On a gorgeous summer evening, nine of Goodgym's finest runners met to do good, get fit and celebrate our Third birthday - even running 4km after the task.

Goodgym Redbridge was born three years ago this week. Over that time we've done immeasurable good in the borough. We've painted fences and gates. We've built bee and bug homes and installed them in Snaresbrook. We've mixed and sorted paint for recycling. We've helped local allotments and community gardeners. We've even washed windows. In short we've done so much in the Wanstead and Snaresbrook area and we're proud of all our efforts, so Happy Birthday to US.

To celebrate this auspicious occasion we hooked up with our favourite task owner, Marian of Wanstead Community Gardeners. With the mercury rising this week, we soon set to work watering the plants (and each other, cough Dharmesh) outside Wanstead Station and helped lift the water butt onto a pedestal - which required us using ALL the water first. With some leaf mould applied to the soil to try and lock in some of the moisture we were finally finished and ready to run.

A quick stop at the corner house to drop of tools and the group was away down the High Street in search of adventures in Epping Forest. This is our favourite summer run spot and with the sun setting in the West, the team made amazing silhouettes on the skyline.

All that left was a return to base for the de rigueur Caterpillar birthday cake and a quick pint over at The George Pub.

Big shout outs to Run Leader Peter who has been with the group from pretty much day one BUT also Dharmesh who has been with Goodgym for less than a year but has been a force of nature not only at GG Redbridge but also at other groups across the London. Also, welcome Vanessa who joined Goodgym for the first time. Finally, a big thank you to all that have visited us over the last three years - either as a task owner or a runner - it's been a blast.

Normal service resumes next week, so why not get involved when we do more good deeds (and get fit) in the Borough!

On a gorgeous spring evening (is it summer yet?) eight of Goodgym's finest met in Wanstead to reclaim a piece of lost land and had a 5km adventure to boot! What a way to start the week.

It's official and spring has finally sprung in our special part of East London. With big smiles and blue skies above our heads, we welcomed Catherine, who joined us for her first GG Redbridge run and only her second Goodgym run ever. Welcome Catherine!

With the weekly briefing done in double quick time, it was off down the high street to pick up tools for the night's task. Last year we worked with Wanstead Community Gardeners to reclaim a small square of land next to Snaresbrook Station. Sadly, when patches of lands are left to grow wild, they also become a magnet for litter. Since helping clear and plant seeds in the spot last year, it has blosssom to become a beautiful haven for wild flowers and no longer attracts the rubbish that some lazy individuals seem to be unable to put in the pocket until they get home.

With one success under our belts, it was time to address the patch of land on the opposite side of the street. Armed with hand tools and the odd fork, the crew quickly got stuck in, removing the scruffy grass and pesky weeds with aplomb. 30 minutes later the patch was clear of weeds and rubbish and Linda shook a few seeds over the spot which will hopefully germinate in the coming weeks and start the process of transformation.

With the task complete and satisfied looks on our faces, we headed out into Epping Forest for a little adventure. Redbridge might not look, on paper at least, like the sort of borough where you can feel you are a million miles from London but the paths and trails around our base in Wanstead are beautiful and it's hard to believe the City is only 20 minutes away by Tube. Weaving through the trees and bushes the group covered 5km before returning to base for some light stretching.

Why not join us next week as we finish off painting the ironwork at Wanstead House Community Association before heading out to Wanstead Park and a run along the River Roding - it's a cracking route!

Now I am not saying that I deliberately planned a task that was only 150 meters away from our Group Run base this week, but while still suffering post marathon stiff legs, it was quite handy that it was so close. Our destination was the fantastic Greenleaf Road Baptist Church (GRBT) which is just around the corner from our base at Mirth, Marvel and Maud. Our ranks were swelled last night by a couple of new GoodGymers Catherine and Phil. In fact, Phil made up GGWF's first parent-child outing as he is the father of regular runner, Pippa. Both Catherine and Phil were great additions to the team exhibiting impressive painting and running skills alike. We also welcomed back newly anointed Yogi, Jo. Great to see you Jo and I can't believe I forgot to ask you to lead a cooldown!

Painting you say? Yes, that brings me to our task for the day at GRBT. We were met on site by Keith who had prepared our assignment perfectly. All equipment laid out neatly and ready to use and the offer of tea coffee and biscuits! What more could we ask for, thank you, Keith! With such perfect pre-task preparation the group wasted no time in getting stuck in. GRBT is a real rabbit warren of a building from the outside it is a fairly standard looking modernish church but inside there is much more to this comfortable and welcoming space. We were focussing on a former creche that is being temporarily converted into a recreational space for older children. It is however in need of a bit of TLC to take it from its rather shabby state and restore it to the light and airy condition it craves.

The paint was splodged, brushes were stroked rollers were rolled, sugar was soaped and the first coat went on. I think another one or two are needed to get us where we need to be but a significant difference was made during our visit so well done all.

After downing brushes, we headed over to Lloyd Park and after a full warm-up lap we hit a hard mile time trial. This is where runners predict their times and see how close they can get. We will be running this test at least once a month over the summer so it's a great way to measure progress. The results are below and I will track results on this spreadsheet

Name	Estimate	Run time
Catherine	09:30	09:53
Phil	09:00	09:59
Nerys	08:30	08:16
Raymond	08:00	07:58
Jo	08:00	09:50
Fergus	07:30	06:29
Pippa	07:00	07:33

I have to confess to being a bit of a hard taskmaster and practically bullying most of these guys to reduce their predicted times by up to a minute. I put this down to the fact that after suffering so much during and after the marathon, I wanted everyone to share the pain! Nevertheless, it is good to set tough targets and I think there was some outstanding running on show here with a notable debut from Catherine and an excellent performance from Nerys, who is looking dangerous for the Hackney Half in a few weeks.

Next week we have a long run to South Chingford Memorial Ground. With that in mind can I ask everyone to arrive promptly and if you can't make it, try and let me know. We waited in vain yesterday for several signed up runners who didn't show up.

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