Double deeds! It's a two task combo!

Absolutely gorgeous evening for running and doing good last night- We had 19 runners at each of our tasks (including first timer and local runner Julianne, who spotted us running past her house a while back, and decided to see what we were about! Welcome, and thanks for coming down!). Massive congratulations to our race participants last weekend- Task force runners Patrick and Steve C for running PBs at the Yorkshire Marathon (and Steve winning his overall age category!), and Kike for running and cycling the Cowman Duathalon. Awesome and inspiring stuff, folks!

Before heading off to our task locations, we discussed our podcast and listening habits, particularly whilst running- lots of podcast suggestions from the group (surprisingly no running podcasts!). Some top options included:

• Reasons to be Cheerful
• Passenger List
• My Dad Wrote A Porno
• 99% Invisible
• The Brexitcast
• Anything by Brian Ferry...

(please add other suggestions in the comments below!)

We proceeded to perform a few warm up drills on the slope next to the Emirates Hub (leg rotations, open-close gates, lunges and leg swings), and then we separated into two groups for our tasks.

Mildmay Community Centre

Steve Coman lead Group 1 over to Mildmay Community Centre, near Newington Green, meeting Mustafa, the volunteer coordinator and head gardener at the door. The centre itself is an award winning "Passivhaus", or completely eco-friendly site, operating as a hub for the North London community- looking forward to working on their new cafe investment next year- watch this space! Our Goodgymmers set to work on clearing ivy from the surrounding fences, and brushing up the leaves from the main entrance and exits to the centre. It was a relatively quick turnaround, so our group was treated to tea, biscuits and bombay mix, before taking a slightly extended fun jog back to base.

Ramsey Flowers N1

Group 2 was lead by trainer Simon, Frances and Steve Lee, approaching Ramsey Flowers N1, near St Paul's Walk. We had a variety of tasks around the gardens and around the connecting public footpath- the area needs to be ready for the group's annual Pumpkin Carving event for the local children. Our team set about planting lots of fresh plants, recently picked up from Columbia Road Market, and then sweeping and raking all of the flower beds and pavements to clear the path for local residents. All of the green waste was then collected and dropped off next to the Rose Bowl Youth Centre (another one of our regular tasks).

Amazing work everyone, we made a real difference to both of these locations!

News

Social Pizza and Drinks next week!

After our task at Single Homeless Project next week (sign up here, you are welcome to join us for 2-for-1 pizza and drinks at the Victoria Tavern on Holloway Road.

GG 10 Year Anniversary Social

Talking about get-togethers, there will be a big party on 8th November, celebrating 10 years of Goodgym, and marking Pritesh Mistry's final event as social secretary. Sign up here, and give him an awesome send-off for his years of organising good times!

Halloween Headtorch Run

Tis the season for spooky stuff! Come and join Trainer Simon for a dark, creepy but ultimately stunning run around Hampsted Heath on Halloween night, setting off from the Bull and Gate pub in Kentish Town at 8pm. 7 miles total distance- headtorch required! If you have never run in the woods with a torch before, it is great fun, and this would be a perfect opportunity to try it with Goodgym friends. Sign up here!

9 intrepid Goodgymmers (including 1 new member- Hello to Lilly!) met up at The Emirates Stadium, Holloway for a impromptu running fitness session, led by trainer Simon (due to a last minute task cancellation). We made the most of a lovely (now officially autumnal) evening for a range of different fitness activities. Before heading out, we discussed our Goodgym Islington TV recommendations, which included the following suggestions:

• The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
• Mindhunter
• Sex Education
• Strictly Come Dancing
• State of the Union
• and "I don't have time for TV, I just like running and doing good"....or something to that effect! :-)

Free Fitness!

Upon leaving the Arsenal Hub, we started a few warm-up drills to increase our heart rate, and to get the blood pumping. These included high knees, can-cans, dynamic squat twists and open-close gate motions (whilst gently climbing a gradient)!

We then played a fitness game using the pillar surrounding Emirate Stadium. Our objective was to move from gate A to gate S, by playing "rock, paper, scissors" to progress from one pillar to the next. The winner moved to the next post, the loser sprints to a salt bin located about 100m away, and continues to play until they progress. Kike proved to be the overall winner, after a showdown with Steve Lee on the final pillar!

From here, we ran to Barnard Park, past Caledonian Road for another fitness game in a floodlit area. "Paarlauf" (Swedish for "Pairs Running") is a mixed speed session performed in pairs. Half our crew ran a loop in a clockwise direction at "some pace" (this could be a target pace that you can sustain for 5 minutes total running), whilst the other half ran an anti-clockwise loop at a relaxed recovery pace (easy jogging/walking). As the running pair meet in the loop, they "high-5", and swap speeds until they meet again. A really fun exercise game!

We continued back to HQ, using a different route via Liverpool Street, and ended our session with stretching, dips and Aldi Bourbon biscuits provided by Steve Coman.

#GGSuperSaturday

There was a great turnout at Hampstead Heath parkrun, with GG folks taking on volunteer positions and putting in some quality free weekly timed 5km efforts.

parkrun fun here!

Elizabeth and Natasha completed a mission on Sunday too, helping with regular gardening tasks with Mr J. He recently had some flooding issues in his garden, which has left the space to become overgrown, and in need of serious weeding. Congratulations on your first mission Natasha!

Read about this mission here

London in Bloom

Last Friday, trainer Simon was invited to the London in Bloom Awards by our local task owners Ramsey Flowers N1 to accept their "It's Your Neighbourhood" award for their commitment to maintaining their Islington garden space. It was a lovely awards ceremony held at the Arts Pavilion in Mile End, Tower Hamlets. Lots of familiar faces from our previous task owners too!

Headtorches

As the nights get darker and darker, we advise Goodgym participants to bring a head torch with them to future tasks.

If you don't currently own a head torch, I can provide you a really great Silva Ninox 3 headtorch for just £20 (trade price), provided by The Running Works for Goodgym Islington members. If you would like one, send an email to Simon Fitzmaurice.

Next week we have double tasks! Penn Road Residents have invited us over to help fixing their flower beds for an upcoming festival, and the Single Homeless Project has additional gardening tasks on Ashley Road Estate.

Sign up here

Happy Running!

We were welcomed back to the beautiful Caledonian Park this week, after an unexpected change of plans. A fantastic job was done last week by 10 bank holiday Goodgymmers, but we smashed it with 23 running volunteers on hand last night!

Back to the Emirates again, we made a quick departure to Cally Park, stopping at the wonderfully named Lumpy Hill adventure playground to pick up wheel barrows on route to the Caledonian Park Clock Tower (You can climb up this for free! Plan a trip up the tower here).

Our big group was separated to perform specific tasks, rotating throughout the evening. We had folks shoveling crushed concrete and others wheeling and dumping the concrete on to a tree lined pathway, with the intention of making this green section wheel chair accessible. The rest of our crew set about cutting, sawing, snipping and removing roots and undergrowth from the surrounding area. It was a huge undertaking for the Friends of Calendonian Park, but Goodgym definitely made a huge dent in their workload.

Autumn is drawing in (September already, who'd have thought it?), and we are starting to see the last of our tasks in natural light. A wonderful time of year for running, but maybe time to invest in a head torch for upcoming tasks.

There is some fun stuff happening this week!

Firstly, Pritesh (GG Brent Trainer) was be hosting his final event as GG social secretary this Thursday. Come and join Goodgymmers from all boroughs for a meet-up and a Thank You for his hard work over the years! Sign up here.

Also, Peckham Rye parkrun will be taken over by Goodgymmers this Saturday at 9am. We will be out pacing, volunteering, cheering and supporting on mass- always a blast! Come on down, and sign up here.

Next week, we will be running over to Sunnyside Community Centre for some chopping, snapping and snipping action in their lovely community gardens. Sign up here, and see you all next week!