This week 16 wonderful GG-ers ran 4.5km (ish) delivering booklets for our fabulous hosts, The Phoenix. Most were kitted in their Santa hats / outfits, with Graham even riding a reindeer. Paul came armed with extra outfits, including a Santa dress – which Hazel wore with pride.

We were joined by GG newbie tonight, Heather – who moved to London to marry Shawn! Give them both a cheer!

After a quick warm up by the side, we ran off up the hill. After about 1.5km of running, we split into teams and began the leap frog flyering. Damian took one team, while I took the other. We had four bags full of the booklets – and as ever, made quick work of the lot!

Then it was time for a quick fitness session, starting with squats, burpees and lunges; and finishing with a race to 100 step ups on the curb. Graham was the speediest, very quickly followed by Sarah.

Damian then lead us back to base, while Freya and Rupesh took charge of the back-marking.

We then did all the stretches before heading upstairs at the Phoenix for our Christmas celebrations. There were many snacks, some even homemade, and a surprise appearance from Eleanor.

Tonight was Danica's last GG Barnet run before she leaves the country forever (or for ages) to go traveling. Give her all of the cheers and the virtual hugs

Thank you all for a wonderful year of GG Barnet-ing. Next week will be our final run - but I won't be able to make it. You'll be guest lead by the wonderful Camden Paul. See you all in the NEW YEAR!

This week 13 GG-ers ran 5.6km to help a dementia day care centre tidy up the garden.

We started, as always, at the Phoenix - where two newbies showed up for doc checks, but then ran away (and not with us). Next time!

We then did some quick house keeping, before warming up by the Phoenix. This included many lunges, wingles and hip thrusts. The sort of this Boomerang was made for, really.

It's always a slow burner warming up in winter, but those hills to Hornsey made sure we were at least warm in parts!

Damian lead the way, while Freya was our trusty back-marker. Tonight was Damian's 99th good deed! If you'd like to help him celebrate the big 1-0-0, he'll be doing a mission at Long Lane Pasture on Saturday. You can sign up here

Once we made it to the centre there was a little confusion at first about where the door actually was - the perfect opportunity for the gang to get their squats in while I figured it out.

Poppy welcomed up into the centre, offered the team some juice and water and explained what we'd be doing. Tonight's tools were kindly lent by the folks at Friends of Tottenham Green, as the centre doesn't have any of their own. We split into four teams to turn the soil in the raised beds, chop up a dead bush, pull the weeds from the bricks and collect the fallen leaves.

We'll be helping a few more times over winter to get the garden ready for spring time. This will mean the people using the dementia service will have the opportunity to use the wonderful garden and come outside. Unfortunately the garden becomes a bit too dangerous when it gets overgrown for people with varying mobility - so our help was very much appreciated!

We then gathered for a quick group photo, which Poppy kindly offered to take which means I get to be in it!

It was then time to run home - back up the massive hill!

Nothing like running uphill for over a kilometer to get those legs burning! We all had a little breather at the top before continuing to our next checkpoint, where we stopped and had a mini fitness sesh focusing on glute activation.

We then split into two teams: the speedy team zoomed off with Damian for the final 0.4 miles back to base while the less speedy group stayed with me. My group was doing 9min/miles, but I forgot to ask Damian what his group did. So I'm going to guess 7, because they vanished into the night so fast.

It was then time to stretch it out and loosen the muscles we worked so hard tonight. Followed by Chocolate Bourbons + Some fancy sweets from Moldova courtesy of Eleanor