best things to do on a Saturday - coach visits, brunch, running, wine - we set off. Now, the centre is just round the corner as the crow flies, but we decided to add a bit extra onto the journey so we could get a little run in first. However, this also meant a bit of back and forthing trying to find the entrance. Still, it all clocks up on Strava! Eventually we found where we were meant to be, and were meant by the excellent Dragon, who took us to the playground.

Here we found bin liners, brooms and tools waiting for us, so we got stuck straight in to sweeping, weeding, clearing and tidying. After half an hour of hard work, the playground was looking much better (sorry, forgot to take a before and after shot...as usual!), weed-free and very neat indeed.

Time for fitness. This particular workout was enhanced by the introduction of a couple of balls, which we used to practice our stability and strengthen the muscles round our knees and hips. The lack of light did make it a bit of a challenge, as if it wasn't enough of one already. Then we divided up into teams to play various games, including who could get their whole group into the safe zone first and plank and squat waterfalls where the Green Team were crowned champions of Wednesday night. After a short but intense leg blast, we headed back (directly this time, to avoid any confusion) and finished off the night with some stretches. Next week we are taking on the box hedge challenge - for all the exciting details and to sign up click here.

The weekly news roundup

It was less a news roundup than a celebration of all the brilliant running and volunteering team Hounslow had been doing this week, which is pretty marvellous. So, ladies and gents, please put your hands together for Luis, who before joining GoodGym hadn't run 5k, and last weekend raced his very first half marathon! That is some amazing progress Luis, well done!

Running with Luis in the Hertfordshire half marathon were fellow Hounslow GoodGymers, the unstoppable Michelle, Andy and Remy. Absolutely cracking work gang.

Well done also to Amanda who came along bright and early to volunteer at the Tooting parkrun takeover on Saturday when we turned the common GoodGym red!

But we were so sad to say goodbye to Andreea and Ross - you've been an amazing part of the team guys! There's no escaping us really - not only is there a wonderful GG in Bath and Bristol, but if you're back in London on Wednesday make sure you come and see us!

Frosty welcomes

Tonight's task was for a brand new charity called That's A Wrap, based in Hounslow. They plan to bring residents together in support of local causes through community collections and events. In mid November, they launched their first project - a 2000 toy appeal for a number of local charities that support disadvantaged children in the area and have already been inundated with requests from local charities. They approached us asking for help raising toys through spreading the word about their appeal by leafleting in the local area.

We were met at the Town Hall by the lovely Saba and Ibrahim, who told us all about the project, and let us know how we could help with the wrapping later on this month. Now, doing the leaflet thing isn't everybody's fav GoodGym task, but it's a job that can really save the charity time and money. So after a much needed warm up, we had our weekly question - which this evening was; 'what job would you be terrible at?' Turns out we would be lousy at being a sports coach, writing, being a doctor and, the most surprising answer from lovely Andy- anything to do with people! We don't believe you.

With our Strava set, we were ready for the off and headed in the direction of Brentford to start shifting some leaflets. We have now, it's safe to say, perfected the single file method of hitting up letterboxes, and before too long were moving like a well-oiled machine. After half an hour of nippy fingers and fast moving feet we had got to the end of our pile. Between the 13 of us we got a mammoth 400+ leaflets distributed. As well as really helping out the charity, we have helped spread the word to local people and will raise who knows how many toys! A job well done.

Sprint Finish

Even after all that hard work we weren't yet finished, and headed back to Turnham Green to do our fitness session, which kicked off with a few ABC exercises. Then we had time to fit in some lovely, lovely pyramid sprints before ending the night on our weekly minute plank. Excellent work all round, Hounslow!

Next week we're back to the brilliant Maryville Care Home to visit Sister Clare and to paint some rooms and wash some wheelchairs. Don't miss out, sign up here!