On a chilly November evening 18 fired up GoodGymers ran 6k to Core CIC to continue with the dismantling of the fixtures and fittings in preparation for the building refurbishment.

We welcomed Rich and Chidi to there first GoodGym run and look forward to seeing you both on many more to come!

We celebrated the epic 10k PB performances of Anna, Rich and Anne!

Talked through the last two monthly socials of the year 22nd of November and 13th of December.

I continued my mission to create the Manchester marathon running train and even welcomed a confirmed passenger Ian and a couple of very strong maybe's Rich and Anna aboard. Anyone else fancy a flat and fast April marathon?? The more the merrier!!

Just the small matter of keeping warm was the first order of business so we took a steady warm up run lead by Peter to a good spot for a few mobilising dynamic stretches, muscle activating exercises and some running form drills.

That got the blood pumping and warmth running through the body for the rest of the 3k run to Core CIC. We were in for surprise when we arrived as Danny let us know the builders had turned off the lights so we were literally in the dark. Undeterred we set about completing the tasks we could starting with loading about a thousand ceiling tiles into the skip outside! A great production line approach meant we zoomed through this task in no time. Then came half a piano (as you do), wooden flooring and carpet! With a bit more time we decided to remove 7 doors on the first floor, rip up piles ofwooden flooring and take down a hundred more ceiling tiles.

After 45 minutes of carefully performed physical work it was time to run off into the night after a big thank you from Danny from Core CIC and a huge thank you to Peter for once again boosting our tool supply bringing along a range of tools to help with the task.

It was time for the Race back to base! We had a running handicap race this week with the Steady paced crew running an even pace back while the Speedy crew waited 4 minutes before chasing us down on the 3k run lead by Rich who even managed to not take a short cut back for the first time (another PB racked up!)

A series of static stretches and we were off on our merry way feeling great with a fitness filled job well done!

See you next week for a new task installing a Polly tunnel in Hackney Wick! Be great to have you along sign up here.

Smooth running

Joel

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.