21 Month Streak
0 Month Streak
65 Month Streak
Sessions listed
Sessions led
Sessions backmarked
Walks led
Sessions photographed
Reports written
Block or report Alan Armstrong
Wed 1st Oct at 6:30pm
Hounslow Report written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
Racing celebrations, a huge task under the light of a beautiful moon, and a star turn from a rarely spotted inhabitant of Chiswick House made for a great Wednesday night at GoodGym Hounslow!
Thanks to Michelle for leading the warm up, before we kicked off the evening with a short run to our regular task. We were fresh off the back of some great races at the weekend - a huge well done to Chris, Tish, Matt, Eloise and Steph for a fantastic run at the Vitality 10km, and to Alan and Florian for smashing the Ealing Half!
We arrived at a secret door to meet Chiswick House gardener Chris, who took us to a new spot or the group - the bee hives. The bees produce honey which is sold in the shop to raise money for the charity, and they want to make the area more accessible for school kids. Enter GoodGym!
The aim of the game was to remove all the undergrowth and anything else that was getting in the way. Everything had to go to create a new pathway, and with the green flag from Chris to adopt a scorched earth policy, we got to work!
We pulled, lopped and cleared, slowly but surely revealing a large area of land. Half way through the task, our mystery guest made an appearance - well done to Ariane for safely uncovering and rehoming a gorgeous hedgehog! He was in very safe hands, and was soon happily snuffling his way back to the woods.
By the end the task the area was truly transformed, great work everybody. We ran and walked back to base, where there was the option of a static core workout using the benches by the rockery. We worked our obliques, lower back and abs with a series of (slightly damp) exercises.
Next week we're off to Harvard Hill for some more gardening - please bring headtorches if you have them as this is a dark task.
Fri 3rd Oct at 5:00pm
Wed 1st Oct at 6:30pm
Sun 28th Sep at 9:00am
Ealing Report written by StephDucat
4500 runners hit the roads of Ealing to complete 13.1 miles on Sunday. We went, we ran and we finished supported by the locals and looked after by our lovely volunteers. Well done to Harvey, Adam, Alan, Florian and Steph Ducat for completing the half marathon in the borough.
Thu 18th Sep at 2:00pm
Hounslow Report written by Alan Armstrong
Trip out to Hounslow this afternoon, to shop for Ms J whose recent illness means she is housebound. Her shopping list was fairly straightforward but the high proportion of bottled liquids meant it turned out to be one of the heavier GoodGym shopping loads. Carrying the shopping back in the warm afternoon weather was a good workout.
Ms J was delighted to have her kitchen and bathroom fully stocked again.
Wed 17th Sep at 6:30pm
Hounslow Report written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
What we lost in distance last night we more than made up for in productivity, positive impact and a bumper balancing session!
Our task for the evening was just across the road at Turnham Green, so we wasted no time heading over to the wild meadow where Jan from Friends of Turnham Green was waiting for us. Many of the tasks we do have an immediate impact - washing the Chiswick mural, uncovering the old pillars at Chiswick House or plastic picking at Kew Bridge, for example. This job was a little different as we were investing effort now so that come next spring, the area will - hopefully - be an amazing display of wild flowers for local people to enjoy.
Dividing up into pairs, we each took a 2 X 2 metre patch of recently mowed grass in the meadow area and began the laborious job of scarifying. For the uninitiated, this means pulling up all the loose grass and weeds to reveal the earth so that seeds can be spread. It is hard work, but ultimately satisfying - the pile of dead grass quickly grew to monster proportions.
Once that part of the task was complete, we moved on to the more delicate process of using a tablespoon to disperse the cornflower and poppy seeds far and wide. Let's keep our fingers crossed for rain to help them bed in, as if they so come up successfully next year it's going to be a glorious riot of colour.
All that was left was to use the GG red roller (very on brand) to complete their journey into the soil. Great work - can't wait to see the results!
Without a run this week we had plenty of time for a longer fitness session, this time focusing on balance for runners. And if last night was anything to go by, should Cirque de Soleil need any last minute stand-ins, GG Hounslow have plenty of candidates! As runners are constantly propelling their weight from one side to the other, good balance is important for stability and efficiency. It's definitely worth including some of the drills from last night into your weekly training.
Next week we have a new (woohoo) task. We're going to be going to a school in Brentford to help transform an overgrown space into a community growing space.
There is also a fun mission marshaling at local centenary celebrations on Saturday and setting up for a community event in a conservation area on Sunday - we definitely need a few more pairs of hands for these ones, so if you're free this weekend and want to do some good why not sign up?!
Thu 18th Sep at 2:00pm
Wed 17th Sep at 6:30pm
Sun 14th Sep at 8:40am
Ealing Report written by Sevan
Early bird GoodGymers were out in force today, with 9 around the course on the day of Maki's - Chikako's daughter's - last Junior parkrun as her birthday is coming soon. They'll both still be at Acton Juniors in the future, volunteering to help the event that they've enjoyed attending for years.
Most of today's marshals were GoodGymers, with Max, Maria, Steph, Michelle and Sevan helping the children and adults navigate the course and cheering them up and down the hills. Kash experienced the hills herself as the tailwalker, playing a key role in getting a couple of less enthusiastic children to the finish line and Chikako was the VI Guide for the last time (for now).
In the funnel, Ariane dished out the finish tokens and Alan was a late substitute to the timekeeper role. As it turned out, Alan saved the day (in a small way), by recording the finish times of the runners more accurately than the other timekeeper, meaning that all 65 finishers were correctly logged.
Sun 14th Sep at 10:51pm
I love GoodGymers volunteering at junior parkrun. Good work.
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