14 Goodgymmers lined the streets of N22 on a lovely Wednesday night for an upper body workout, transporting gardening materials to a Nature Reserve in Haringey. 

Can we get a woop woop? 

Big night for GoodGym Haringey. 

To kick things off, Nurjehan, our resident superstar, Usain Bolted her way in the 100 deeds sprint in such a speedy way that the finishing line even caught her by surprise. She's not in it for the kudos but that shouldn't stop you from sending all the kudos her way.

This week also saw GGH's very own wandering fitness guru, Chi, reach the 200 deed mark out there in the wild streets of London. I trust you'll agree that kudos are due here as well. 

Also, warm welcome to Abi, visiting us for her first proper GGH run. Hope we haven't scared you away!

Chain Gang

Last night's task was a really fun one.

The wonderful Westbury Banks Nature Reserve needed to transport a large amount of materials from an address in Wood Green to the Reserve. In the spirit of keeping things Green, Luke from the reserve wanted to find a way to make the transfer without using any cars. In steps Goodgym Haringey! 

We meet at HQ where we all buzzed around wonderful 100er Nurjehan, whilst we discussed the intricacies of Coronavirus. The virus itself inspired our warming up session, with Sarah suggesting some Tik Tok tippy tappy dance. Yep. You heard that right. I can confirm that most of us looked great, like Strictly Come Dancing stars.

Before you knew it, we were covering just under 3k to the start of our task where Luke from Friends of WBNR and members of Haringey Living were waiting for us with the aforementioned materials. And there were loads. 

Compost, posts, tools, gloves - even the cardboard packaging to be recycled at the Reserve! Using some wheelbarrows and a cart, built earlier in the day by some Goodgymmers, and just pure unadulterated upper body strength, our Goodgymmers bee lined their way to the Reserve through the streets of Noel Park Estate in Wood Green. 

Honourable mention for Rhiannon and Rich who made a second return trip to retrieve some forgotten chairs along with Torpedo Dave who managed to fit in three trips!

At the reserve, we helped to securely store all the materials, ready for this weekend's workshop before saying our goodbyes. 

Before we left however, there was time for some photos and the theme to coincide with Intentational Women Day was Each to Equal in celebration of all the awe-inspiring women that make Goodgym, and society in general, such a stupendous thing. Like Debora in Coventry or our very own Latoya in Haringey. Amazing.

We then ran back to HQ to wash our hands and have some cake. 

Next week we're visiting the NLPAC so we'll be starting at Ducketts Common in Turnpike Lane. Come!

Also, why don't you join me volunteering at the Hackney Half in May (coronavirus permitting)? It's a lovely way to spend a morning and you even get a free bib for any Adidas City Run in the next year, so you can run the Oxford Half or join me in running the maiden Islington Half in November!

We had a lovely evening visiting the wonderful folk at All People All Places (APAP) and we loved it so much we broke the 20 GoodGymmers mark for the first time in years. Boom!

First Stop: Kudos Central

Everybody make some noise for Kristina, Eve, and Luc who all shined last night during their GGH debut. Amazing!

Next Stop: We Will, We Will Mop You

One by one, our intrepid goodgymers made their way up the very very steep hills that led to our one-off rendezvous at the Muswell Hill Roundabout.

We made our way to the homeless shelter where Conor and Duncan from APAP welcomed us with open arms and a multitude of tasks. Good thing there were plenty of us to go around!

Some of us gave the kitchen a good scrub and left it looking spotless; some of us cleared a couple of rooms, moving some tools and bit and bobs to a different floor; some of us hoovered and mopped the main hall; there was bed airing, shelf-making, we even managed to get ourselves trapped in a stairwell for a while!

We crammed ourselves into the main hall for a quick fitness session, where a misguided attempt at a burpee game was followed by a more appropriate suggestion from Latoya and Louise to play Sally Said Sit Down. Everyone loved it - LOVED IT - and it's sure to become a GGH regular*.

By the time we left, the APAP folk were a bit dizzy at the energy and general get-on-with-it-ness of our Goodgymmers and I was a proud trainer.

We then ran down the hill and through awesome Ally Pally into Wood Green for our social but we got unlucky trying to find anywhere with an open kitchen so some of us got hangry and tried to put me in a bin.

It was an ace night.

Next week we're doing a bit of leafleting and playing for the very first ever GGH Scavenger Hunt Cup. I really think you should join us!

Peace.

*I'm allowing myself some poetic license here, regarding the level of love towards the game or amount of goodwill towards Latoya and Louise in the room afterwards :)

The nights are getting longer, the weather is getting colder, the awesome Haringey Goodgymmers are getting stronger. Boom!

13 a-mazing Goodgymmers congregated at HQ in the midst of the post-London Marathon ballot result ennui. We didn't let the rejection get us down and instead we used it to spur us on during our run tonight. Boom indeed!

We took the scenic route to the Haringey Foodbank at the Selby Centre through Tottenham Cemetery. Once at the foodbank, Femi welcomed us with a plethora of tasks. Some us sorted out tea boxes by sell-by dates; some of us prepped documents for some much well-needed shredding; and the rest got stuck into some good ol' school shelving.

These Goodgymmers were On. It. Tonight! They made really quick work of those tasks and they didn't even want to stop. I had to physically move some of them so we could get some group shots! Even then some of them were suspiciously slow...

Unexpected Cake In The Foodbank Area

... But that was because they had done some impressive detective work and arranged some birthday cake for their shoddy trainer because they are awesome. He was very touched, if a bit sweary. Thanks.

We then floated back to HQ on the promise of cake. Good times!

Soundtrack for tonight's report!

19 superhawwwwwwt GoodGymmers took to the catwalk in the Wood Green High Road to help the fashionistas-with-a-socially-conscious-attitude @ Traid with a totally chic task. They are so hot right now!

Special shouts for Nat and Rich, who joined us tonight for their first ever time on the goodgym Runway. Julie, who joined us tonight after a break in which she only went and crisscrossed this beautiful island on foot. And finally, props to Nurjehan who made time in her GoodGym globetrotting to join us and... check notes... indulge in a bit of shopping at Traid. Talk about panache. Kudos all the way.

Being Fashionable Is In Our Jeans

For tonight's task, we cautiously met at HQ with a very dark sky threatening rain. But the show must go on and all that , so we bravely warmed up and before we knew it, we were avoiding the paparazzi as we lithely made our way down towards Wood Green.

At Traid, we were met by Ricardo and Veronika, who gave us free rein to chuck clothes on the floor and vogue-dance our way through the task. Since there were 19 of us, I'm happy to say that within 20 minutes, a very happy Veronika announced we had completed the job it would have taken many hours to finish. BOOM!

We said our goodbyes to some of our GoodGymmers who had to go elsewhere (the perils of working with A-Listers!) and the rest of us made our way to one of the well-lit basketball courts at Ducketts Common, where we had a fun-filled if slightly shambolic (Euclides-trademarked) fitness session.

During the warm down back at HQ, we could not stop talking about Sara's vegan carrot cake she's bringing to Finsbo's parkrun on Saturday for her 100th parkrun! Join us if you can.

Other than that, see you next week for Lordship Rec shenanigans.

Peace!

What a surprisingly hot run that was. But what can I say, GG Haringey are a hot bunch!

Paint It Black

Big love for everyone but special shouts for: Hetty, returning for her first run after a well deserved break; Rita, joining us in spite of having a sore ankle; and last but certainly not least, GG legend Nurjehan who took her beautiful 50 good deeds black t-shirt for her first spin. Go and give them some love!

14 wonderful GGers congregated in the Green outside Tottenham Green Pools where Rita took the lead on a very holistic and interesting warm up session, mainly centred on breathing exercises and erm... checks notes ... tickling.

We then talked about the exciting celebrations in store for GoodGym's 10th birthday - including our long group run next Wednesday, our take over of the Ally Pally parkrun, and our exciting mission painting a homeless shelter on the 21st. Sign up for all of them please!

We then headed towards Cafe Connect at a brisk pace, whilst Dave led a small walking contingent.

At Cafe Connect, the always-wonderful Leyla welcomed us with a plethora of gardening tasks, and we plunged into them with aplomb. It's always a pleasure to visit Leyla. Last night, this community hub was hosting a group of young people taking part in a retro video game tournament, whilst being fed lovely home cooked food made with the produce grown in the grounds. Community work in action - Cafe Connect are definitely the kind of heroes we need and we're lucky to have.

All this meant that our GGers watered, tidied, scrubbed, and weeded with added motivation.

Interesting oveheard conversations included one particular GGer describing herself effectively as The Hulk (apparently, you really don't want to make her angry) and another GGer's very interesting theory about mosquito decoy procedures. Feel free to enquire further in the comments below.

Then Leyla brought out the by now legendary Cafe Connect oranges and we knew it was time to go home. Not often do we need to be pushed out of a task, I tell you.

Oranges were followed by a very well organised, in no way shambolic, and totally 100% successful plank relay race and then we headed back to HQ.

After Sarah's great stretching session and our high fives we headed into the night in search of pizzas and drinks with the memory of those lovely oranges still present. Great task.

Don't forget to sign up for our Community Mission in Somers Town this weekend.

Peace!

Another cracking task this week for GoodGym Haringey - we are truly living our best GG lives!

11 wonderful runners gathered at GG Haringey HQ for a much needed warm up session as we bantered/complained/despaired about how cold it was. Very soon though we were all warmed up and raring to go, so we did!

We ran the scenic way through Downhills Park towards the Westbury Banks Nature Reserve. Our friends at the reserve are about to receive 420 (!) new trees so we will be helping them through September and October to get the site ready for planting.

At the reserve, task owner Mr Cool Luke had a variety of excellent tasks for us. Some people got on with a much needed weeding session of the lower path, whilst a litter picking team set out to leave the roadside edge of the reserve spotless. Finally some of us got on with filling the pond with rainwater. Towards the end of the task, we also got on with clearing some ivy that's overgrown around a lovely sycamore.

We managed to do around 40 minutes work and we think we did great. Thankfully, Luke agrees!

We agreed to come back soon on a couple of community missions and perhaps another group run in early October. Luke told us about a local community garden being looked after by some local neighbours so on our way back to HQ we stopped by to have a look. It's beautiful! And it's great to see communities being inspired to make their communal homes better. If you're ever in the area, feel free to water it!

Then we headed to Belmont Park for some speed training as this very clued on Run Leader had very cleverly spotted a 100 metre track. Isn't he great? Alas, there was no track, it was cold and dark, and I'm just grateful everyone was very polite to me after sending them on a wild goose chase.

Instead of sprints, we did some backward running (good training for something, though none of us could agree what for) and also stopped along the way for squats and some burpees. Well, some of us of did burpees.

Back at HQ, Sarah led a very thorough stretching session.

Like I said, living our best GG lives!

Next week, we're visiting Cafe Connect - it's a short run and a great task, so you should definitely join us for some fun. AND please come to our birthday run on the 18th of September, and bring a friend or five. It's going to be great!

#DFYBGGH

Scenes! Scenes were had as 16 (and a half!) runners descended upon the grounds of T On The Green in Bruce Castle Park, having run a cool 4k, and in full action mode set out to give them a hand to make the site even more beautiful.

We painted. We panted. We scrubbed. We weeded. We wash-blasted. We littered picked. We secured fences. Scenes!

Shout-out Central!

GoodGym Haringey welcomed Keir, Karen, and Rafael who were joining us for their first ever GoodGym run. Give them some love. Also Sophie and Natalie joined for their first run in a while and they looked like they were never away. Stars. Finally big love for Rhiannon who's the first person to ever reply to my 'Might you be pregnant?' question with a massive yes. She was awesome, worked for 2, and even offered to do modified burpees. Boom!

Just water for the T-totals

I'm not going to complain about the weather but it was muggy out there this eve.

We ran the long way to T On The Green and were very pleased to be welcomed with open arms and nice, cold water by Carol, the task owner at T On The Green.

She handed us a multitude of tasks and our 16.5 inTrepid runners threw themselves at it. We painted some planting boxes at lightning speed, weeded some recently peebled areas with aplomb, secured a fence that earlier this very day caused a kiddie to fall over, we littered-picked the grounds, we smartened up the BBQ area, and we wash-blasted the entry ramp. All in 45 minutes. Pats on the back all around.

Back at base camp we did some stretches, and then headed home still slightly light-headed after such a dizzying performance.

Next week we're visiting our friends at Westbury Banks Nature Reserve - come and join us!

Also, please remember to check out our community mission at Chestnut Park on the 20th of July and sign up if interested.

Peace!