Into November we arrive off the back of some lovely run-volunteering vibes last night. Just the 10 heroes last night, as we've negotiated a little hiccup in numbers of late, something I'm sure we can reverse through this month. It might be cold and dark outside, but not once you're running, chatting, weeding, laughing and shovelling shit into wheel barrows. These activities warm up your soul.

Our topical Random Weekly Question, "What's your favourite scary film?" extracted a range of gory, freaky, nightmarish movies. Most of which I haven't seen, thankfully. Gothica, Baby Rosemeary, Carrie, Scream, Blair Witch Project, Halloween (the original), Red Dragon and the best answer: Blood Diamond. Evidently Ruth's scary film parameter's are a little different to others - and I respect that.

The long haul over to the allotments flew by with chatting, running past a large mob of youths with empty egg containers on the floor I expected an onslaught of yolky slime. Luckily they saw the red GG t-shirts and must've thought twice. Transpires they even gave out sweets to the back group - remarkably mannered young kids - there's hope yet.

We powered through some weeding, lay down some cardboard to quell the new weedy shoots, shovelled lots of animal crap onto the raised beds then bagged up the residual green waste. It was efficient. It was hands on. It was a bit dirty (surprisingly not smelly). And it was hugely helpful to Jane, who runs the plot, she looked sincerely inspired "you run here, do this, then run back, that's inspiring".

Most of you made the journey back by foot, making it a massive midweek mileage, 11k, that'll really boost endurance and importantly develop confidence.

We celebrated GGN's 4th b'day with a couple drinks in Neighborhood, I spouted the work done stats again...bloody impressive, though I may be only one to take such joy from these numbers. *The equivalent work of one person working flat out 24 hour days for 65 days

Come on, that's good!

Next week we're at Manorfield - hope we'll make it a forceful numbers display from our fantastic group. Sign up here

Have a tip-top week and see you beauts in 6 days

B

Sun-kissed scenes in Newham yesterday, with a longer endurance building and fat shredding run, 17 fine folk came along to put something back into the community. What's not to like?

It quickly became apparent that I incorrectly described this as a 6k run, this wasn't some punishing psychological coaching tactic, but a small blunder. Everyone took the news in their stride, pardon the pun, and embraced the extra time on feet. We didn't set off before doing our random weekly question, a recycled one, but a goody "what's you favourite biscuit?". All the classics in there plus a few rogue ones. Kev's lemon puffs, I need to try these, I reckon Kev knows.

So down The Greenway we travelled, with the powerful sun energising us towards Parkside Gardens. We arrived to a well earned glass of water, then began three tasks. Clearing a massively overgrown weeded section, with the object of unearthing a polly-tunnel - success. Weeding another area, then getting some matting down and wood chip on top - success. Also carefully uprooting more weeds in a large planter, scrupulously tracing their roots and plucking them out - success. I just got a text off Jane, she's absolutely delighted with your efforts, can't sing your praises enough. Blimmin' marvelous effort guys.

Last Wednesday of the month means one thing: social. Hence we all descended on Pitch, but with no food and no CO2 (no draught) we quickly regretted not going to Roof East. So we drank up , went to our favourite roof bar for a beer and some grub. THE END.

See some of you beauties on Saturday (GG Olympics) - the rest of you next week. We are on another new task - adopting a section of canal. Should be ace, I reckon we might even start hitting 20 people again....come on!

Until then

B

Another sun-blushed Wednesday eve in and around London's flatlands. With a new unquestionably worthwhile task just beyond The Greenway horizon, 12 gallant GoodGymers entered the scene.

Eugene rolled up for his first session, after a nudge from his friend Hilary. As first sessions go it was certainly taxing on the running front, so top work for getting off the mark this week. Do you have anyone who you'd think would like to get a little fitter and better the community en-route? Bring them on down.

Weekly Random Question - "What superhero would you be?" For some this constituted a philosophical question - what is a super hero? For others, THOR! The question also exposed the dearth of superwomen characters, but you guys found a few Catwoman, Superwoman, a Game of Thrones super heroine, Ruth's mum and the Pink Power Ranger.

Post chatter, we embarked on the first half of GoodGym Newham's longest run, 3.5 miles each way. LONG HAUL. It was worth it though, we reached the allotment in the magic hour, with a radiant golden glow dripping off the sun. Jane and Jamie were there to meet us. They explained how the space is used to help mentally unwell people, to great effect. And you can see why. Lush tall plants soothe the eyes with an olfactory buffet on offer too. We weeded for 35 - 40mins straight. I hope the pictures do your work justice, as it was a wholly satisfying visual turnaround. Eugene found some baby carrots, I ate some very bitter rocket, Hilary fond a worm...everyone else did a might fine job too. We'll be going back here, end of June.

We jogged back home towards the Orbital, running over 10k in a session is not to be scoffed at. Especially considering the work in the middle. A true fitness booster of a session, in the endurance sense, helping you go longer in all your other activities - classy stuff guys.

James' 50th session was a real corker. Kudos to the man, he's reached the awesome milestone rapidly. Week in and week out, rolling up and helping out. A real stalwart now J, here's to another 50.

If one new session wasn't enough for you....we've got another next week, courtesy of Mel. Doing some gardening for a Dementia Centre, more invaluable local hands on help. Get involved and sign up here

Have a corking end of week and see you all in 6 days

B