It was a blustery evening in Chiswick last night, but that didn't stop the 13 runners who knocked out a speedy 6.4k to help out a local charity that supports those with longterm mental health issues.

But first of all we welcomed three whole new lovely members to the group, let's hear it for Ieva, Aysha and https://www.goodgym.org/runners/emmanuel-oyelowo. Give them a cheer!

We also had a another special reason to celebrate last night as it was Will's 50th ever good deed! What a superstar. That's a lot of running, and a whole load of doing good. Well done, Will.

After all that cheering we headed outside to warm up with some dynamic exercises, during which we found out which animal we would all be. There were a couple of cats, a squirrel, a grasshopper, a bird of prey, a rat and a, erm, dragon.

For the first leg of the run we set off at a good pace, stopping only for a few jumping jacks and squats to keep the group together. With an 8 minute mile, we were doing well, so pushed it even faster in the second and got to the Friends of Cathja shop in record time. Waiting for us there was terrifying Bruce the Dog, complete with natty red kerchief, and Karl and Rin who run the shop, which raises money to be able to support local people with mental health illnesses that rely on their help.

Our job tonight was to shift a load of mattresses and furniture from the front of the warehouse to the yard outside, and we got straight to it. Ieva and Emmanuel moved furniture and swept, Matthew, Adam and Andy got those mattresses moving, and Ross could be found teetering on top of a pile of boxes and tables sorting out all the stuff the shop could sell. Meanwhile the rest of the team was efficiently shifting and carrying things to the yard and bin area. 20 minutes later, we were done.

Apart from the grueling HIT session ahead of us, that is. We waved goodbye to Bruce and the shop, and ran the short distance to Waterman's Park where we found a nice spot to work hard. Five hard exercises each for 20 seconds, followed by 15 seconds of high knees, a short rest, then starting again. It was tough going, but the idea is that short, high intensity, high effort bursts of exercise are fantastic for burning fat, increasing cardio capacity and endurance. While that was enough for most of the group, Andy, Adam and Will stayed behind to complete Will's 50th challenge, which involved three sprints, 25 push ups and 25 press ups, before running to catch us up on the way back.

It was getting windier, which as Michelle pointed out was just good resistance training, and after a good steady run back to Chiswick Town Hall, we stretched out what was a fantastic but tough session. Then, because we had truly earned it, and it was a celebratory night after all, pub. Well done everybody, and welcome to the group for those whose first run it was. Hope to see you all next week for some more doing good, a shorter run, and of course a whole load of squats.

On Monday night 17 runners headed down to Stepney City Farm from the Town Hall Hotel. A nice mix of first with GoodGym runners, first time Tower Hamlets runners and familiar faces made the 2km run down to the farm where we met Simon and a collection of goats, pigs and ducks.

We split into two teams, one to start on the huge pile of compost that had built up since our last visit, the other to empty a pond. With loads to do we stayed on site for early 50 minutes, slightly curtailing our run home, but with the satisfied knowledge of a task well done.

We then split into 3 groups to head back to base with the help of Bryon, Andrew and Alison via different routes, at different paces.

Until next time!

First of all a big big welcome to our first timers this evening: Pip, Will, Christina, Amanda and Laura. Great to have you all along.

New Barnet trainer Pennie was on the scene tonight leading proceedings in preparation for the GoodGym Barnet launch tonight.

Following the briefing and the look of amazement on Pennie's face as the group pointed out that she had a whistle attached to her rucksack, we set off on our two tasks. Aidan and Patrick were in charge of taking a team up to Caxton House to carry on with what we started last week. Aidan describes what went down:

5 Goodgymers took the challenge of a longer and faster run. We set off just after Patrick's group but immediately detoured to do a lap of Highbury fields, with the noise of a Corbyn rally in the background. We started as we meant to go on, at a nice fast pace. Taking the usual route past Emirates where we enjoyed the late night sun and of course the gentle incline all the way to Caxton!

We made it there with a great pace, but sweaty and out of breath, and Rose put us to work. Today's jobs were a second coat on the benches we painted last week and continuing to de-weed the brick path. With Patrick's group close behind us (we had beat them there of course!) we soon had a sea of red painting the benches a duck egg blue and plenty of weeds flying in the air.

Still plenty to do at Caxton House, so I'm sure we will be back next week to see the lovely Rose again. For the run back we gained Dan who wanted to join and also suggested a sneaky detour to Emirates. Everyone had the option: 1/3 lap run or 2/3 spartlek and of course everyone chose the harder 2/3 option!

Great group run guys!

Aidan

And Pennie led the rest of us to Barnsbury Community Centre.

We spent a good 25 minutes on a variety of tasks: adding compost to hanging planters, watering the plants, getting rid of some nasty weeds and painting pallets.

Post-task Pennie took everybody through their paces with a variety of drills and exercises: high-knees, planks and a gruesome squat/tuck jump combination was on offer. Barnet are gonna get pretty fit!

We (almost) broke tradition and had a cheesecake instead of biscuits tonight (but cheesecake does have a biscuit base). It tasted pretty good post-run. We also debated whether cheesecake is cheese or a cake (thank you, Caroline). A few voted for cheese, Steve abstained, some said pudding/dessert, but the majority reckoned it was a cake. Yum

Pennie will see you tonight and we'll see you back in Islington next week.

Simon

30 GoodGymmers and two tasks this evening.

Woodchips On The Old Block

Ten gallant goodgymers ran the 3.5 kilometers up to Girdlestone Gardening Club to continue our gardening tasks but arrived to find our host, Jan, stuck in the mulch in her wheelchair totally unable to move!

Like superheroes in a cheap American comic book from the 1940s we set to work freeing the damsel in distress and saving the day, or at least her evening. Heroics completed our real work for the evening began, weeding, tidying and most importantly the reduction of the level of the wood-chips to stop the wheelchair sticking problem reoccurring.

Job done, we raced down Archway road to arrive back at the baths exactly on time for a good stretch and a well deserved biscuit. Unfortunately the biscuit giver (name supplied on request) showed none of the loyalty expected from his heroic team and gave the entire other group their biscuits first. This was a blot on an otherwise excellent but standard Monday evening in Islington. Up, up and away.

Steve

The rest of us were over to Barnsbury Community Centre for a mix of jobs:

Sofa So Good

A few of us had to construct a sofa. The group grabbed the box with all the parts in and found the cushions easily enough, but couldn't find anything else. After much searching around and failed phonecalls they finally discovered the missing parts stashed away within the cushions themselves!

As a bonus a display stand was also made. Amazing what you find in a sofa these days.

Living In A Box

Alex also found something else in the box

Tile And Error

Another team had the job of laying white floor tiles out in reception. It took a little while to figure out exactly where the tiles had to go, but they did a terrific job.

Paint The Toilets Red

Caroline and Vicki put a second coat of GoodGym red paint on the cubicle doors in the ladies. Much less clearing up this week thanks to throwing the brushes away afterwards. It's looking very red in there.

Vinyl Messi

First timers to GoodGym Bella, Xun and Bryony were joined by Lizzie and had the easiest job of all: sticking a large sheet of yellow vinyl to the reception desk. OK, I lied, it was the most fidgety job ever. But they persevered and broke the back of it.

The Vinyl Countdown

While the vinyl team - now with a few additions - struggled for the last five minutes, the rest of us went into the main hall and did a circle of circuits: we stood in a ring and took turns to pick an exercise, alternating "easy" and hard ones. Burpees, plank, lunges, sit ups and squat jumps were just a few of the delights on offer this evening.

Nicely worked-out we grabbed the vinylers and headed back to the pool in two groups where the Girdlestone gang were waiting for us.

The Grass Is Always Greener

While munching biccies we voted on the best running surface: grass, running track, road, mud or woodchip. Grass won it, so everybody has to go out for a nice run on some cool wet grass this week.

Patrick is leading the group next week. Be there
Simon