12 GoodGymers ran 9km to deliver flyers for the WANDerful charity WAND UK

Well that was one scorcher of an Easter bank holiday weekend! The t-shirts and shorts are finally out from everyones drawers...and good job too since it was a very warm evening for our long run up to, and back from WAND UK. A big welcome to Lucy who joined us for her first GoodGym run - hope you enjoyed it and hopefully see you again soon! - and a big thank you to my regulars for coming along and resisting the lure of ice creams, and pub gardens!

The weekly news to amuse

1. April London Long Run - Wimbledon Common & Putney Heath - join Catriona this Saturday from 10.30am as she leads a scenic run loop around Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath (10km & 17km run options available), followed by lunch!
2. London Marathon Cheering - on Sunday put on your red GG tee & come down to Victoria Embankment, behind Somerset House (around mile 25) to give all the marathon runners a BIG cheer, especially our very own, Helen!! The more noise the better! Good luck to Helen & everyone else running.
3. GoodGym Olympics 2019- represent H&F on Saturday 3rd August in events from the Egg & Spoon to 5000m!
4. Jonny's Marathon Article - have a read about Mr Jonny Knight's first marathon experience at Manchester!

As a special treat this week, you're spared from any more of my waffle and have the aforementioned Mr Jonny Knight's take on the evening!...it's a good'un & will have you laughing from the first line! Have a fab week and hopefully see you at the weekend.

Over to you Jonny...

The sun was still in the sky, they put their red t-shirt’s on which seemed to have a mirrored illustration on them of a recycling symbol and the word ‘GoodGym’. It must be the dreamy silent heroes from the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, out to do good and who is this with them? In a 2017 Great North Run Finisher shirt, she must mean business, it was Lucy on her first GoodGym Group Run.

After they had warmed up their typical running formation resumed, one team running as one, tackling the obstacles that this urban jungle threw at them, Jason Cheung made sure no one was left behind, which is their way of saying “no one gets run over at GoodGym”.

Around 4 kilometres later they arrived at the St Charles Centre for Health and Wellbeing where the group was given an array of flyers explaining that WAND UK, was not a stick used to conjure spells but a charity that addresses the problems facing women in isolated and excluded communities through drop-in sessions, outreach services and networking events.

Task number 1 was to combine the different flyer types into a single pack that could be placed through letterboxes. Tom Clough reminisced about his time as a paperboy, an occupation worthy of a spot on his CV, especially as he was in his element here.

They headed on to Latimer Road as per WANDs request, there is a housing estate there called Lancaster West, which you will see actually looks like a ‘W’ from above, for the next WAND flyering mission they will be covering flat blocks that at least look like an ampersand.

The group split into three teams, and there was a short amount of time to fill letterboxes with flyers. How did they get in? They are heroes... they walked through the front door after explaining to the residents that they were a charity, helping a charity.

To cut a long story short, they regrouped and ran back, but with their heads held high that they did good in the community on this fine summers evening and then Jonny Knight agreed to write his first Run Report, and thought a third person narrative would make him look fly-er.

16 fantastic GoodGymers ran 9.58km to help raise awareness for WAND

We started the night off with the usual welcome speech. Including details of the social next week at Queen’s Head and of course the week’s task. This week, we were back to Wand’s office in St Charles Hospital pick up flyers and deliver in nearby estates Raymede and Dalgarno.

A spring in our step

It was a treat to start the run off with a warm-up in the daylight - Spring had finally arrived. Then we headed up north as a one big group and everyone happy at the same pace so we only had the traffic lights for stops.

Once we got to the hospital, Jerusa welcomed us at the office and gave the group a little overview of WAND’s amazing free services for women. More on that here. We would be helping raise awareness through delivering flyers about their services and multi-language mental wellness service.

The runners managed to cover all of 17 floors in the Raymede tower in no time. So then we headed to quickly over to the Dalgarno. Getting access to the buildings slowed our process at this estate, in spite of that the gang manged to delivering where they could. To check no one was still roaming the estate we gathered together for a headcount before setting off on the return run.

This week we celebrated International Day of Happiness by learning some new things, running 7.6km and celebrating with cake.

So we started the night off a bit differently - by writing down things that make us happy. Suggestions included swimming, doing something to make others smile and good company.

Action for Happiness says there are 10 keys ingredients to happier living.

Here how we ticked them off on our group run.

1 - Do things for others

We were delivering flyers for Wand UK. A tiny, yet fantastic charity who addresses the problems facing women in isolated and excluded communities through drop-in sessions, outreach services and networking events.

2 - Connect with people

11 of us ran together as a group, catching up as usual with how everyone’s week had been and welcomed Catriona who is new to the area, but not Goodgym.

3 - Take care of your body

Our gentle run took us to the World’s End Estate. one group even ran up the 16 floors of the tower blocks to deliver the WAND leaflets and Goodgym mission flyers.

4 - Live mindfully

After our warm-up, we tried experiencing a mindful run. For the first five minutes we ran in silence tuning into how our bodies were feeling and see where our thoughts wondered to. Tom said 5 mins wasn’t long enough.

5 - Keep learning

On the way back from the task, we tried out different running techniques. Keeping our fingers pointed forward and arms not crossing the body on the flat. Driving our arms running up hill and then leaning a bit forward going down the hill.

6 - Goals to look forward to

We talked briefly about running goals being a great aim to work towards. Having a regular event like Goodgym is a great way to form a healthy habit and stay on course.

7 - Find ways to be resilient

Running is great for many things. It actually helps lower stress, boosts mental wellness and builds up physical strength.

8 - Look for what’s good

At the end of the run, our last task was to think of something that we appreciated today. Practicing gratitude is a great way of training the brain to be focus on positives.

9 - Be comfortable with who you are

Not something I can teach on a run, but hopefully joining a Goodgym run is where someone can feel themselves - as it seems to attract such nice people.

10 - Be part of something bigger

Our run was just part of the hundreds of good deeds now being done by Goodgym runners across the country. Be it on group runs like ours, on missions or coach running.

Well done everyone and happy running.

PSB OUT.

10 runners ran 8.1km to help promote the amazing support services Wand UK offers to women. This week’s task was following on from the previous week’s helping them raise awareness on estates across the borough.

You can’t say we’re not social

Socials were the main news of this week’s intro speech, with the Goodgym wide on on Thursday in Greenwich and our one next week. After the briefing we headed outside for a warm-up that concludes with a quick game of stuck in the mud.

Then it was time to run 4km south to The Cremorne Estate. Unlike most of our usual scenic backstreets routes, this one took us on a tour of the main roads. Not quite so pretty, but some nice long stretches without crossing the road.

Once we arrived at the estate the gang got split down the middle - 5 took the lefthand side of the estate and 5 took the right armed with flyers about Wand’s and their well-being course, plus some GoodGym mission flyers too.

Like Piccadilly Circuits

Everyone met back at 8.05pm outside the World’s End pub for a circuits session. Using a big curved bench to workout arms, abs and leg stability. After that we headed back almost the same route (4.1k) and a much needed warm down.

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas...

Wait, hang on, it’s February. One could be mistaken for thinking from this week’s photos that it was the holiday season. The day saw snow blow in from the East and 4 brave runners turn up in the evening to diligently deliver leaflets. The flyers were to raise awareness of Wand UK, a local service that aids isolated women in the community by providing assess and support with mental wellbeing, sexual health, domestic abuse advice, volunteering and computer skills.

To boldly go where snow man has gone before

So, we started the night off with a task and special icey pavement briefing. Then a heads up on the Gg social on Thurs 8th in Greenwich and our next the h&f social on 13th March. After that we headed outside for a quick warmup. Our usual spot was snowed over so instead we ran back and forth in the shelter of the car park.

Limbs ready, it was time to investigate the pavements. Immediately outside the gym and then Hammersmith tube was actually the worst bit under foot. We continued to shout out the dodgy looking spots for the rest of the run between nattering about holidays and races. Something along the lines of: “oh yes, Rome, it's lovely, ICE, must visit the Colosseum, DODGY BIT, love coffee there too, WATCH OUT”

Once we arrived at Wand’s offices at St Charles’ hospital our fingers had a welcome thaw out as Gladys told the new runners what Wand does. We then grabbed a big bunch of leaflets and flyers to deliver this week and next. One promoted Wand’s general services and one covered their bi-lingual mental wellbeing service. We said goodbye to Gladys and headed over the road to Treverton tower block. We managed to do the whole block in 10mins and then it was already time to head back as it had taken so long to get there and get the flyers.

An ice long run down North pole road

The home run seemed to us all to go quicker than the run out. Maybe it was because we were more confident with the new terrain or it had melted a bit. The vote is still out on that.

Safe and happy running, PSB OUT

Third time's a charm.

After our last two planned tasks for the night had got scuppered, we finally had a task no one could cancel. We had a bulk of leaflets left over from a previous week that still needed delivering. These flyers were helping promote Wand's Project that provides support for people affected by the Grenfell Disaster. Gladys at Wand was quick to think on her feet just hours before we were due to meet and asked us to visit the Charecroft and Edward Wood Estates.

Let the festivities commence

There was a festive fancy dress theme for the evening. Ellie worn some fairy lights around her head and Jason had a very striking outfit (see the photos). After getting a group photo in front of the Christmas tree we set off towards Charecroft estate.

We almost couldn’t get into the buildings at first because the don’t allow people in to drop flyers. However once the security guard had heard about the project he was very impressed and allowed us in.

Then with flyers the spare we headed over the Edward Wood Estate, where we managed to deliver throughout Stebbing house .

After that it was once round Shepherd's Bush park before heading back to base. There Jason was crowned best ‘fancy' dressed and was rewarded with a edible Santa trophy. We had a big Secret Santa swap and Justine got the perfect present... a head torch (that will help make the pavements be a bit less treacherous for her knees..).

Festive fun and farewells

There was more festive fun afterwards when we went on to Bill's for a lovely Christmas dinner// December Social. There were crackers, bad jokes and tasty food. Plus, and farewell speech for Will who was moving back up North. Will has been coming regularly to Goodgym Hammersmith and Fulham since he moved to London in April. He’s been a fantastic addition to the gang and will be greatly missed. Make sure you give him a cheer when he comes back for the London Marathon.