Wed 23rd Sep 2015 at 6:15pm
Meanwhile in Westminster 11 battle ready GoodGymers headed a Mile into heavy human traffic in a bid to help rhythms of life prepare there new space in Covent Garden for an upcoming fund raiser.
Wednesday's are always fun as I'm never quite sure what route to take through central London during rush hour, especially when it's raining.
Tonight I feel the decision was made for us as we watched commuters charge away from the now suspended Victoria line at Oxford Circus.
We weaved our way through the back streets arriving safely in Covent Garden where wee were welcome by Andrew, the founder of rhythms of life, a charity set up to help rough sleepers. Rhythms of life offer soup kitchens and supply those most in need with clothes to keep them warm in the winter.
Our job was to make their new office space a little more Manageable by arranging the clothing, chairs, books and most importantly re housing the mouse that appeared to take issue with us moving its furniture around.
As always we worked like our lives depended on it, 30 mins became 20, 20 became 10, 10 5 and we were out.
We said our goodbyes then took to the streets for a 2 mile tempo run follower by some head to head sprints guaranteed to get that blood pumping.
Thanks to all who came and conquered.
More pics to follow.
See you all next week.
Wed 19th Aug 2015 at 6:15pm
Meanwhile in the big smoke 10 incredibly keen awesomeites head north west to avoid the south westerly winds in a bit to help maintain our pretty canals.
For those of you that don't know the canals that we all take for granted, the ones that run along both day and night are in actual fact maintained by a small team of staff plus a huge bank of volunteers.
Today it was our turn.
A quick talk to our guests from the big apple and Shanghai about our combined wonderfullness and we were off.
A wonder through the busy streets of Landan and then to Regents Park, floating through the trees and flowers truly appreciating nature. A wave to the penguins, giraffes and sneaky peak at the ducklins and we had arrived.
A 20min blast of the area ridding the green of crisp packets, chocolate wrappers, cans and all the lovelies that people discard of willy nilly.
With our job done we were off. A long route back around the outer rim, into the inner rim then back through the park arriving safely back at HQ 6k deep.
A wonderful evening for it.
As always thanks for coming out to play, we will see you next week.
Wed 5th Aug 2015 at 6:15pm
It appears that the Tube Strike will always fall on a GoodGym day BUT never the less, 4 HEROES still rocked up and headed south through the busy streets to St Andrews Youth Centre in search of gym equipment to shine and sheen.
We had a quick chat about how awesome we all were for still somehow managing to get to work despite the gridlock then headed out into what we thought was going to be mayhem.
Strangely enough the roads could not have been clearer, down Old Bond Street, through the park and we were there, safe and sound in Victoria at the Oldest Youth Centre in the world.
Greeted my Adrian who showed us to the gym that we would spend the next 20minutes shining. A run down of where all the equipment had come from and what it means to have it there for the local young people to use and of course a little note to ourselves on how much our visits mean.
We plugged our iphones into the surround sound and banged out some amazing house and dubbbbbstep. The gym looked brand new in no time at all.
We said our goodbyes and hit the road, floating back from whence we came....
Wed 22nd Jul 2015 at 6:15pm
It was a night of secrets in Westminster
Nobody Told Me
The first secret was whether or not a trainer was actually going to turn up. Simon from Islington was covering for Cory, but was too much of a donut to read the small print and realise that Westminster starts a bit earlier. Oops. I owe you all 15 minutes of my life (that's 4 hours 15 minutes - you can bake a really good cake in that time).
Sworn to Secrecy
So, we did a super-fast sign-in and briefing, said hello to first-time GoodGymmer, Leia, and were led by the route-knowledgeable Andy to a secret location to get stuck into a secret task.
What can we say about it? Well, it involved lots of lugging around of stuff and we gave our arms a serious workout, and there was an exercise station and there were even secrets within the secret site - such as the secret location of some secret stuff that wasn't as far to carry as the other secret stuff. It was so secret we even got a bit lost on site.
I can also give you a link to the web site, but they're not giving anything away either!
Hush
Post-task we were all in a very secretive, hush-hush mood, so we decided to see if we could make our way over to Bedford Square without our feet making a sound. Silent footfalls! This can help get you up on the balls of your feet and reduce ground contact time which makes you a better runner ... probably.
Quell those Blabbering Urges with some Secret Surges
Once at the square we continued the theme of secrecy with some SECRET SURGES
We split into two teams, one led by David and the other by Andrew, and everybody was given a bit of paper with a secret number on it. The idea was to jog around as a group until your number was called out. Then, with the element of secrecy on your side, you'd surge away from the rest of the group who tried their best to give chase. Great fun and a great way of getting some speed into the legs.
Shut Up
A little stretch and it was time for a group photo. Look how happy everybody looks! Just look at them! Those are the faces of people that know something that you don't.
A Silent Wave Goodbye
It was a pleasure doing the Westminster group last night, and I'll leave you with the lovely thought that two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.
Simon
P.S. Did you know that nothing rhymes with "secret"?