This week 17 wonderful GoodGym-ers ran 6km to paint a carehome's garden furniture

This is a very special week for GoodGym Barnet. Not only is it our 20th group run! (Applause) But it's also Hazel's 50th good deed. Give her a cheer!

We were joined by GG newbie Thais tonight, who totally smashed her first run with us! Be sure to click her name and give her a cheer!

After a quick warm up and intro outside the Phoenix Cinema we were off on our journey to Dell Fields to finish painting the garden furniture. I stalled for a couple of minutes to wait for Simon who was visiting us from Islington (with CHEESECAKE), but we decided to text him the route so he could catch up. Damian lead the group out while Paul was our trusty back-marker. This gave me the opportunity to float about in the middle and talk to loads of you!

On the final stretch a man stopped me to ask GoodGym and seemed very excited to hear we ran regularly and did good. He promised to tell his wife, so hopefully we see her next week! (This is a great reason to make sure you're wearing your GoodGym shirt!)

As we arrived at the carehome, so did Simon, who must have been running behind us just out of sight!

The group quickly took on sanding and painting roles as we finished varnishing the chairs from our last visit. As GG-ers slowly finished their tasks, they were treated to some strength and mobility drills up the garden path. There were duck walks, bear walks, hops and squats, while the others put in those finishing touches. Then it was a quick tidy, before heading out front for a very brief round of exercise before our run back.

We split into two groups to head home, with Damian, Freya and Paul taking the speedy lot back, and me and Hazel leading the slightly less speedy group.

Back at base there was stretching, cheesecake and, of course, biscuits.

The Barnet Biscuit of the Week: HOMEMADE BISCUITS courtesy of super TF member Heather, who couldn't run with us tonight but still baked us cookies!

We also had a bonus #BarnetBiscuit in the form of cheesecake from Simon AND oreos from Del. There were so many post-run snacks this week we didn't get to the oreos, so Freya has been tasked with keeping those safe for us until next week. Biscuit-sitting is a tough job. Let's hope she doesn't accidentally eat them all after one of her many runs (she's already don't over 60km this month)... Be sure to link strava up with your GG profile so your runs get counted in the heroes section too.

Don't forget we have a starter session THIS SATURDAY at Community Focus in Friary Park at 2pm. It'll be less running than a usual GG run, so definitely one to tell your friends about if they're a bit nervous about keeping up on the group runs. There will also be some running drills and some gardening. And probably biscuits. Meet at the community centre. Sign up here

And be sure to bring along your ID to the next group run or starter session so we can get you mission verified! Just need to see some photo ID and an official letter of some sort with your address on it and a date within three months. Two of one and one of the other. So, for example, a passport, a driver's license and a bank statement from less than 3 months ago – or a passport, a utility bill and a bank statement. We need lots of runners to help Ms F on 22 Jan, so if you're already mission verified you can sign up here.

See you on Saturday!

Pennie

15 GoodGym-ers ran a total of 4.5km to help a care home with a rather unusual task.

It was great to see so many GG-ers at this week’s run, particularly so many newbies! Massive shout out to Jess, Jeff and Nicola who came along for the first time – be sure to give them a cheer on the GG website! (Click their names – you can support each other from each others profiles, too.) Also a big welcome to Tejeswita and Dan who joined the Barnet crew this week from other boroughs. It was such a treat to see so many new faces! (It's also very much a treat to see so many of the same faces, so keep coming back.)

Jess actually decided to come along after seeing the GoodGym BBC feature this week, so that’s exciting! I’m pleased it worked!

Dorian was the first GG-er to join me this week, followed soon after by the rest of the gang. As it was halloween this week, Hazel brought along her cape, which Damian wore beautifully as he lead us up the Bishop’s Avenue to the Nightingale Hammerson care home.

We were greeted by 6 wonderful residents and activities coordinator Chris, who even provided a box of chocolates to share. Our task this evening was to hang out with the residents and tell them about what we do; we came by a few weeks ago to clean out their shed and they were very curious about us. Thank you to Freya and Heather for helping with photo-taking duties. I think today might be the first week I have GG Barnet pictures I’m actually in, apart from Long Lane Pasture! That’s a treat. For me, anyway.

It was a really nice task. Being able to have a direct impact on somebody’s day is a really nice thing and these women were all so pleased to see us. I gave a quick intro into GoodGym Barnet and GG more generally, before the rest of you wonderful runners explained a bit more. We then spent about half an hour chatting and sharing stories. The care home is being cleared at the moment for an upgrade and residents are slowly moving to other facilities, so there aren’t too many people left. Chris said this was the busiest the living room had been for quite some time and thanked us lots for coming and filling it with so much positivity.

She then offered us the common room to do our fitness session in before our run back to base, which was a massive treat! Exercising on carpet is definitely much nicer than tarmac and meant we could do a loads of fun exercises like burpies and squat walkouts. I know everybody loves burpies, secretly. And just look how high Hazel was getting in the picture above! BOOM

We did some squat and side-lunge walks followed by three rounds of full-body strength and conditioning exercises. There was a focus on core strength, because a strong core makes for all the difference as you take on those longer runs.

We then said our goodbyes and headed back to base, taking a slightly longer route home. Special thanks to Teje, Jess, Heather and Jeff for keeping me company at the back of the pack tonight.

After a quick stretch, Damian whipped out the homemade pumpkin seed flapjacks he brought along, which everybody agreed were yummy.

This week’s Barnet Biscuit of the Week is: Party Rings. Classic.

Freya has requested next week we find some ice gems. I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

Don’t forget this Saturday is the GG Parkrun tour in Oakhill Park, which means it’s on our turf. So we should all go! It’ll be great if you can make it down. The run starts at 9am, there’s no pressure if you wanna go fast or you wanna go slow. If you’d like to sort your DBS checks out, bring your docs along and I’ll do it afterwards.

And Sunday is Zombie Evac. We’re in the 10am wave, so meet at Allianz Park at 9.30 to sort ourselves out. I’ve been offered a free ticket if anyone wants it in exchange for writing a review. They offered it to me too late and I’ve already bought mine! Book here if you wanna play.

Sign up for next week’s task here. We’ll be running to do good nearby. It’ll be fun and good and I’ll reveal more soon.

More pics to be added soon! Just waiting on the ladies to say it's ok.

25 energised GoodGymers ran 6k to the Mabley Green user group to load, shift and tip 1 tonne of mulch on to the bases of 50 baby trees on Mabley Green.

Awesome to have so many new faces tonight!! Hope you all had a top time and really hope to see you all again next week! (If you have any questions please drop me a mail). It was also great to see Kev visiting from Bristol for the evening.

With so many of you running it'll be great to see you come along to the Regents Park 10k on the 6th of November!! All the information about the race and link to enter can be found here. See you there!!

A powerful 3k run down to Mabley Green with a little pause for a a few targeted lower-body dynamic warm-up exercises saw us make good time on one of our longer GoodGym runs.

We picked up a troop of wheelbarrows and army of Spaces then marched back to Mabley Green to get cracking!! 35 dominant minutes of speedily loading the mulch in to the barrows before the pusher burst in to action running 150m to the trees to tip the mulch carefully on to the optimal spots, guided by Jonny from the Mabley Green User group, before sprinting back and going again. We rotated jobs to keep the pace high and got in a little Fitness Fun in the kids play park doing a military style assault course and body weight strength exercises before rotating back in to the Mulch Party.

In 35 quick-fire minutes we moved a cubic tonne of mulch and Jonny said it would have taken his team a whole weekend to get that much done!! Awesome effort!! Look forward to coming back in a few weeks to finish off the pile.

We split up in to groups for the run back the Sexy group led to perfection by Peter, who got us underway, and were chased down by some speedy running from the Speedy Crew to the Race back to Base!!.

A few static stretches and a naughtily loud round of applause finished off a great evening!!

Be great to see you all next week when we go back to our Monster Project at Core CIC to paint and clear out way to GoodGym Greatness!! Please sign up here and come along to some great Fun on a Run

Smooth shovelling

Joel

24 Illuminated Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to Abney Park Cemetery to clear vegetation and fill graves!!

After a successful weekend of racing for Team Hackney with amazing performances from Rich and Ros in the Richmond Runfest Half marathon the group was on great spirts and couldn't wait to meet some GoodGym newbies!

Knowing that the darkness was descending quickly and that we had one of our longer runs we got going sharpish!! Navigating our way through the back streets towards Stoke Newington we even had the pleasure of a ride by from Paul the Camden trainer (if you are still feeling fresh why not try out Camden tonight? Just make sure you come back to Hackney next week!). Keeping the crew together was made easier than normal with the amazing poor run of luck we had with the lights! I would like to think it was the ghosts of Abney Park Cemetery just making it a bit darker to add a little fear for the grave task ahead!

After a strong 3k run we arrived to meet Tom where we grabbed a wheel barrow donned a head touch (if we had one) and got to work! Great to have the unmistakable Hackney Coach Runner Rep Andreana back in the fold and reminded us all why we had missed her much when she abandoned the wheel barrow after 100m as it was going to slow her down and went for the single shovel of earth sprints method (for a little while anyway) in its place.

We created a few great working pods with shovelers making huge digging dents in the huge pile of woodchip loading up the wheel barrows before the pushers doing a running loop tipping the woodchip into the Sunken graves before looping back around and loading up again! We also had a few runners on vegetation clearing, especially excited were Lucy and Annie who got to clear logs from a grave site while searching for frogs!

After 30 minutes of great work helping one of London's Magnificent 7 cemeteries we had done a top job moving a huge 2 tonnes of wood chip and soil, clearing 50 logs from over grown graves and petted a couple of frogs. This helped to keep the levels of the sunken graves up and ensuring the park remains amazing and beautiful.

After a big thank you from Tom, we set off on our way back to base picking up the pace for the 3k run back. Great running performances from everyone, great to see the fitness improving from our consistent regular runners!

A series our static stretches and a silent round of applause finished off a fun evening!

It was a fond farewell to ** Kevin and Kirsty** who have been great Hackney GoodGymers but Kirsty is moving away to take over the world while Kevin is going to using is volunteering time for a new project. Thank you for all your hard work and enthusiasm, you will both me missed!! Hopefully you will come and see us again soon.

Next week we return to Abney Park for some gravel path creation! Wheelbarrows will be in full force again as we build a path using special gravel which stays firm through the winter months. Please sign up here. If you have one or are thinking of buying one a Head torch would be pretty useful thing to bring.

Until next time

Smooth shovelling

Joel

15 warm and sweaty GoodGymers ran 5k to Gascoyne Estate community garden and carried 25 insanely heavy wooden boards, 200 bricks and a tonne of gravel on an epic evening of Fun on the Run.

Meeting in bright hot sunshine was a little unexpected but made for a lovely warm evening and helped keep the effort levels really high throughout the session! We were joined by Ed, Bina and Ollie for their first ever GoodGym run and hope to see you all again next week for some more Team Hackney action!! We celebrated the great Team Hackney turnout at the launch of the GoodGym/Parkrun partnership at Mile End Parkrun, including a new GoodGym course record for our super speedster (and pun master this week) Rich.

Setting off on the 2 and a bit K run to Gascoyne estate we taking in the sites of Victoria Park Village while leg swinging, lunging and skipping elegantly our way to a mobilising dynamic warm up as we travelled down the road. Sticking together as we made our way across Well Street common we entered Gascoyne Estate to meet Cerdic who explained about the epic lifting and carrying task as well as the community garden. The garden set in the heart of the estate is run by a legion of volunteers and grows a multitude of plants, vegetables, fruits and herbs half of which are given away to good causes. We got to work by recceing the route to the skip which we had all missed on the run in, then grabbing the first of many loads of bricks and running them back to the garden. We then set about the big Challenge for the evening, Team carrying rain drenched 25 huge thick wooden boards! It was a real graft as we hauled the boards 200m through the estate to the skip. On the way back from the the board run (drag) we supper setted the workout by carrying bricks from different locations on the estate back to the garden. As the boards disappeared in to the skip we had just enough time for a quick blast in carrying 25kg bags of gravel and sand to the bins in a race against time before the bags disintegrated and exploded! We got our creative and ingenious heads on to workout the be best way to carry these heavy but delicate bags. We employed the metal mesh method, mini wooden board stretched, old fashioned over the shoulder and pray technique and with a supreme effort from Ed some monster Wheel Barrow loads.

Finishing in the nick of time we said goodbye to Cerdic who thanked us for our super hard work and set off on the run back to base! We started off by splitting into 2 groups and working a kilometre worth of Indian File running where the person at the back put in a burst of pace to get to the front and repeated. We gathered for the second Kilometre of running effort on the Fartlek lamppost intervals where we alternated running hard and easy between lamppost all the way up Victoria Park Road. A top effort and some speedy bursts saw us fly back to base in perfect time for a static stretch out and silent round of applause.

Thank you to Peter for some pictures and have a top holiday!

Good luck and enjoy all your racing and training for the rest of the week! Look forward to seeing how you are going on Strava!

Next week we are off to a favourite task of ours, Abney Park Cemetery! We will be clearing a heap of vegetation and then sewing so oh so pretty wild flower seeds! Be amazing to have you along for the session! Please sign up here

We will be off on our monthly social after next weeks run so please come along for a bite to eat and extra special as it is a GoodGym Hackney goodbye to Kirstywho will be leaving us as she moves up to Manchester!

Smooth Flow

Joel

15 super GoodGymers ran 5k to Gillet Square to wash down and hose down the amazing oversized adventure kids play equipment.

A super sweaty night in H Town saw the Crew begin with a huge congratulations for a number of Weekend Running PB's before setting out on a moving dynamic warm up as we lunged, skipping and leg swung across London Fields.

We navigated 2k through the Hackney backstreets and down Ridley Road market to outdoor energy hub of Hackney, Gillett Square! We were met by Hoola hoopers, skate boarders, as well as many interested onlookers. We grabbed the key to the container and got to work, unloading the massive kids play equipment and carrying it 100 meters to the hose pipe. Special big up to Kyla for not only running to the shop to get cleaning stuff but amazingly sourcing buckets to aid us hugely in the scrubbing endeavours. With ** Hadrien's** Herculean efforts to carry the kit over to the rest of the team and Eva's expert hosing the rest of the Team got busy scrubbing the kit down using the patterned Team Hackney production line method!

The kit was being washed, rinsed and stacked at a serious pace much to the appreciation of the Gillett Square onlookers, in 30 minutes we had completed the cleaning of 25 huge pieces of kit and we just had time to restack the kit back in the container before heading.

On the feel GoodGym high we decided to throw in some more Fitness Fun on the way back to base, so we took a detour to DeBeauvoir square to run in circles! Splitting into relay teams we fed our legs all the speed they wanted to with some excellent half and full laps of the urban track. 5 minutes of continuous Rep, Rest and Repeat saw us earn a steady trot back to base to take the total running up to a fantastic 5k for the evening.

A few static stretches and a Balletic spin saw us finish off a top session!!

Look forward to seeing you all again next week! Please sign up here as we take on an epic physical task on the Gascoyne Estate community garden!

Also a big call to everyone who is available on Saturday to come to the GoodGym/Parkrun partnership launch at Mile End Parkrun! All the info and sign up to the task is here. If you are a bit tight on time but fancy a Saturday morning run why not come along and just run the Parkrun?? Be great to see you there especially if you are GoodGym T-Shirted up!

Spinning Smooth

Joel

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