23 TERRIFIC @GGSHEFF runners ran 6km to help CADS continue their renovations of the Abbeydale Picture House.

#GGBBQ

After an amazing premier #GGBBQ at the weekend thanks to the small but mighty Kim Longbon our crew reunited at our spiritual home of the Showroom Cinema to try and reminisce of the shenanigans that took place on the Sat just gone. Beer pong was played, dead arm hangs and face scrapes were had, eyebrows were singed, legs were stretched, eyes watered and many a laugh was had! We look forward to the report from Kim and to the next #GGBBQ2 being hosted by Sensational Sam in Aug - watch the Watts App group for more info and on the parties section of the website!

The run!

Taking a slightly longer route this week to the APH to mix it up we ran as a oner with newly qualified Leader in Running & Fitness (LiRF) Smooth Stephen as our back marker. We ran to the Picture house and met an additional 4 runners at the venue.

After a brief brief and a quick drink we got straight to work with the tasks in hand which this week was mainly lifting and shifting and painting tables ready for them to be used in the new working space. We took the task owners by surprise finishing the task ahead of time with so many people on hand this week with such a strong work ethic!

Challenge time

It was too nice to exercise inside this week so we heading staight to a local park to try out the Cultured Carys 2min straight arm hang challenge of Cliffhanger fame! A real group effort was made with everyone logging a time to beat for the future and some great team bonding and cheering happening. Top marks to Lovely Lilli who smashed the challenge, holding for over 3 mins! Must have been a monkey in a previous life!

The return leg

After a quick 60m sprint we ran back to our base with an uphill sprint at the end followed by stretching and a debrief which this week included the introduction of #pinupchallenge with everyone taking away some GG leaflets to pin up in their places of work or other places they frequent to get more people getting fit and doing good. Don't forget to post your photos on the WattsApp group with the #pinupchallenge.

Next week we are off to Heeley City Farm so...

Don't delay, sign up today!

It's not always easy to take the plunge and try something new, which is why we should say a massive welcome and well done to Matt, Kate, Vicki and Jess who all made their GoodGym debut last night. Give them a cheer!

A hat tip also goes to all our park runners who raced on Saturday - if you haven't heard of them these are a series of free, timed 5k runs all over London which are super fun and great for improving your speed, ask if you have any questions! - and to Jack who did a 10k race on the weekend.

We kicked off the night with a nice, meaty session of dynamic warm ups. We also found out what everybody's super power of choice. As suspected, to be able to fly was top of the list, but we also had a lot of people wanting to breathe underwater, to have selective invisibility and to be able to teleport. We had a couple wanting 'Bernard's watch', but the prize goes to Emily, who would cleverly choose to be able to nab everybody's super powers in one go. Of course!

Tonight we had a respite from the heat of last week, thank goodness, and a nice 2k run down to Alderbrook primary school in Balham. We took a shortcut across the common, and with Will doing a bit of extra work figuring out where the entrance to the school was, we arrived in no time at all.

We were greeted by Linda, who led us to the three areas that needed painting. It was all really helpfully already set up for us, with piles of paintbrushes, sheets and buckets of paint ready and waiting. We divided up into three teams and set about giving the walls a lick of white paint. With 40 pairs of hands - that's 80 hands and no less than 400 fingers (don't even start with the whole 'a thumb is a finger but a finger is not a thumb thing') people - we got the job done in less than half an hour. Just enough time for Sophie, Luke and Alex to play the bat/bongo/music thing outside, and for Sarah, Jo and Matthew to give the climbing frame a go. A jolly good time was had by all.

We sprinted back up the hill to the common, where we found a nice little spot for our fitness session. This week we were attempting the 7-minute work out, which features all manner of exercises including jumping jacks, planks, press ups, high knees, and a whole squat-load more. Then we gave Will's military challenge ago, seeing how many press ups we could do in a minute. So tough!

Session smashed, all that was left was a quick run back to the BAC, with the Wandsworth playlist as our soundtrack, and a few stretches. What a group, what a night. Same again next week?

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