Barnet’s do-gooding, get-fitting biscuiteers were in fine fettle last night after smashing a brilliant task in record time.

After a slightly delayed start (sorry team!), we said congratulations to those that had done Park Runs that week, and to our Barnet heroes. Well done to Hazel, Damian, and Madeleine for topping the distance, good deeds and cheers league tables. Give ‘em a high five, Barnet!

Before we set off for the run, we did a headcount, and discussed one of the capital’s most pressing issues. Apparently there are some definitive rankings of Londoners’ favourite tube lines. According to the statisticians, the most popular line is the DLR, followed by Jubilee, then Victoria. But Barnet disagrees, and had some good reasons to back up their faves. The winning tube line, by a long way was….drum roll please…the oldest of the deep-level lines, the incomparable Northern line! Of course it was. Reasons included, ‘because I’m Northern’, and ‘because we can see it from here’. Fair enough.

With that decided, we set off for Northway Gardens. It was a lovely run there, covering part of the Bishop’s Avenue and having a good snoop at the giant (empty) houses as we went. Damian knew the route like the back of his hand, and after no time at all, we arrived to see Brian the gardener waving at us from his car. Which, when we got closer, we could see was filled to the brim with bags of compost (and a couple of bits of wood). The GoodGym fates were smiling upon us last night, because would you believe there were exactly as many bags as there were runners? Crazy stuff. Taking one bag each (and a wheelbarrow), we emptied the car and set off for the gardens a few minutes away. Compost unloaded, there were a few other jobs to do, such as de-bulbing daffodils, emptying compost bins, filling pens with leaves and shifting pots. All of which was done quickly, much to Brian’s approval – and we even got a few gardening tips and a bit of history on the garden itself, which is run entirely by volunteers and is beautiful.

We took advantage of the lovely surroundings to do our fitness session next to the garden. After a quick core blast and sprint session, we finished off with a game of British Bulldog. Apparently this was banned in some schools, but in Barnet we laugh in the face of rules, and launched into a very speedy game that saw some super-fast sprinting and tricksy footwork. On the run back, we took advantage of the red lights to have a squat challenge, seeing who could hold it the longest. The team obviously has glutes of steel, and outlasted the traffic lights, before finishing off the run with some stretches. Baking Queen Hazel treated the group with some delicious cookies and brownies wrapped in their very own little sweetshop bags – so cute! Next week trainer Pennie is back to lead you through the streets of Barnet to do even more good for the community. Be there or be square:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/gg-barnet-helps-archer-academy-create-a-cool-space

Tonight we ran between just between 6 and 7kmto promote the Clocktower Community Market in South Norwood by delivering over 200 leaflets!

After a sunny day the evening proved a little chilly although the run to Woodside Green where we met Jasmine certainly warmed us up. Tonight’s task was to help promote a local community market held monthly in South Norwood by leafleting the streets in the local area.

We spilt into 4 groups and up and down the streets of Woodside – we’ve still got some leaflets left so the local libraries and cafes will find themselves with some leaflets over the next few days. until we’d run out of leaflets.

We met back up at the war memorial on the green and although we didn’t have much time before we needed to head back we did fit in som fun Suicide Sprints which everybody loved! We did lose 3 runners who headed home as we were close by and then another 2 as we got closer to our finish point. Luckily they all told me they were leaving so we didn’t spend the rest of the evening looking for them!

We also had a new member today Andy - so a big welcome to him and hope to see you in your red t-shirt very soon.

Don’t forget we’ve got the London-wide social on Thursday 4th of May in our very own Croydon at the Bedford Arms close to Solutions. This will be going on the website very soon so you can sign up but in the mean time “save the date”.

Next week we will be heading back to the lovely Grangewood Park in Thornton Heath to work with the Friends Group. Here is the link to sign up.

As always the team gathered at the Phoenix on our first day-lit run of the year! (The first half at least!) We were joined by GG newbie Alexandra and GG tourist Ollie. Give them a cheer!

After a quick warm up by the Phoenix, we split in into two splinter groups and made our way to the Barnet Furniture Centre for some upcycling. Damian lead the speedy group while I took the less speedy group, with Bristol Chris my trusty backmarker.

The others were already hard at work when we arrived on site. Jade, the task host, was very excited to have us all there helping and had plenty for us to do. Chris and Beattie managed to not eat the Lindt chocolate bar casually left behind them, earning them the 'Good' moniker, whilst almost getting their table looking ship-shape. Their smug faces say it all, really.

After 25 mins hard graft, and some dancing, it was time to say our goodbyes. We gathered outside for a quick photo, while I tried to avoid being run over, before splintering off once more for our run back to base.

The speedy team broke GG Barnet records, running the 3.8km back to base in just 21:08mins!

The Barnet Biscuit of the Week: HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES courtesy of Hazel

Next week we will be running back to BFC to carry on upcycling furniture. Tonight we did a week's worth of work in half an hour. Sign up here to help.

See you next week! Pennie

Amazing! 6 awesome runners braved the elements (ok the drizzle) to run a massive 8km to St Dunstan's Allotments in East Acton!

We had two GG noobs, Martin and Mel a huge welcome to you! You made 8km seem like nothing and were a massive help with the heavy bags! Super strength!

We set off at a nice warm-up pace, past the iconic Ealing Broadway station and battled through the crowds to Uxbridge road. It was here we encountered my arch nemesis, the puddle on the junction with the North Circular...yes I was splashed once, it was a harrowing time...there was rather a lot of pancake chat ( I hope you enjoyed the post run pancakes Ian!)and with just a quick stop off at the pub (sadly no drinks involved, just a quick toilet stop) we were there and the lovely Rhea was waiting!

We managed to take the straight route this time (what do you mean you didn't want a scenic tour of the A40?!) and, stops included, we managed 4km in a respectable 30 minutes or so. And then it was time to work! Looooads of woodchip had been dropped off and it was our job to put it into bags and shift it into the allotments. This involved perfection of the squat-fill-mulch technique (correct me if i'm wrong on that one Ankit!) and then there was a back and leg workout as we deadlifted all the bags from outside, into the allotments.

There were some mega strong efforts from everyone, the pile clearing was particularly impressive!

We then sped back to Bodyline Studios in about 25 minutes, a quick stretch and we were done!! It was such a fun evening and the work we did would have taken one person absolutely ages! So nice one for being such a bunch of legends! I'm already looking forward to next week, hopefully see you all then! Sign up to next week here.