9 GG Brent fitties were fast and furious as they pushed down pavements and paraded their way through tonights leaflet task for Brent's good causes. YAY!!

Now all I can say to start this run report tonight is - What Debs wants Debs gets and when our bride to be requested a track session, how could I refuse!! So armed with our source of good-deeding info sharing leaflets for - The NHS, Granville community food kitchen and some home grown repping for us GG BRENT as well, we got to stepping and paper chased our way through the ends, all the way to Willesden Sports Centre. BOOM!

Oh and thank you mother nature for blessing us with a rain free evening. Really and truly, this will be the first track attack session in a while that hasn't been a wash out! phewwwwww!!!!

So after our community spree which included face to face, library drops and postal passion, we arrived at our home for the eve & let me tell you, these guys were raring to go. Seriously energised and ready for some fabulous fitness fun and games in the form of drills, skills and a lot a lot of HIIT training - THATS High intensity interval training to you and me ;) POW POW!

After some mobilising and skills work, in the form of walking lunges , crab walks and various hop, skip and jumps (No that wasn't into the sandpit although Tabitha would have loved that!!) it was set to work on running 200m sprints, timed and repeated to track pace!

Can I just say at this point, OMG what a set of times, for each and every one!! All achieved even in the midst of some worried faces and moments of self doubt, particularly ironic was the cries from Jo But I'm not a sprinter hummmm really?? As she smashed in under 40 seconds each time!!! Bolt eat your heart out please!

Everyone gave it their all and worked their socks off for the whole session. Huffing, puffing, panting, recovering then going again and again. Special shouts go to Pushpa aka 'mum' who shaved 15 seconds off her first time in round three, living up to her name as she "Pushpa'd" to the max!! Think she was holding out on us and is a cheeky lil speedster at heart!!

After the main event, we finished off the session and the last of the legs with step jumps x 10 for three rounds and with that all jelly legged and understandably exhausted, we jogged the cool down back to base.

Another great evening doing good in Brent, with a HIIT-Fit focus for our resident badass athletes, that really packed a punch!

See you next time fit fam!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

Amazing GG Brent tonight!! 2 tasks, 2 teams and 2 run reports!! POW POW

Part one - Elle Energy talks shaking asses with the masses and chopping the grasses

OMG Could it be... A number sixteen, who came out to clean, chop and shift and pick up sticks across the borough, it could be none other.... Than the Brent GG, hurrah and Yippppeee!!

So there I was on this sunshine filled glorious evening with tasks coming out of my.... heavily branded Elle Energy leggings clad bottom!! Not one but two of our community friends requested support tonight and so as not to let anyone down, my glorious crew showed up in masses, to shake their asses down to Harlesden Community gardens... and.... our old pal Col, at the Police Station for a last min help request to make the building a safer environment by clearing some crazy debris!

So with a 9/7 split we head down Walm Lane in our two teams, red tees glistening in the sun and making people stop and stare at all the laughter and good vibeing fun.

At the turning up to St Peters Av, we said our goodbyes and departed, with me leading the 4mile gang to the gardens and Mouse and Sadhana leading on to the Police station. And can I just say it was absolutely wonderful to welcome back so many beloved old faces - Nisha, Dimple, Roshni and Isabelle and...... the incredible Karen back from her half marathon charity run in Kenya!! But as Karen was used to running next to Giraffes in her last big jaunt, she may have been disappointed by the lesser impressive wildlife on offer in Harlesden so chose instead to hit up the Police station for some much needed grounding. With our jungle runner specialist lost to the coppers, it was left to me and crew 2, to Get down, get down and jungle boogie with Gabriel at the gardens and tackle the massive branches for some serious tree surgery!

Along with the jungle bashing affair with our resident dare devil and head for heights honey Liz leading the way, the gardens played host to all manner of other nature filled fun - Watering the plants although Debs mistook my ass for grass at one point, soaking me entirely!! Thank you cheeky monkey!!, clearing litter from the grass with help from some extremely cute local kids, stomping down compost and breaking up branches and with only 30mins to do our best, we wasted no time and threw ourselves in to the tasks with motivation and grit!!

In no time at all, it seemed, the time was up and wishing farewell we turned on our heels once more! Fast pace and gunning for a race, there were a few points where the gang were smashing pace below 7min miles AMAZING aghhh but wait.... was it because they heard from team one that if we swung by the cop shop on route back, we could enjoy some of Colin's home made banana and date smoothies..?!???!!! No monkeying around, because these chasing chimps couldn't be stopped from getting to those bananas!!

After the jungle-juice pit stop we had less than a mile to trot back to base and rejoin our lovely gang once more! So as we reconvened, we shared our stories of the wet and wild adventures on both sides and how maybe one day if we were lucky, we could be selected to join Colin's special boat party VIP's!! Dunno how my land loving jungle Janes and Joe our resident (not so good with heights) Tarzan would do on water..... guess we'll have to see when the invitations arrive!!

Ok here goes - Part 2. Second half of the run report, from the marvellous Mouse

Colin’s milkshake brings all the girls to the yard…

Seven super strong GG Brent ladies (Dimple, Roshni, Nisha, Isabelle, Karen, Sadhana and Mouse) smashed the short distance down to Willesden Green's old police station to assist Colin in his cop shop clearout.

And imagine our delight to be welcomed with by a lovely pear….of juices (clear and cloudy) and homemade banana and date milkshake. Fruity!

After a quick refreshment break we set to work in clearing a variety of items (tents, musical instruments, boxes of ladies shoes that Colin offered to us but alas - despite lots of interest from Karen, Roshni and Nisha - no-one was Cinderella and the shoes did not fit) out and up into the gallows. We didn't hang around… and before Colin knew it we'd lifted and shifted everything bar a bit of tinsel that made a bid for freedom. He was almost lost for words… almost.

And so we moved on to our second task of the evening… clearing out Claudia’s closet! Thankfully there were no skeletons to be found, just a huge variety of theatre costumes and props, which Sadhana created a one-woman show with... whilst pocket rocket Dimple scaled a ladder to heave everything up into the loft.

Jobs all done there was just time to check out the “medicinal herb” garden and the hives on the roof...the bees knees! before we bid farewell to Colin and his trusty sidekick Rob and ran back to base to regroup with the rest of the GG Brent team and swap stories.

And there you have it Fitness Familia. A lot of LOLs and always Good Vibes, I am in love with this fierless, happy and wonderfully weird Goodgym tribe

See you next time!!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

Today in solemn contemplation and hearts filled with empathy and love, 13 Goodgym runners from Brent, ran through postcodes and 2 neighbour boroughs, to give what we could and pay respect to the community, survivors and victims of Grenfell Tower.

It was a humbling sight to behold when my eyes fell upon the group I call my GG family who showed up in droves to run 5k to Grenfell. Running to pay respect and give what we could in donations and volunteering.

Lighting our route was the most beautiful of setting suns, which made us smile although our hearts were heavy and with a mission to Avenues Youth Centre on our minds, the run, despite the heat was swift if not a little sweaty.

Arriving at Avenues we were greeted so warmly by the manager Carol and even though this time their volunteer needs were already met, we did make some amazing contacts and perhaps arrange for one or two of our crew to support their future fundraising in the way of running the London marathon..... I just have to figure out how to convince the team to do it.

So turning on our heels again and catching the last of the glows of sun as it set over the beautiful canal, we head towards Latimer Road and the main memorial sight for Grenfell.

Now I am not littering this run report with catchy puns and tom foolery because this was so not what this run was about. We were in solidarity, in mourning and in partnership with every other human being who was and have been there, making the effort, yesterday, today and tomorrow!

In fact, just speaking with the community we understood that they would continue to need massive support for the next few weeks, if not more, especially when the media attentions will surely begin to ease off and they don't want people to forget the need that will be there. So people must continue to reach out for many weeks and months to come.

So with this in mind, we linked up with Sister Ruth, the incredible community leader who was taking charge of organisations, from the church on Latimer Road. We pledged to be back, both as individuals and as a team, because this may not be our borough, but this is our London and we must erase borough lines and postcodes, to show unity, love and understanding. To give back to this significant and life altering community cause and demonstrate we will not stand for how these people have been treated. It must be talked about, it mustn't be forgotten and it cannot happen again!

Our final goodbye was in a song, shared with some of the other mourners and Sister Ruth. We sang together Amazing Grace and as we sang, we lit our candles and said personal and quiet prayers, for all who had been lost and for all those suffering now from this terrible tragedy.

I urge you if you haven't, please go there, because no news article or TV broadcast can convey the true heartbreak of this community in mourning.

Together we stand.

Six runners met on a fabulous Monday summer evening for a short run to the local former Willesden Green police station-cum- future community hub and all-round creative space, followed by a jaunt up to Gladstone Park for a breath-taking relay race!

A smaller group than usual, but no less full of good vibes and energy, Claire was happy to welcome second-timers Jo and Emily, Joe with an 'e', and Brent regulars Liz, Tabitha and Deborah, vying for the 50 good deed black t-shirt, who will be the first...?

We set off down to the High Street with a spring in our step to the task that awaited us - yes that's right, moving old mattresses ready for collection, and stacking up a batch of new ones. There was no sleeping on this job though, we shifted those mattresses quicker than you could say 40 winks and even had time for a cuppa tea.

Meanwhile, out front, Deborah, Tabitha and Jo had set about sprucing up the surroundings, litter picking, weeding and ... oh dear... standing in poo (ever heard of bag it & bin it Brent dog owners?!?). Not one to be a party poo-per (groaaaan!), Tabitha didn't let that take the smile off her face (well, only temporarily!).

With tools packed up and gloves returned, we said our goodbyes and thank you's for the hospitali-tea and ran off towards Gladtstone Park for a tempo relay race, the six were paired up and ran round the bottom of the park in different directions till they met somewhere near the middle, high-fived and changed direction to race back to the start point - competition was fierce and there was only a measley 17 seconds between the first and last finishers, impressive work! We regrouped for a well-deserved stretch out on the grass before heading back to the Queensbury.

Well done everyone! You make Brent Brighter!!!