Alan and Kash shopped many times for Mr G as individuals but never as a team - until now! Today's special grocery mission needed two GoodGymers. Alan, as the adult, went to the counter in Chiswick's Sainsbury's to buy some contraband for Mr G - scratchcards, perhaps? In the meantime, Kash was to collect all the other required goods from the supermarket shelves before Alan conquered the queue to the counter, then meet him at the tills. Let the race begin!

Kash knew the layout of aisles with Mr G's favourites by heart - and firmly decided not to be distracted by the sight of pots of reduced-price dhal - yet, Alan caught up with her almost immediately. The only items in the basket so far were cavolo nero, savoy cabbage, breaded chicken breast, breaded cod and chicken & gravy shortcrust pastry pie. It was time to team up again.

While Alan, as the expert on locating Mr G's newest addition to the list, went to hunt down the Taste the Difference Scottish whole rolled jumbo oats (wow, typing the name of that speciality was tougher than 6 km of running during this mission!), Kash found the ready meals. With the protein yoghurts absent from the shopping list this week, the GoodGymers finished the shopping by grabbing a couple of tins of baked beans.

Foreman Michelle's head torch cast a strong beam of light that cut through the darkness in Walpole Park. Her team of four plunged their shovels into bottomless piles of woodchip. The woodchip was to be spread evenly around the bases of oak trees along a path - or at least that was what the team believed in.

Two floodlights and five head torches seemed like a glimmer against the pitch-black night. But Foreman Michelle could see very well whether Alan and Sevan covered the tree roots with the standard 20 cm layer of mulch and whether the amount of woodchip that Steph and Kash loaded each time into the wheelbarrow didn't exceed the acceptable health & safety regulations.

After hitting the target of 8 trees mulched, Michelle decided it was knocking-off time. The team returned the tools to the storage, cleaned the wheelbarrows and set off to their homes for rest as the next day another work shift awaited at Gunnersbury Park.

Having recently returned home from hospital, Mr S is very grateful for GoodGym help at the moment to pick up his essential weekly shopping for him.

Last week's super-conscientious GoodGym shopper had alerted me that I'd probably need to visit the large superstore a few km away from Mr S's flat to get all of the required items. Having already run a fair distance to get there, I wasn't too disappointed when Mr S suggested that I should be able to get all of this week's supplies from the smaller store just down the road.

And so it turned out, except for needing to substitute Mr S's first choice of cake for another type, and one completely absent item: tinned potatoes. Not to be deterred, I popped into several other local shops before store number 4 came up with the goods.

Full shop satisfyingly accomplished, it was back to Mr S with the haul before setting off back on the return leg of the long run.