This week 13 GoodGym-ers ran 5km to tidy up a nearby park

With the rain upon us this evening, we all gathered inside the wonderful Phoenix Cinema for sign-ins and the intro. Massive welcome to GG newbie Paul who came along to his first run with us this evening – and who acted as a wonder guide as we detoured around to our destination. Be sure to give him a cheer!

After a quick warm up along the road beside the cinema, focussing on ankle, knee and hip mobilisation, we were ready to head off towards this evening's task: litter-picking Glebelands Open Space. Hazel was our trusty back-marker, while Damian and I lead the way, opting for the dark and windy alley ways down the hill.

Once we reached Glebelands, it was time to spread out and clear the main path of any rubbish. The team did great, blitzing the bushes in under 20 minutes, with time to spare for a great photo-shoot running up and down AND a fun little fitness session running up the little hill. I think this week's photos are my favourite of all photos in all the 14 weeks of GoodGym Barnet. I mean, look how incredible Joanna's hair is in that running shot! And those prisoner pulses, which I may just have to include every week for comedic value. And the ridiculous photo of me running in between Freya and Damian – who happen to be GIANTS. I've been laughing for the last 10 minutes sorting through them. Thank you to Hazel for taking some pictures so I got to play too!

We then ran back to base, taking the straight route back up the hill along the high road. A route we're all quite familiar with by now.

Back at base, there was fist-bumping, which Dorian, who was first back after a quick sprint finish, dubbed the Barnet Bump, stretching and biscuits. I'm really enjoying the increased use of alliteration among the team.

The Barnet Biscuit of the week was: Custard Creams.

Impressively, Heather came back with the chocolate bar she accidentally ran away with last week, meaning double treats for the GG Barnet Crew.

We didn't quite make it all the way through the Barnet Biscuits this week, so I gave the rest of the packet to the man who sells the Big Issue on my way home. He was so excited about them that I may have to make that part of the tradition.

Next week we will be running back to Dell Fields carehome to varnish some furniture. Be sure to sign up to run with us!

Don't forget to bring your ID and proof of address if you'd like to get your DBS sorted. Either two letters and one ID or one ID and two letters. Letters have to be under three months old and official-like (utility bills, bank statements, doctor's letters etc).

And finally, be sure to sign up for our last run of the year on 13 December to build Santa's Grotto. It'll be good to get lots of us along, as it's quite far and we won't have as long to get everything finished. Damian has promised to bring a Christmas playlist. It'll be amazing.

On a chilly November evening 18 fired up GoodGymers ran 6k to Core CIC to continue with the dismantling of the fixtures and fittings in preparation for the building refurbishment.

We welcomed Rich and Chidi to there first GoodGym run and look forward to seeing you both on many more to come!

We celebrated the epic 10k PB performances of Anna, Rich and Anne!

Talked through the last two monthly socials of the year 22nd of November and 13th of December.

I continued my mission to create the Manchester marathon running train and even welcomed a confirmed passenger Ian and a couple of very strong maybe's Rich and Anna aboard. Anyone else fancy a flat and fast April marathon?? The more the merrier!!

Just the small matter of keeping warm was the first order of business so we took a steady warm up run lead by Peter to a good spot for a few mobilising dynamic stretches, muscle activating exercises and some running form drills.

That got the blood pumping and warmth running through the body for the rest of the 3k run to Core CIC. We were in for surprise when we arrived as Danny let us know the builders had turned off the lights so we were literally in the dark. Undeterred we set about completing the tasks we could starting with loading about a thousand ceiling tiles into the skip outside! A great production line approach meant we zoomed through this task in no time. Then came half a piano (as you do), wooden flooring and carpet! With a bit more time we decided to remove 7 doors on the first floor, rip up piles ofwooden flooring and take down a hundred more ceiling tiles.

After 45 minutes of carefully performed physical work it was time to run off into the night after a big thank you from Danny from Core CIC and a huge thank you to Peter for once again boosting our tool supply bringing along a range of tools to help with the task.

It was time for the Race back to base! We had a running handicap race this week with the Steady paced crew running an even pace back while the Speedy crew waited 4 minutes before chasing us down on the 3k run lead by Rich who even managed to not take a short cut back for the first time (another PB racked up!)

A series of static stretches and we were off on our merry way feeling great with a fitness filled job well done!

See you next week for a new task installing a Polly tunnel in Hackney Wick! Be great to have you along sign up here.

Smooth running

Joel

20 energised GoodGymers ran 6k to One Housing to start the creation of their WellBeing Garden.

A huge congratulations to Clare, Dan and Mireille for there recent half marathon performances!

With it being Mental Health awareness week we were Running and Talking even more than usual on the 3k back street route past my old primary schools to One Housing. One Housing are an organisation that provides modern and high quality Housing for people with mental illness as well as provide support for the service users to enhance their quality of life.

We arrived and found that maybe let's say the right kinds of tools were not ready for us but we had energy and enthusiasm to hand! So armed with a ** Hammer, Golf club** we set about clearing as much of the over grown vegetation so that we would have space to do all the Landscape Art next week! ** Holly** our ** Head of Artistic Development** took charge of colour design and arrangement and is really looking forward to next week's pattern creation session!

Nine filled bin bags of weeds and out of control Ivey later we had smashed the task! Next week armed with the list I left we will have all the equipment to transform the Wellbeing Garden into a magical space!

On the 3.1k (upon Rich's request) run back to base we took a sneak peak into a building that we will hopefully become very familiar with in the coming months!! It looks like an epic project in size and intrigue! Look forward to getting stuck into that task in a couple of weeks!

A strong run back with a bit of a sprint finish rounded off by a few revitalising stretches saw finished off a top evening!!

We talked about dominating a 10k race in November! Here is the link to the Regents Park 10k for info and how to enter (slightly cheaper to enter on Bookit Zone). I will be running (assuming I have found my legs by then), be great to have a group getting out there and running well!! Will set up a Race on the GoodGym site next week.

Next week we will be back at the Wellbeing Garden and would love to have you along! Please sign up here as an added sweetener we will be going out after the run on mass to a food establishment where we will be able to replenish our fuel store post run! The monthly social is always fun and a great with great chat, would love as many people to come along as possible!!

Have a great active week!

Strong Smooth Tempo

Joel