A massive 54 people ran 8km and shifted 16 tonnes of crushed concrete for Grounded Ecotherapy at Southbank!

Wow that was amazing! What a night! Welcome to newbies Ludovica, Becca and Jane - what a night to come for your first time!

In the news this week:

1. Well done to everyone who ran, raced and cheered the Big Half on Sunday - GoodGym even made the official video!
2. It's the GG Monthly Drinks at the Greenwich Tavern TODAY, come along for puns, fun and Pritesh shouting haha!

It was a cracking evening to be a GoodGymer as 54 of us descended upon the Thames for our annual trip to help Grounded Ecotherapy at the Southbank Centre and escape Camden, through Westminster and into Lambeth - hehe. The lights of the river and central was beautiful - a rare sight seeing so many red shirts bouncing over Waterloo Bridge.

16 tonnes!

Grounded Ecotherapy is an amazing organisation, and they are one of London's most unique horticultural therapy projects - they help their members who have suffered mental health, substance misuse issues or experience of homelessness, to get back on their feet.

Our task for the evening was to shift 16 tonnes of crushed concrete into the Queen Elizabeth Hall to help create a a newly commissioned Atrium in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Getting into pairs, we shovelled 6 spades worth of concrete into each bag and followed a route set by the wonderful Paul (bigger beard) before emptying the contents into a pile that will be spread to create the piece opening at the end of March.

50 minutes x 54 GGers = day's worth of work!

It took 50 minutes and 54 GG Camden runners but we got the job done. It was hard, it was physical but man you guys did well. It was pretty non-stop with lots of pulling, lifting and emptying.

Upon hearing all the amazing work Grounded are doing at Southbank we headed home for a well earnt stretch and pint.

Well done everyone - what a night!

Next week we have 3 tasks helping 4 charities in CAMDEN - sign up here.

PB out.

24 Goodgymers ran between 5-7km to make beds for the homeless and deliver leaflets for Green Gym

Thank you to everyone who came along last night and welcome to Claire whose first time it was - lovely to have you along.

In the news this week:

1. GG Camden is 5 years young in April, we are going to have a birthday party at Skip Garden on Thursday 12th April. It's gonna be good - come along!
2. Well done to Frances who hit 250 Good Deeds last night, that's a lot of GOOD!
3. Also a massive well done to Hayley who recently hit 50 good deeds - awesome!

Beds Report:

14 of us headed for our winter task at American International Church to help C4WS make beds for the homeless. Everyone did really well covering two rooms of 15 beds.

Technique as ever is important with bed making, Claire thinks the inside out quilt approach is worth it - makes the end part easier!

Everyone loves the cat!

After completing the task, saying good bye to the cat and taking a group picture we were off. Once we reached Russell Square we got going with our fitness session a reverse pyramid - increasing our speed as the time of sets decreased and then back up. Everyone did really well and completed 11 minutes of tough interval running.

Leaflet Report:

Pritesh led a band of 8 north to Kentish Town to leaflet for the charity Green Gym about their amazing conservation volunteers at Montpelier Gardens. The team spread out nicely covering 5-6 different streets, closes and crescents until the job was complete. Nice one - 200 leaflets done!

On their way home they headed via the canal and Granary Square for some fitness fun!

Sign up for next week here we are gardening for Abbey, making beds for C4ws and hopefully a 3rd task.

PB out.

34 GoodGymers ran between 4-10km making beds for the homeless, gardening for St Mary's & leafleting for Abbey

Cooorrrr, lots of people - glad we had 3 tasks! Welcome to newbies - Alex, Ana, Julia, Pierre, Jonathan and Charlotte - lovely to have you along!

In the news this week:

1. Last night it was Hayley's 50th GOOD DEED - WOOP WOOP! Hayley has been coming to GG Camden since 2016 and we really appreciate her amazing efforts :)
2. TONIGHT there is GG Monthly Drinks in Holborn at the Square Pig - Pritesh will be leading the party with puns, facts and probably some fiction! See you there :)
3. In JUNE there is a trip to the Lakes for some races and good old GG fun! Full details here

Right onto to what we actually did last night, we had three amazing tasks in our wonderful Camden, helping;

• Abbey Community Centre
• St Mary's Flats
• C4WS & American International Church

Report #1 by Pritesh at Abbey:

Eleven of us went along to help the wonderful Abbey Community Centre. It's a long old run up towards Kilburn but we were all keen to keep a good pace to stave off the cold. We were rewarded with a stunning view of central London at the top of Primrose Hill, all the lights twinkling in the cold clear night.

Stunning!

Arriving at the centre we were tasked with delivering flyers to the two tower blocks opposite - Snowman and Casterbridge - to let the residents know about the community cafe that runs every Saturday at the centre.

We split into teams and spent 15 minutes delivering throught the blocks and finishing off any spare leaflets to the houses in the surrounding area. We got everything done in the time and then made our way back to Somers Town with a quick stop for a group shot too!

Report #2 by PB at St Mary's:

Eleven of us headed to St Mary's Flats, a local community in Somers Town that we've been helping for over 4 years. After a 1.4km loop we met Jon who explained the main task was to de-litter an area of plants and re-compost it. Dragging the compost bag from one end of the estate to the other we got to work.

We split into two groups to de-litter across the estate, mainly focusing on cigarette butts, dead leaves and debris. After 20 minutes we'd de-littered both areas, composted and watered the flower bed.

Upon reaching Granary Square we did some conditioning, including:

• Calve raises
• Single leg squats
• Circuit routine - press up, mountain climber x2, jump & squat

We then met Frances' group and did our monthly time trial with some quick times in the cold weather!

Report #3 about Frances at C4WS:

IT'S FRANCES BIRTHDAY, she led the run and it was the best of times. There were 17 guest beds to make + 2 over night staff beds. With a team of 12 people they got the work done really really quickly - efficient! Also there was a cat that Frances seems to have spent most of her time with, haha.

Here is Rosie's haiku about our weekly task at the shelter:

We are making beds

For the homeless in Camden

First the mattresses

Sheets, duvets, pillowcases

Well done all, lots of good done for Camden!

Sign up for next week here, we have a NEW TASK helping GROUNDWORK!

PB out.

31 GoodGymers made 12 beds for the homeless and did Char's brilliant fitness session

Welcome to Lucy whose first time it was last night, also lovely to have Tim and Nick from GG York along for the evening and of course thank you to Char (New Liverpool Trainer) who was getting a taste of GG Camden last night!

Last night was the beginning of a 10 week slot where we make the beds for C4WS at the American International Church, I believe this is some of biggest amount of GOOD we do for Camden all year. We are essentially making beds for people to sleep in that night, what could be gooder.

After a great dynamic warm up led by Char we headed towards Goodge Street, bouncing around the busy streets of St Pancras and Russell Square for 1.8km. Upon our arrival we entered a room with lots of empty mastresses and bags of bedding. Jonathan from the American International Church, who heads up the shelter on Wednesday evenings, spoke about the importance of their work in Camden and how we helped each year.

Bed time!

The race was on - who could be the quickest pair to make a bed - armed with sheets, pillows, sheets and even a towel for the guest. People had various new and old techniques, Richard Foster appeared to make about 3 beds! Jacob and Imogen made their bed the fastest - very neat toooooo!

As we were packing up Jenna, from C4WS, talked about the amazing impact the charity was having on homeless people in the area - getting them rehoused, providing counselling, language classes and steps to move forward. This is truly inspiring stuff and it's fantastic to be apart of it.

Char's Star Jump Fun!

We headed to Russell Square for our evening's fitness session where Char took control, we did the following:

• Fast Lap of Square in 3 groups with various conditioning exercises added before each group went off
• Conditioning Sesh - Squats, Calf Raises, One-legged Calf Raises and Balancing - NICE!
• Another run around the Square!
• Star Jumps Relay!

Thank you to everyone for coming and to Char for leading the fitness session!

See you next week where we'll be making beds for the shelter and painting a cafe called Flapjack! Mmm flapjack..

PB out

Wednesday are pretty good. You've got half way through the week and the weekend is just about in sight. What could make it better? A run. What about a run with a group of mates? And throw in a community task that makes you feel good about yourself. A fitness session? Go on then! Lovely stuff.

Firstly, a huge well done to Remy and to Will who both smashed the Royal Parks Half on Sunday. If you've got the need for speed, don't forget that GoodGym are organising a trip to the Bucharest Festival of Running next May - sign up for details. It promises to be a fun weekend of running, eating and exploring and everybody is welcome!

Tonight we were heading back to a local school - Strand on the Green - to help out with a list of jobs that needed doing. But first - the warm up and the weekly Hounslow headscratcher. If you were invisible, where would be the first place you'd go? The Whitehouse, the Pentagon, North Korea, Downing street - looks like we've all got a bit of the secret agent in us.

Sand-on-the-Green

It was only a short run to the school, so we set off, licketysplit , at a nice fast pace. One mile later we were there, finding Claire the caretaker waiting for us with a trailer of tools. Michelle got the work sweeping the bike shed and paths, Claudia took the scooter park, Remy, Will and Andy tackled the fenced play area while Ross, Adam and Jo dived into the huge pile of blocks that needed sanding.

Half an hour of elbow grease later, the jobs were done and dusted and we kicked off with our fitness session. It was a bit of a bumpy start with the flip a coin game, but eventually we got there, splitting into two groups with each side doing an exercise depending on the result of the flip. Next up was a timed obstacle course, which wasn't exactly plain sailing either and was eventually called off thanks to an apocalyptic shower of rain that came out of nowhere. Like a bunch of naughty school children we sheltered in the bike sheds under it had passed. Next week normal service will be resumed, promise!

We were just about to hit the road when disaster struck. It really wasn't our night. The code to the electric gates had mysteriously stopped working, and after several attempts at opening it from the outside and scaling the fence, it was hero Andy with super long legs who managed to hop the gate and release us. Well done Andy!

All that was left was a speedy run back to base, a few stretches and a bit of thawing out. Don't forget, Team Hounslow, that whatever the world throws at us, we all sand together.

Next week, we're back to school - a different one this time, for a spot of painting.

25 or so GoodGym runners descended on the New Forest for a scenic weekend of running, cycling and cheering.

After arriving in Brockenhurst on Saturday afternoon, the first job was to find the perfect spot to set up camp. Luckily the helpful staff at Hollands Wood campsite helped us find somewhere well located for the race start in the morning, not to mention some friendly neighbourhood ponies!.

With our spot claimed, some of us set out for a gentle cycle ride in the forest around Brockenhust, getting a preview of some of race courses for the next day. Rain was forecast, but other than few showers we avoided the worst of it!

After a few post-cycle drinks (during which it really did start to rain – thank goodness we decided against a BBQ! – we headed off for dinner and then for a good (or not so good) night’s sleep in the campsite.

Race day!

We had runners in the 10k, half marathon and marathon, plus Aidan, Anna and Bunty on cheering duty. Everyone did really well, but special congratulations go to Alex, who smashed his first marathon in 3.43! Also Matt, who was doing the marathon on the back of his recent alpine ultra-marathon adventures, and probably deserves a rest.

Exhausted, everyone made their way home for a nice sit down and a cup of team. Hopefully see some of you in Oxford!

(More photos to come - also if I left you off the register then let me know!)

After a previous trip to Wales in 2015 we were back to race the train again and this time we brought reinforcements

Over 60 runners from all around the Goodgym world, representing at least 16 different areas, travelled West to Tywyn to take on the mighty Talyllyn Railway.

After some perhaps over-complicated swapping around of cars and passengers and fueled on by a delicious Friday night pasta dinner cooked by Sophie we were raring to go on Saturday morning and looking forward to a day of racing and cheering.

This time we had a presence in every race. First across the line was Dave who came 2nd behind a teenage boy in the 3.5 mile long Tynllwywyn Hen Challenge. Continuing on a theme, Axel was also unfortunately beaten to the line by children, three of them this time, in the 5.5 mile Dolgoch Challenge. They showed a distinct lack of respect for his beard and sunglasses and only allowed him to come in fourth.

Next up was the 10K Quarry Challenge where we had quite a few runners and three train beaters - Simon, Andy and Jack Bradley.

Then came the main event, the 14 mile Rotary Challenge. Not content with already having beaten one train, Simon followed the lead of Pritesh and took the start line again. In this one we had both runners and riders, while the runners were battling with the mud and hills out on the course Andy, Frances, Sarah and Lina were cheering them on from the comfort of the train. That cheering must have worked because this time PB Jr, Sam, Graham and Jacob all beat the train.

With the racing over some went for a dip in the sea before heading back to the bunkhouse where Kevin and his kitchen crew were knocking up a couple of very tasty tagines. After dinner we were treated to a party courtesy of DJ Coyle (aka DJ Ironing board) and danced the night away until 1am.

Another amazing weekend away, can't wait for the next one.

What a night in Hounslow. Not only are we growing (hurrah, more of you to run with), but we had our first social thanks to the lovely Waterman's Art Centre who gave us some tickets after we did some tasks for them, and the lovely Jo, who organised it. Thanks both! Welcome to the group Rafal and Gosia and welcome back Giacomo!

After some chocolate biscuits and a chat about our racing weeks, we made our way outside to warm up. During some dynamic exercises which tested our reflexes both mental and physical, we discussed what we would send to room 101, never to be seen again. From moths, wasps and spiders, to large umbrellas, buggies, drizzle, and overcrowding, it was perhaps Adam who summed it up for all of us, when he said he would banish foolishness. Excellent idea.

In a decidedly unfoolish fashion, we set off for our task tonight at Strand on the Green primary school.It was a very nippy run down because we only had to go a short distance, so in no time at all we arrived at the school and were faced with electric gates and the code we had been given. In what was like an episode of the Crystal Maze, we got the code right, and as the gates creaked open we found a pile of tools and gloves waiting for us. Our job tonight was to clear a very overgrown conservation area and tidy up a lot of clippings, moving the whole lot to the compost heap across the field. Wasting no time, we hopped to it, accompanied by some tunes to keep us motivated.

Back and forth went the trailer carrying pile after pile of weeds and branches, Remy's secateurs were given the test of their life, and Jo found the world's largest slug. Before long the areas were looking much clearer and tidier - check out the before and after photos (and thanks for the reminders, team!).

With the school field to ourselves we decided to take advantage and do our fitness session there. After a few rounds of games including Clusters, British Bulldog and knee fencing, we set off on our first sprint around the playground. But where did Adam go? Then we smashed out some strengthening drills including squat holds and planks, before attempting to beat our times on the sprint the second time around. There was some excellent running from the gang, who all beat their first times.

While the advance party set off for Waterman's, the rest of us took a speedy run back to the starting point and finished off the night with some stretches, before some of us took ourselves off for Hounslow's first social. Same again soon please!

A great night of doing some real good and getting some proper fit! Way to go, Hounslow, you are all fantastic. Sign up [here[ (https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/friends-of-cathja) to take the slow out of Hounslow. Or something.