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

13 ingredible GoodGymmers ran down Long Lane on Tuesday eve, back to Long Lane Pastures where GoodGym Barnet all began. We ran a total of 4.5km.

We had a number of new faces joining us this evening, so a massive welcome to Mia, Ashley, Katie, Stacey and Joanna who all came for their first run with us! WHOOP WHOOP

Once again, Del was the first to join me by the steps of the Phoenix Cinema. He came armed with TWO tubs of post-run treats to share with the Barnet crew – leading to the expansion of the Barnet Biscuit to include muffins and gingerbread men. Hazel managed to correctly identify the the biscuit in the photo I posted to Twitter pre-race, which was of course a box of chocolate fingers. Today turned out to be quite a high sugar day! Luckily, it also turned out to be lots of hard work, ensuring all our runners earned their snacks. Who knew raking hay could be so tiring?!

We started with a gentle warm up along the side road by the Phoenix Cinema, before handing the reigns to Damian to lead us to Long Lane Pasture while I back-marked. After taking us the scenic route * cough *, Damian managed to add just over half a kilometer to our expected run-length, making this week our longest run to-date.

Harriet from Long Lane Pasture was waiting for us as we all arrived, and started briefing the team right away. They had two new sections strimmed and waiting for us to rake it all up in a pile to rival all hay piles. She told me that our runners did about six hours' work in the 30 minutes we were there, so HI-FIVE!

I spent the afternoon tracking down some head torches to work the pastures with, as my phone told me the sun would set at 7.30pm, but we didn't need them in the end. Even so, great purchase. I'm sure they'll come in handy in no time.

With the pile of all piles compiled and the sun on the edges of day, it was time for a quick workout before heading back to base. Today was Butt Day: we focussed on slow and controlled moves, really making sure our glutes were activating. There was lots of pausing in 90º squats, sitting back and feeling the burn.

We split into two groups for our return to the Phoenix, sending the speedsters off first.

I successfully managed to start the foundations of the Barnet Task Force this week, with Hazel, Damian and maybe Danica (if she's allowed) agreeing to join the team. This makes me super happy.

Also full of happy: whilst stretching back at base, we managed to pick up a new recruit, Jennie, who promised to join us next week.

I just LOVE that Barnet is growing. Tell your friends, folks!

Finally, because everyone is so excited about having friends who like running, we have decided to get some Barnet activities going. We are thinking Zombie Evacuation in Mill Hill in November, where you're being chased by zombies; Barnet Park Run in Oak Hill Park; and a movie night at the cinema, possibly combined with a mission day.

Remember to get your DBS sorted to help with missions. Just bring your ID and proof of address on the group run and let me see. Easy as pie.

I'll be posting events for the things above. And be sure to sign up for next week's run. We'll be doing some gorilla gardening at East Finchley train station. The station is only about 100m from the cinema, so we'll be taking the opportunity to run through the forest opposite.