14 sun drenched but frosty toed newbie GoodGymers ran 3k to help the Mabley Green user group by moving 1.5 tons of mulch to feed baby trees.

On a beautifully bright but awfully cold Sunday morning we had the second of Team Hackney's special January starter sessions!! Starting from an active Film set in the Hackney Marshes Centre we all pulled our best ** Blue Steal** as the cameras rolled by! A huge thank you to Goodgym heroes Patrick and Eva for the leading the crew 1.5k to Mabley Green where we picked up the tools and got stuck right into the task! Pairing up we filled robust Swedish furniture brand bags with Mulch then ran them to the various fruit trees and plants that are in need of the hardy goodness! Tipping out the Mulch we raked it into position for added strategic effect and maintained a serious pace for 45 minutes of top shovelling and shifting work until the Mulch pile had gone!

After the job was done we loaded the tools back at the community centre and ran 1.5k to the Hackney Marshes Centre.

A few static stretches and a big round of applause rounded off a great starter session!

Would love to see you all again at a Weekday Goodgym Group run!! Tower Hamlets and Islington-Mondays Hackney- Tuesday's Camden, Newham or Westminster on Wednesday's.

Check out the website for all the sessions and sign up!

Smooth Running

Joel

30 runners hit the streets of London from New Balance's flagship store to run 5km and help clear some workshops for young people in central London.

In the bright lights of our new location a crowd of runners emerged from the throngs of Oxford street shoppers.
We had a massive crew of first timers and a good gang of Westminster regulars.

"amazing opportunity for young people"

Our task for tonight was to help Makerversity clear out their cupboard to make way for more making space for young creative businesses. The dark vaults of Somerset House now vacted by HMRC are home to a thriving community of designers and makers. Every 3 months they support two new young creative people to get their first studio and workshop space free of charge - it's an amazing opportunity for young people to get started in Central London.

"7pm cutoff"

Our gang split in two: one lead by Barnet run leader Damien - taking a longer, posher, faster route down Bond Street and passed he Ritz, while Ivo's group went as the crow flies - through London's busiest streets including the very monica for busy-ness - Piccadilly Circus.

We battled through the crowds (and waited fro many a green man) and made it to the location just before our security-enforced 7pm cutoff. Both groups arriving within minutes of 7pm.

We got to work quickly - one trip for each person was enough to fill a skip with the designated unneeded materials. In no more than 6.5 minutes the job was done.

"planks, squats and dead bugs"

A quick task meant more time for exercising under-exercised muscles. The steps from the Mall to Pall Mall were the back drop for planks, squats and dead bugs. Everyone completed 2 sprints and all three exercises.

The groups made it back at 7.45pm. A rapid, efficient and speedy start to our runs from our new home on Oxford street.

See you next time.

Massive thanks to Damian, Nina, Gillian and Millie for their help guiding us around town tonight and wishing a speedy recovery to Joel - our new trainer for Westminster.

Until next week, safe running.

Meanwhile in BestMinster...

12 GoodGym runners ran 6k to help at St Andrews Gym.

On a mild Wednesday night 12 GoodGym runners hit to the streets of Westminster for a 6k run to help out at St Andrews Gym and also bid farewell to our trainer Cory.

We welcomed 4 runners on their second run: Hermoine, Hannah, Felicity and Catherine. Hope to see you again next week?

We headed out down a busy Oxford street, with some dynamic sidestepping we beat the sale shoppers and sprinted down the hill to say “Hi” to the royals at Buckingham Palace. Nina was hoping for a secret spot of Prince Harry - no luck.

Swooning over the Prince complete, we then split into two groups - with the super keen runners opting for a leg round St James park, and a quick wave a the park keeper house. Whilst the sensible folk opted for the run through the park.

All back together, and it was time for some fun, or at least that is what Cory told us. We hit the curb for some step ups, and star jumps, finished off by a quick sprint to our location, St Andrews Gym.

Inside St Andrew’s Gym, we had time for a quick hydration stop, and it was straight back to work. 12 minutes on the clock, it was time to get this place cleaned up. Spray at the ready and we were off, treadmills (our least favourite thing), benches, weights - all spic and spam. With time still left on the clock it was time for a mini HIIT workout. 5 minutes Cory said, it will be easy he said.. Into the Yoga room we went, and along came the exercise ball - all on the floor and the mission was to pass the exercise ball round the circle whilst lying on the floor. A very secret AB workout complete and it was back the running.

A couple of straight kilometers back to our location, and we had some very happy runners who were glad it was on to the stretching.

One final thing - the farewell speech from Cory. We are sad to say goodbye to our lovely trainer Cory who has been helping us do good in Westminster for the last 2 years. Cory has helped lots of runner beat the fitness blues and do some great things every Wednesday, whether it is helping handout food to rough sleepers, clearing local church gardens, or helping out down at St Andrews. Good Luck Cory, we hope to see you running with us again sometime in the future.