If we were going to be a bit British about it, we would say that last night's run was a touch on the damp side.

We all turned up already completely sodden, with the rain showing no signs of letting up. But it takes more than that to stop a group of GoodGymers (sidenote; what is the collective noun for a group of GoodGymers? A gaggle? A mob? A flock?) We even had a lovely new face - hello to Jennifer. Let's give her a big GG welcome!

Some of us decided to eschew the layers, given that we were as wet as we could be already, and be done with it. So we needed to warm up and quick. But not without saying a huge well done to Barry (and his boys) who nailed another Park Run on Saturday. Nice one!

With Donna, Barry and Andy leading the way, we set off for a local charity we have been helping out at recently. Friends of Cathja is an amazing organisation for people in the borough with mental health problems which have been ongoing for some time. It helps people to gain confidence and the skills to move into a more active and positive way of living.

During past visits we have been helping sort out the giant back room and yard, but this week Rin must have known we'd be grateful for an indoor task, even before we turned up on the doorstep dripping - thanks Rin! Our job was to clear a corner of the shop of furniture and other bulky items, and take it into the newly painted community room. We shifted it quickly, and admired how the shop is changing. It's great to see the progress the volunteers are making, to discover all the hidden treasures, and even to perhaps be winning over Bruce. Despite his cute kerchief, Bruce takes his duties as shop guard dog very seriously.

It had still not stopped raining as we set off back to the Town Hall, but that did not stop some great running. With some us of keeping steady pace, those that wanted to push themselves as bit harder did some tough fartlek running over the two miles back. Fartlek - Swedish for speed play - means alternating hard running with easier recovery and is brilliant for building strength, endurance and practicing the art of pacing.

Typically the rain eased off just as we got back for some stretches. We had worked hard tonight, and done some good for our local community, so when a rainbow appeared just as we were saying our goodbyes, we knew we had already found the pot of gold....

Cheesy but true! For more rainbows, sign up here for next week's run.

12 Goodgymers ran 2k and volunteered at the Marcus Garvey Library Garden

Roots Manuva

Shouts out to Avni who made it to her first GGH session (with a nudge from Ollie) and out to Nekane who’s on her way to being a coach runner here in Haringey and should get some good deeds logged soon. Give em a cheer folks

The rain drizzled as we awaited the group but we had a secret weapon.. well lucky charm shall we say. Thanks Sarah the group gelled well with a good chinwag before heading off to the task.

This week we were heading over to the Marcus Garvey Library to continue helping the Friends of Tottenham Green bring the garden back to life. And as time goes on we are definitely doing so. We’ve managed to clear lots of tall weeds, undergrowth, rubbish and other green waste which is starting to reveal whats going to be a lovely place to read once we’re done.

Highlights would be our lucky charm Sarah holding off the rain, the amount of clearing that was done along with some of the huge roots that cam out of the ground and a Darth Vader impression reminiscent of Spaceballs the movie

Oh and shouts out to Louise for baking some tasty ginger biscuits... Mmmm

Fab work guys!!

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Until next time folks - do good, stay fit & look out for the light

24 amazing Greenwich runners ran 3km to clean toys at The Bridge community centre!

A sunny, yet deceptively cold evening last night, but it didn't stop TWENTY FOUR of you lovely lot showing up! We had two people celebrating their first good deed with us, the lovely Yaz, who believe it or not was the person who inspired me to start running a few years ago back in my sedentary office days! So if it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't be here. Not that I would be dead, I just mean I probably wouldn't be your GoodGym trainer! So I think she deserves a big cheer!!! As does Alex who also made his debut last night!

We welcomed two more new faces to Greenwich, Matthew who came along after doing a few runs with GG Lewisham and aspiring junior Parkrun director and hill lover, Kani who also went to Lewisham on Monday! WELCOME EVERYONE!

PANIC MODE ENGAGED

So as you know by now, every week I do a favourite thing, and I had a REALLY good one for yesterday, and I was so pleased that I actually had one planned for once... and then I forgot it. GOOD ONE. So favourite running shoe it was! New Balance just pipped to the post for everyone's fave, because let's face it, they're the best. We realised no one really knew how to pronounce Saucony... is it Sock-A-Knee, or Sork-Oh-Knee.. who knows. But what we do know is Brin absolutely nailed the pronunciation of Hoka One One! Nice one! Or should I say... nice onay!

We dropped off our stuff and did a warm up comprising of a little jog and some dynamic stretching with a bit of holding hands thrown in, because why not. We set off down the main road heading out of Greenwich and within 10 minutes or so, we had arrived at the East Greenwich Pleasaunce (no Mridula I don't know what a pleasaunce is, nor do I know how to say it!). The Bridge centre is nestled in through a gate and up a little hill in a lovely green area. We were greeted by Ruth & Raeleen and also Raeleen's daughter, Henrietta! Raeleen explained what needed doing which basically involved removing the toys from the container, cleaning them, drying them and putting them back. Plus there was a spot of weeding to be done too so lots to be getting on with!

Feeling the pressure!

"Does anyone have any experience with a pressure washer?". Obviously Nina's hand shot right up! Awesome! So Nina, Ben and Andy went to sort that out, which took a bit of doing and was a lot more complicated than expected. It took a while but they got there in the end and it was up to Nina to live up to the hype. Which she most certainly did!

James and Alex grabbed some brooms and began sweeping in the container. While everyone else grabbed a cloth to clean the toys or headed for the flower beds for some weeding!

Little Henrietta was being extremely helpful and squeezing washing up liquid on people's cloths just to make sure that her toys were getting extra clean! What a cutie pie!

After half an hour, we were pretty much done! The playground was squeaky clean, toys were sparkling and put back into the container, flower beds were weed free. Isabella even went around all the plants and watered them! Great job!

We had some biscuits and squash, took a group photo (sadly minus Ben & Andy who were having an altercation with the hose out back!) and then we set off back to the uni. Except we didn't get very far since the gates had been locked. NOOOO. Vickie kindly went to go and investigate and since we were temporarily trapped I thought we could do some nice hill sprints to keep us warm. But of course, Vickie, being the speedy runner that she is, arrived back in the nick of time with the key thus saving everyone from a sprint! Next time you might not be so lucky!

OK.... GO!

We ran back the way we came and through the uni to the grassy patch for a little ab session to help get that core nice and strong. We did 3 exercises (Russian twists, bicycle crunches & heel taps). 30 seconds each, 2 rounds and those abs were feeling it! Time for a relaxing stretch with arguably the most beautiful GoodGym backdrop and then we called it a night!

London Marathon!

Massive good luck to our favourite set of twins Alex and Steve (yes we all know loads of twins for you to definitely be our favourite!) running the London Marathon on Sunday! And Ben Parkes too if you're reading this, which of course you are. Also best of luck to Helen's other half Paul (if he does still run) who has sadly somehow managed to contract shingles over the last couple of days :( Get well soon Paul!

There will be a group of us cheering on Sunday and I'll post the details about it on our Facebook group later today! GO GET 'EM TEAM GGG!!!

Massive well done last night everyone! You got loads done and I know it was a bit cold but you all did amazing! Hope those abs aren't too sore today! Hopefully see you next week!

24 wonderful runners ran 5K to revitalise the railings at the Ballast Quay Garden!

It was a beautiful evening over in Greenwich (although still a bit cold for my liking). We welcomed the lovely Nina to the gang and saw a comeback from the speedy Simon who ran with us last summer! Good to have you back Si! Finally we saw the return of everyone's favourite threesome (or trio should I say), Steve who has just finished his exams, Christian who has finally recovered from that nasty cleaning injury and Alex who managed to roll out of work on time despite being in an ice cream coma. And Laura was back for more after her first run last week. GREAT TO HAVE YOU BACK GUYS :)

The favourite part of your day!

Favourite thing this week required a little more thought than normal but it was nice to hear snippets of everyone's day!! We had people playing with new cafetieres, eating pecan slices, drinking champagne at work, walking in the park, sleeping in the park (although not whilst walking Linda), leaving work on time, eating Lindt bunnies and copious amounts of ice cream. LOVELY!

Cone flipz!

We did a little warm up in the form of the cone flip game. We split into two teams - one team flipped the cones the right way up and the other half flipped them the wrong way up then we counted to see how many of each there were at the end! This one really gets your heart going as you're constantly going up and down and running around! Mike and Katie were on opposite teams but Mike was hot on her tails flipping over everything she did, undoing all her hard work! No boyfriend points for you Mike! After a few minutes we were good to go.

Since the garden was only a few minutes away, we decided to run the time trial loop that we would be doing in the fitness session so everyone knew roughly where they would be going! Ben P led the way in his little GG race vest (you can join the GG race team here!) and 1km later we were back where we started. A little group photo (the first of many of the evening, sorry it was just too nice not to) and then we set off for Ballast Quay to meet the amazing and super lovely Diane!

We came here last summer to shift some bricks on the shore and this time it was some railings that needed a bit of love. We split into two groups so Ben C took group 1 away for a little jog along the river whilst the others got sanding! Fence dust was flying everywhere and people's faces began to look like the chimney sweepers in Mary Poppins so at least we knew the sandpaper was working! A few wipes with the white spirit and it was ready for the paint!

By this point, group one returned and we switched over. Alex took the other group for a little run whilst the others got stuck in with the painting! Steve was using all of his manipulative skills to try and coax a swap with Clare for her larger brush. "This small brush is really good, you can get all the corners" but Clare was having none of it. George and Christian got more paint on each other than they did the fence but their input was still appreciated. 15 minutes later and the fence was looking BEAUTIFUL. Plus the sunset in the background made it even better. Another group photo and we said our goodbyes to Diane. Hopefully we will be back in the next few weeks to do the other side! STAND BY!

GoodGym Greenwich TT Strava Segment!

We ran back for the fitness session which was a fast version of the run we did earlier that evening. So the idea is we will do it once a month to see how everyone is improving! I think people were a little nervous but I hope everyone understood it was not a race against each other but more a race against your future self :) So stopwatch at the ready, Ben P gave a brief briefing (a short briefing not a briefing about briefs) just to clarify the route and BOOM, away they went!!!!!! Just a few short minutes later and the leaders were coming into the finishing straight. Some really speedy running from EVERYONE! I was blown away, especially with all the corners you had to go around! I hope you all remembered your times. Write it down so you don't forget for next time. We have the official Strava segment leaderboard here which Simon and Amy are currently top of! Congrats! Also massive well done to Linda who pushed super hard and got an amazing time! So chuffed for you!

A little stretch and some Percy piglets and we were done :)

Finally here are a few handy links: Here is a link to the Victoria Park 10K that a few of us were talking about last night if anyone fancies it! It should be relatively flat and fast! Here is a link to our GG Greenwich Facebook group, please join and get involved! Here is a link to the big monthly social which is tonight!

Massive well done last night everyone! Thanks for putting all your effort into the task and the TT. It was awesome and hope you had a great time! Oh and huge good luck to Ben and Brin running Brighton marathon this weekend!