LOADS of excellent runners tackled THREE tasks across Lambeth and did loads of good whilst they were at it

First up, hooray to Dee and Jim who finally got their black t-shirts after weeks of waiting. Another big hooray to Steve for hitting his 100th run and getting his wings t-shirt (on time and everything). BIG CHEERS for the excellent running all of you!

We had a nice big crowd along for some running and supporting community projects and we had a lot to do. After a nice warm up led by John we headed off to three brilliant tasks:

Group 1 was led by Sarah. They went back to the Moorlands Estate allotment and finished digging and woodchipping the path. We've been there a few times over the summer and this visit saw the path finally complete. Great stuff!

Group 2 was led by Katie. This saw another return to the BAGS OF SOIL at Loughborough Farm. They need to move some massive planters full of soil literally about 2 feet. Soil is heavy. Very very heavy. So we need to dig it from one bag to another. Rose was part of the group who made headway a few weeks ago and this time she was back for revenge! She totally smashed it in a neat little team of three, entirely emptying one bag into another before heading off to do some weeding. Katie, Beth, Nelly, Jim and John took on the fearsome task of a massive, super compacted bag. After a seemingly endless dig and shovel, they had still not transferred all of the soil. HOW IS THERE SO MUCH SOIL? Still, a top effort and a job well done by all.

Group 3 was led by James and John. They headed 2.5km down to Kennington Park and the lovely Bee Urban project led by Barnaby. There were three teams, one on watering, one on weeding and one turning compost. Dee also got handy with a saw DANGER KLAXON John did some fitness with them and everyone got tired.

And with that we all returned home and went to the pub, where we valiantly stayed outside because it's August even though we were all freezing. That's the GoodGym spirit!

This week 16 marvellous GoodGym-ers ran 2.5km to move logs for Martin Primary.

We were joined by three GG newbies: Vicky, Gemma and Alice – give them a cheer!

This week's run comes hot on the heels of Race the Neighboours, where N2 took on N10 – but more importantly, where GG Barnet took on GG Haringey. Massive congrats to the team who WON, with Damian managing a ridiculously impressive time of 48 minutes something. Check out the race report here.

We started off this evening's run with a gentle jog down to Cherry Tree Wood for a quick warm up full of skipping, running and dynamic stretching to get the joints and muscles ready for the task ahead. Task Force Freya was my trusty back-marker. Once everyone was warm we headed to Martin Primary.

Once on site, we were met by Tristan and assigned our task: move all the logs from one pile to a new pile inside the forest so he can use them to build some things. It was a pretty hefty pile, but as always, we sprinkled that GG magic and had it all shifted in under 30 minutes – leaving plenty of time for our fitness session. Louis requested we have a go on the mini obstacle course, so we combined it with some sprints and abs work. Tristan's kids even joined us for the last part.

It was soon time to head back. Graham was our trusty back-marker, while Paul kept me company at the front.

This week's Barnet Biscuit was the viennese swirl

Shout out to Damian for this week's pun!

Next week we will be running to Meadway to plant some bulbs in a community green space. Sign up here. We'll then be having some drinks in the pub afterwards. (Feel free to drink water if you don't want beer.)

If you are free on Saturday, we have a mission for you in Kentish Town. Sign up here You'll be helping the Rainbow Trust at a concert!

There's also a mission in Haringey tomorrow, still needs two people. Sign up here

22 runners ran 6 km to help Streatham Wells Primary School and the Friends of Kennington Park.

A huge congratulations to Michael for securing June's Shit Prize of the Month. He's been putting us all to shame on the distance board racking up an amazing 122km so far this month. And now has not one, but TWO Glastonbury 2017 programmes as reward for his exploits!

With some positively torrential rain battering it down throughout, we all made sure to bring our best primary coloured waterproof gear. With Jim in particular looking prepared for some biblical level flooding.

Team 1 headed up to Streatham Wells Primary School. Tom Hunter tells us all about it: After running up the hill with rainy training montage intensity, we were met by Richard who showed us an area of the garden that was in need of a bit of a spruce and tidy up. Careful to avoid binning all the children's lovely hand painted earth stones, we made short work of the mess and had the whole place looking good as new in no time.

Team 2 headed down to Kennington Park. Beth Hoskins gives us the lowdown: 12 of lambeth's finest Took the flat option this week and ran 2.5 K down to Kennington Park. We were helping the friends of Kennington Park give the place the once over before an inspection tomorrow. Most of us were on Team Litter and armed with litter pickers and bags we picked up all the sweet wrappers, cigarette butts and bottle tops we could find. Team Shears headed to the perimeter of the park to trim some overgrown beaches that were trying to escape out of the railings and came back with a whole shopping trolley full of clippings. Finally there was Team Secateurs who deadheaded the roses and made sure they hadn't taken too much of a battering in the heavy rain.

Then it was time to speed it home and daydream about that lovely warm cup of hot chocolate we would have when we reached shelter. A huge well done to everyone who still decided to come out to do some good in such conditions! As you can see from the photos, John G was traumatised....

5, 6, 7, …14 steps (That's what it took to build a table tennis table).

Wake me up*

After a warm-up we set off on a riverside route to Transforming Lives for Good (TLG for short). Our run to the river was almost as long as the queue to see Evanescence* at Hammersmith Apollo.

Deborah and James greeted us once we arrived and gave us a rundown of what TLG do. They provide support, care and education to children in need. The TLG school we had come to help out at offers holistic 12 week programmes to help excluded teenagers aged 11-16. These centres are a lifeline, giving them the chance to catch up on missed qualifications, raise their aspirations and provide building blocks for a better life.

Divide and conquer

Our tasks for the night were to put together a new ping pong table and clear a store room of old furniture. A team of four took on the table and the rest quickly demolished the other.

Keeping out of mischief

Both Deborah and James were blown away by the speed the store room was sorted in. James then set about finding other things for the team to help with. This included fixing a shelf to a coffee table and starting to organise another cupboard.

I had planned to take this group off for a fitness session, but suddenly the table tennis team needed extra eyes and hands to find stray screws, washers and attach the table top securely.

Finishing later that usual, but with a brand new ping pong table finally complete we dashed back the short way to home and had a warm down.

Thanks to Debs and Jo for your GG touristing, it was lovely to have you along!

Happy running,
PSB out.