This week 13 GoodGym-ers ran 5.7km to help Muswell Hill Food Bank weed, vacuum, mop and wipe.

We started with a few warm up drills along the side of the Phoenix that I learnt from the NBMCR middle- and long- distance coach Steve Vernon at the New Balance HQ last week. Nicola was a pro at these straight off the bat!

With our legs all warm and our numbers all counted, it was time to head off towards Muswell Hill. Hazel kept me company leading the pack, while Chris was our trusty back-marker.

On arrival we were greeted by Aimee and Deborah, who dished out the tasks before everyone got to work. We had an outside team weeding the patio, an inside team vacuuming and mopping the floors, a window team wiping the windows and Sarah was a team all on her own cleaning doors.

While all this was going on, a couple practiced their wedding dance inside. Deborah treated us to some bananas.

Once all the working was out of the way, it was time for a few strength drills. Walking pause lunges to improve balance, core stability and single-leg strength, bear and crab crawls to improve core, quad, glute and shoulder strength, and kicking squats - again to build that single-leg strength. Running is a series of single-leg jumps, so you really ought to make sure both legs are holding their own if you want to avoid injury, run faster or ran further.

We then ran back to base, with Nicola helping me lead the way and Freya our trusty back-marker. With Chris and Shawn hot on our tails we ended up running up the hills faster than we ran down them on the way home, which made no sense but was fantastic for everyone's legs and lungs and general levels of awesomeness - so good job!

This week's Barnet Biscuit: Chocolate fingers, courtesy of Freya

This week's pun, courtesy of Damian.

It's Freya's birthday next week, so there will be cakes and merriment to celebrate on Saturday. You can sign up here

We need a couple more volunteers for gardening at the Westminster Drug Project on Saturday. Sign up here

There's also a mission to help Mrs F on Saturday and a mission to help Grange Big Local set up their community festival on Sunday.

Last night 18 GoodGymers - including two new runners - ran 6k to sand some furniture at Barnet Furniture Centre.

We set off whilst it was still light with Hazel leading and Freya backmarking. Arriving at BFC, Jade dolled out the sandpaper and we got to work - a bench, a table top and legs that needed smoothing down, and some red drawers with hundreds of coats of different colours that needed some serious elbow grease. The group got stuck in and Jade was so thrilled with how much we managed to get done. She'll update us on just how many different colours there were on the red drawers - there at least 5 we could find!

Jade showed us more of the treasure trove that is BFC and explained that they upcycle furniture and either sell it on privately or provide it for free to those in need.

'I like to think of us as the Robin Hood of Furniture!' She said

It's an amazing place and a great opportunity to blow off some steam with a serious bit of elbow grease!

It began drizzling as we warmed ourselves back up for the run home and it didn't stop! Happy and quite sodden the first group to arrive home put on a sterling sprint finish before some stretching and a well deserved biscuit from Hazel.

Shoutout to Shawn who did his first mission this weekend and told us all about it. Missions are a fantastic way to make an impact in a different way to a group run - there is one happening this Sunday (17th) that you don't need to be document checked for - it's a gardening day at St Stephen's House. It's going to be brilliant, make your Saturday even more special by signing up here.

Looking forward to being back at the BFC soon. Well done everyone, a cracking run and task. May the rest of your week unfold just as well!

Lucy J