Could we....dare we believe...might it possibly be summer? It was the perfect night for a run last night - warm, sunny, and brimming with lovely runners.

A massive GG welcome to the excellent Chantelle, Ben, James and Elizabeth, all of whom joined us for their very first Wandsworth run last night. Give them a cheer, people!

We had a loooot of congratulations to give last night - you've been very busy people! So - deep breath - an enormous pat on the back for Sarah, who casually ran a marathon on SUNDAY and still came along, to our fabulous fresh from Riga Racers Sophie, Jessie, Dave, Jack and Vix, to Matthew for a park run PB, to Luke for doing a mammoth 100k walk, Jo (and her mum) for doing a bit of park run tourism, and to Alyx for doing a whole lot of lovely good deeds. You are all superstars.

It was bound to be a great run last night after kicking it off in our fave teletubby room, but the sun was shining and our task was waiting, so after a quick hello we made our way outside for some warm ups and to get to know each other a little better. Tonight we found out what everybody likes to whack on the BBQ (thanks for the inspiration Jack!). The shock winner tonight was....halloumi! Who knew that little cheesy squeaker was so popular. With that decided we headed off for our task at Balham Baptist Church.

We have been working at the church a few times now, forming a human chain to empty a room of junk so that it could be turned into a foodbank. We've discovered some exciting things in the past - a huge crucifix, a mannequin, records, a pair of oars - but tonight we were down to the last big stuff. We filled the van with doors, chairs, planks and a lot of nails, and just managed to squeeze the final few bits into the van before declaring it Job Done. Way to go team, it's great to see a task done from start to finish, and especially one that would have taken the team at the church much longer to complete.

We waved goodbye to Pastor Jim, and set off to the common, where we smashed out a fitness session. Starting off by buddying up, we found out something nice about our partner. Jo found out that Ruth works with children with hearing impairments, while Luke found out that Dave had missed him when he was in Riga. So lovely. Then, while one person was doing a shuttle run, the other was doing a strengthening exercise - either holding a plank, squat, doing press ups or ab crunches. There was some interesting running from Will and Matthew, both trying to make each other suffer with the plank segment as long as possible - bet you can feel those abs today! Then we moved onto our core triathlon, before finishing the evening off with a quick game of British Bulldog. That was a tough session tonight, so well done everyone. Back to the BAC we went, finishing off a splendid evening of running with some stretches. Next week it's bank holiday but that doesn't faze us - we'll still be running as usual, as well as having a drink or two afterwards to celebrate. You can sign up here, and I hope you do!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/distributing-flyers

Yesterday a team of excellent Wandsworth runners made it all the way through Monday, and celebrated by meeting up to go on a lovely run together. It must have been some kind of record last night, with a bonus number of gorgeous new faces. Let’s give a huge GoodGym welcome to Clare, Hannah, Jasmine, James, Abbie, Kate and Helen.

Well done to Matthew and to Jasmine who both crushed Park Runs in Fulham Palace and Exeter respectively, and a big good luck to [David] who is running the Edinburgh marathon in a couple of weeks. We were thinking of our Wandsworth-on-Tour runners who were away in Riga smashing the 10k and half marathon races there, way to go team flying squirrels! Hat tip to Jo who is topping the distance tables and to Alyx and David, who are making their borough better by doing the most good deeds. Lovely bit of business.

Don’t forget we have a Wandsworth Whatsapp group which everybody is welcome to join – just let me know – a Facebook and Twitter page, and a Spotify account which we usually listen to on our runs, except that somebody forgot to switch it on last night (me). There is also a mission this Saturday in Tooting, for which you don’t have to have had your documents checked. It’s for our lovely friends at the Work and Play Scrapstore, and it starts at 9:30 so you could even fit in a Tooting Park Run beforehand! Check it out.

With our welcome done and dusted we took ourselves outside for a spot of warming up. We did a quick head count, and to get to know each other a bit better we drilled down right to the important stuff – our favourite type of crisp. The results were eclectic, to say the least, and there was no outright favourite – but Thai sweet chilli Sensations and Salt n Vinegar were named more than once, with guacamole and salsa getting honourable mentions as crisp companions. There were a few left fielders which set our bellies rumbling, including Space Invaders, Discos, Squares and Monster Munch. No Frazzles, Skips or Salt N Shake though. Interesting.

With this crucial poll taken, we set off to do some good things for our community. Tonight we were going to Eden Community Garden, a beautiful outdoor space for everybody to enjoy that we have helped at before. Eden’s objective is to provide a ‘green, tranquil, inner city space; a pleasant place for all to sit, play or garden. Its aim is to create and maintain a sustainable habitat for wildlife and promote bio-diversity by planting British native species and through organic gardening’, which we are right on board with. We were treated to a light shower (ahem) of rain on the way, which only sped up the pace, and arrived damply at the gorgeous garden to be greeted by Benny, the head gardener, Philippa, who runs the project, and the churchyard cat, who we named Jim (or Gym).

There were plenty of jobs to be getting on with, including moving a big pile of wood to the churchyard for a bonfire, weeding the ancient graveyard (which was full of the final resting places of Roundhead soldiers killed in the Civil War battle for Battersea Marshes), forking beds (sorry David and Daniel, I didn’t really get to grips with what you were doing, but it looked like hard work), clearing areas, and turning over compost. Team Compost did not find anything too alive in their bins, although Philippa did tell us that one year when they had a bumper load of snails that they cooked them and ate them with garlic and butter. True story.

With the jobs done, we said goodbye to Eden Community Garden (we’ll be back soon!) and shot off to the common to do our fitness session. We got our blood pumping with a quick game of Clusters, and then hit the hard stuff. Intervals! Everybody’s favourite. We alternated a minute of hard running with a recovery, making sure that we really made a change in pace. This kind of training is hard work, but brilliant for you, and as well as improving speed and strength, is great for developing aerobic capacity and burning fat. Great work. It was a short jog for recovery back to the BAC, where we cooled down with a few stretches, and as usual, rounded off the evening nicely with a medicinal drink or two. Same again next week? Yes please! You can sign up here.

Ps don’t forget to get me your elements for the Wandsworth flag!

Tonight we truly Mondayed the Monday out of Monday. It all began, as all good Monday evenings do, at the Battersea Arts Centre to say hello to faces familiar and spanking new ones too. Welcome to the lovely new running legends that are Amy, Emma and Oli.

It had been a bumper week for racers – must’ve been the sun – and we said a huge well done to Sarah and Matthew who both ran, and to Joanna who nailed her very first park run. You guys! Ben not only smashed the Brighton marathon this weekend but also tops our distance leader board with Berit and Sophie chasing not far behind. It’s always good to give as well as receive so well done to Matthew for doing both with cheers.

Thanks Vicki for our CoRUNdrum even from sunny Australia (well done on your park run in Melbourne!). Where in London are there not one but two statues of Mahatma Gandhi? We were stumped. So the best thing to do was to set off for our task at the Bridge Church and community centre. They had 500 – FIVE HUNDRED – leaflets for their upcoming Easter festival that they needed dispersing throughout Battersea, and who did they call? GoodGym Wandsworth of course. We divided ourselves into groups of four, and tackled different areas of the estates around the centre. We were done in record time – some teams even climbing 20 storeys, from which, says Jack, there was a pretty beautiful view. There was even a spot of ‘hide from the trainer’ going on from naughty group Sarah, Dave, Jessie and Sarah – which would have been successful if Sarah was not hiding behind a see through bike shed in neon orange. You scamps!

We caught our breath and then set off for the beautiful Battersea Park for what was set to be one muthableeper of a fitness session. Following some requests, we were going to give the infamous Bleep Test a go. Used by the military and other badass organisations to test the toughest of the tough’s fitness levels, the test uses a series of beeps which grow closer and closer together. The idea is to get to the 20m line before the beep goes. Man, was it tough. Everyone did incredibly well, and, as Luke points out, the Police ask you reach level 6 to pass their test – you are all fit enough to join the boys (and girls) in blue. Ello ello ello! Special shout outs go to Sophie and Rachel as last ladies sprinting, and to Roshan and Dan for getting to an amazing level TWELVE. Seriously impressive, Wandsworth.

It would have been a shame to waste the last rays of the setting sun, so after a vote we chose a bit of core work over hill sprints, and finished the night with an abs blast. We reached peak excitement when a little dog decided we looked like a lot of fun and ran over to say hello. I know these words appear a little too regularly in our run reports but…GoodGym mascot? Sadly we couldn’t quite fit him in our rucksack.

The speedy group set off ahead of the sexy group, and doubled back on themselves half way back, so we all finished up back at the BAC around the same time. For the first week ever nobody cracked the CoRUNdrum – it was Tavistock Square, obvs.

Next week we DO have an Easter run, and we’ll be taking the train part of the way, before having a little Easter social to compare the size of the eggs the Easter Runny has brought us. Sign up here, kids:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/digging-a-trench-at-our-local-primary-school

Wandsworth smashed its own record for runners last night, and smashed it good. With no less than 46 of us, we just needed was Roy Castle and his trumpet confirming that al we needed was a bit of dedication. With the equivalent of over three rugby teams running to help out community organisations we are able to make a huge difference in our borough.

We couldn’t have made it without our amazing new runners, so here’s to Andrew, Paula, Georgie, Jessica, Larraine and Foster. Give them a cheer, Wandsworth, they’ve earned it!

A huge well done too to Alex who absolutely nailed his first ever 10k race this weekend in Regent Park. If you’re keen to get a race in the diary but don’t know where to start come and let me know and we can find you the perfect challenge. Don’t forget about park runs across London – and beyond – every single Saturday. Why don’t you have a look at the GG leaders board and while you’re there give Sophie a cheer, for she has sprinted to the top of the distance rankings. Way to go. Same goes for Berit who has been smashing out the good deeds along with Alex who also tops the cheer board. Well one Matthew for sustaining us with all that cheering!

All that running is thirsty work, so don’t forget about our monthly social which happens to be this Thursday near Russell Square, more details and sign up found here.

This week’s CoRUNdrum comes courtesy of Jordan  who asked us where the longest street in Britain can be found. Good one! With that in mind, we set off down the Wandsworth Road – which felt pretty never ending – and headed to Food For All. This amazing organisation provides a completely free food market for those who need it most, supports community self-help and is committed to tackling homelessness and social exclusion. We hope to work with them a lot in the future, and our next trip will be supporting them by distributing food to those that need it.

This time though we were there to see what it was all about, meet the lovely people and do a few jobs. This started with emptying the huge pile of rubbish, and never one to miss out on the chance to make a human chain we got cracking. Excitement peaked at the head of the line when Jessie spotted a mouse (new GG mascot?) but thankfully there was nothing bigger lurking in there. Our next task was to peel off the vinyl stickers on the soon to be repurposed Food For All van, which proved to be a very satisfying job, and the team had to be persuaded to step away from the vehicle to complete our third mission, which was to distribute posters to all the businesses along the Wandsworth Rd on our run back. Sinead took an early lead as the first to persuade a local shop to put it up, the rest of the team could be found weaving in and out of places all the way to Larkhall Park, where we stopped for a quick abs blast at the top of a hill. We worked our core hard with a combination of Russian twists, planks, crunches, scorpions and mountain climbers. A strong core is key to an injury-free and efficient running style as it helps reduce twisting and keeps us stable when we get tired. And to take our mind of the pain, we discussed our dinner plans – with pasta and burgers coming out on top, with cold sausages a less popular option. Whatever you went for, team, you earned it.

We pushed it harder for the last mile of the run, bossing that final deceptive hill on the way back to the BAC with ease. While we stretched we crowned this week’s CoRUNdrum winner - clever Holly that knew Streatham High Rd is the longest in the country. Well done Streatham and Holly. Next week we’re going to have fun delivering some flyers for a local community centre who need help spreading the word about their Easter festival. It’s a shortish run so we’ll be off to Battersea park to do a cracking fitness session. Don’t miss out, you lovely people. Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/spreading-the-word-for-our-local-community-centre

It was the first run of Summer last night for GG Wandsworth, and we sure made the most of it. Not only that, but we are now set to become the stars of the silver screen that we all knew we were destined to become, as we had guests Ben and Holly there to film us throughout the evening. Action!

We had some new athletes to welcome to our merry band tonight- hello Jamie, Holly, Baz and James! Alos, welcome to your first Wandsworth run, [Alex] (https://www.goodgym.org/runners/alex-brown-accbd6d9-5534-4f50-85ad-7dab12ff159c] - give them all a cheer, why don’t you, they’re pretty awesome.

Well done to Jamie and Matthew for doing park runs, you superstars. If you haven’t done a park run yet, then you need to get on that. They are weekly 5k timed runs across London which are free, sociable and brilliant for charting your inevitable progress. The closest ones to us in Wandsworth are Tooting, Fulham Palace (although that is cancelled this week), Brockwell, Wimbledon, Richmond….you have so many to choose from. Why not try a little bit of park run tourism?

HEROES this week. Ooh, you are an amazing lot. Hat tip to Matthew for both giving and receiving the most cheers along with Jack. Running machine Sarah clocked up most miles as she continues to smash her marathon training, while David topped the table for good deeds done.

It was still light when we set off, which we all agreed was pretty marvellous. All the better for the camera to catch our moves on the tarmac – although camera man Ben did show us up by running pretty easily not only with his equipment but in jeans. Someone get that man a red tshirt, quick. With almost two miles under our belt we arrive at Balham Baptist Church where we were met by Pastor Jim, ready with a van to load up with junk from the basement. We pulled our favourite GG Wandsworth move, and formed a HUMAN CHAIN through the community hall from basement to van and off we went. Last time we did this we uncovered some incredible stuff. This time we did not find any mannequins or kitchen sinks, but a few pairs of oars and a radiator did make their way along the chain.

Van loaded, we waved goodbye to Jim with promises that we’ll be back to finish the job soon, and weaved our way to Clapham Common, trying to make friends with the other running groups on their evening run. We got some waves back, but have come to conclusion that GG is the most friendly bunch of runners you’d hope to meet. Keep spreading that GG word! Parking ourselves on the common in the dying light of day, we set about our fitness session. The group split itself into five lots of seven people, each doing either a squat hold, plank, lunges or mountain climbers in the time it took for one group to run across the common and back. It was tough going but as usual team Wandsworth rinsed those drills. Great job everyone.

We divided into two teams to run the last short stretch back to the BAC – speedy and sexy. Of course, we’re all simultaneously both of those things, but for the purposes of the run, we had to choose just one. Team speedy pipped it to the post on this occasion – possibly because team sexy were taken on a slightly longer route. Soz. Stretching it out, there were quite a few of you who solved this week’s CoRUNdrum (courtesy of lovely Vicki) knowing that Europe’s largest Chicken Cottage is indeed in Tooting – but the crown falls to Roshan who cracked it first. If you’ve got a good old head scratcher that you want to put to the group as our weekly CoRUNdrum, just come and let me know!

Next week we’ve (fingers crossed) got a great new project. We’re helping local group Food For All distribute free food to those in Wandsworth who need it most. Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/distributing-food-to-the-isolated

ps as soon as I receive our cinematic debut, I’ll send it over. Maybe we should have a red carpet premiere at the BAC?

Could you hear us last night? Around 7pm, a big cheer from south-west London? Thought so. That was the moment we realised we had set a Wandsworth record! With no less than 41 wonderful runners, it was our biggest run yet. GO GOODGYM. You are all running legends, every single one of you.

There has been some seriously good running recently, a lot of saintly do-gooding, and a bucket-load of lovely news. So here goes.

• A huge well done to you amazing Larmer Tree runners who smashed a tough old trail course. Check out the race team page to find out when the next race is happening. https://www.goodgym.org/race-team • As an extra Monday night bonus we welcomed the lovey new Cardiff trainer Ben to the group last night. GG Cardiff will be kicking off in May, and with ultra-runner and trainer extraordinaire Ben running the show it’s sure to be a huge success. If you fancy a bit of GG tourism, I hear Cardiff has no less than 1518 hours of sunshine during an average year. So there you go. • The marvellous Luke, David and Ben all sped round the Reading half marathon course which was a tough and hilly old job. Well done to those speedsters – give them a cheer, why don’t you? • We had a fantastic lot of lovely new runners to join the group this week. One of the best parts of the weekly run is getting to welcome new faces, we love it! So please all raise your glasses for Sara, Julia, Mat, Ed, Lauren, Ella, Alyx and Holly. Wandsworth, throw a cheer their way, they’ve earned it! And while you’re at it, say a big GG hello to Shanice, Alice and Kike from Lambeth and Islington, who were visiting us for the day! Lovely to have you. • Finally, our HEROES. Whoop whoop, Luke, you ran the furthest. Hurrah David, you are topping the good deed tables and getting the most cheers! Toot toot, Matthew, you are making everyone feel good by giving the most cheers! If YOU want to see where you rank on the heroes board, have a shufti here: https://www.goodgym.org/heroes?area=wandsworth

Phew. With all this do-gooding, fast-running, cheer-giving, high-fiving fun out the way, we were off on our run. With a last minute cancellation (boooo) we had a quick swerve, and headed not for church deep cleaning, but for compost bed filling instead at our lovely local primary school. Luckily (said Ella and Sam) it was still a short run, so off we trotted down the hill, a blaze of red tshirts and happiness.

We were met by Barry, the most cheerful and characterful caretaker you could hope to meet, and set about forming a bucket chain to fill up the empty raised beds. bucket chain bucket chain bucket chain came the chant, which I’m sure the neighbours really loved.

With the beds filled and the buckets chained, we sprinted round the corner for a fun fitness session, kicking off with ‘fish and chips’. It’s fair, I think, to say this worked with varying levels of success but there were still a few burpees being knocked out across the field. We then made a huge circle, with individual runners deciding on what exercise the group had to do while they sprinted to a nearby tree and back. Then came British Bulldog. Always contentious, always competitive, always a huge amount of fun. And this week there was, despite a big effort and a minimal low-level violence, one clear and outright winner. Step forward Dan, and receive your crown. Nice running! Finally we finished off with a squat-off, to see the mighty Jack outlast us all.

Session done, we set off in two groups back to the BAC for some stretches, but not without a good old hill sprint to end the night. And everybody knows that Wandsworth hearts hill sprints. Thinking about technique – positive backwards arm drive, high chest, straight back, light toes and relaxed shoulders – everybody bossed that hill. Way to go.

While we were stretching it out, there was only time left for the CoRUNdrum, courtesy of the lovely Vicki, who we missed this week. St Paul’s was the tallest structure in London until 1962 when which building broke its record? Give Matt a cheer, for the clever lad knew it was the BT Tower in record time!

Brilliant running everyone. Next week we’re off to Balham to form a human chain to clear junk out of a community hall basement. Last time we found a 6ft crucifix and Jen’s new friend Manfred the mannequin. Sign up here to find out what treasures we unearth next….

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/run-to-clear-junk-37fd428c-f5bc-4f3c-a7dd-daf6598de797