It was GoodGym Monday Magic last night in Wandsworth as 48 runners covered just under 5km, helped out at a residential home for hearing impaired, talked about our happy places and did a mexican squat wave to the sound of bagpipes!

A big GoodGym Wandsworth welcome to all our first time runners tonight - put your hands together for:

• Ali, Joanna, Rachael, Steve and Tal!

The night began with some bits of news, including

• Cheering Helen after her epic 80 mile night ride from London to Eastbourne and still found it in her legs to come along to GoodGym!

• And all the parkrunners smashing that 5k across the city

• Fancy a lovely trail run in a National Trust park? Then check out this event in Morden Hall Park this Saturday. It's even free!

• If you fancy a free timed 10k from Chiswick Bridge, then check out this race which is held every last Sunday of the month. There are even spot prizes!

We then crowded into the nearby carpark to do our warm up while our normal area is having something complicated done to it, and got our heart rates up ready for the run ahead. We also had a discussion about our happy places - there are a lot of nature lovers among you - the forest, by water, the beach and gardens were very popular. As were beds, Tooting Lido and the pub!

After a very warm run to Harding House, a specialist care home in Wandsworth that provides 24-hour support to deaf and/or deafblind men and women over the age of 18. The people they support have a range of diverse and sometimes complex needs, including learning and physical disabilities, mental ill-health and low emotional confidence, and they have a big garden to enjoy which was looking a bit overgrown.

With such a huge number of us, we got started with all the jobs including cutting back bushes, weeding, sorting sheds and watering, and it didn't take long for the place to look a lot more welcoming. So after 25 minutes of work, we waved goodbye and headed over to Wandsworth Common for our fitness session.

Because it was sunny, and I'm not going to see your lovely faces for a couple of weeks, it was running games week, which started off with a truly epic game of British Bulldog. It was good natured and gentle but very real carnage out there on that common, which saw a few individuals battle it through to the final stage with Alexander M very almost making it to the finish line! Next up was Squat Squat Goose, with Matt valiantly sprinting but just missing his spot not once but twice! Finally we attempted a huge multiplying group squat which finished in an enormous squatting mexican wave - check out the video here! It was doing good and having fun from start to finish...

Next week run leader Chris is leading you guys down to wash mobility buses and other jobs at the brilliant Leonard Cheshire disability charity. Sign up here to get your weekly dose of doing good and getting fit! I'm looking forward to getting back to you in a couple of weeks time. Until then, have fun, do good and run happy everyone!

We had so much news to kick off the weekly run with last night, but firstly

• Give a massive GoodGym cheer to all these lovely new runners who came for their first group run last! Hello Hannah, Sina, Rafaella and Kate!

This week's roundup included:

• The monthly social! This Thursday, on tour in Brent. Here are all the details - come along for pun of the month, to hear about all the good everybody has been doing, running achievements and all things GoodGym

• Did you happen to catch the Guardian magazine this weekend? If not check it out here. We had a Guardian journalist along for a run with us a few weeks ago, and this was the lovely write up. Share it with everybody you know!

• There's nobody yet signed up for this community mission in Merton on Saturday - this is one you don't need to be DBS checked for but it will really help out a local school so if you are free why not check it out!

• Congratulations to Beth who organised an amazing park run takeover for Fulham Palace's 300th event! A brilliant 38 of you turned up to fill all the volunteer and pacing roles. Check out the run report here

Providence House

Last night's task was at local charity Providence House - this amazing organisation is putting on a program of summer activities for local young people aimed at combating antisocial behaviour and social isolation.

But before we could set off we did a warm up outside and a quick survey on the best things to put on a BBQ - you guys are all about the protein, but also recommended halloumi, asparagus, shrimp and aubergine. Delicious!

With just a short run to the charity, we soon arrived to find a very cheery welcome from the kids who were waving and singing from the window! We got a short talk about the brilliant work Providence House is doing. For the last 50 years, Providence House Youth Club has been passionate about improving the lives and outcomes for young people from North Battersea, and has created a strong sense of belonging and heritage and is open to all. They had hundreds of flyers printed to spread the word about the work they are doing, but as they rely on volunteers, asked us to help.

We set off straight away clutching at least 400 flyers and started distributing in the surrounding houses. This was a real testament to the fact that many hands make light work, as it took us less than half an hour to deliver the lot over the course of 4km. Amazing going team!

We then popped over to a local community space to do a conditioning session which featured glute bridges, planks, single leg squats and other strength exercises that all worked on the important muscle groups for runners and focused on our ABCs (agility, coordination and balance). This sort of strength workout helps prevent injuries, improve form, increase efficiency and generally helps turn you into a better runner - so do try and get in one conditioning session a week!

You can sign up here for more doing good and getting fit next week. Until then, run happy GoodGym!

The rain has finally done one, so it was back to sunny running in Wandsworth last night, with 35 GoodGymers doing good!

• A huge welcome to Claire, Larissa, Claire, Joy, Helen and Sarah who all came for their first GoodGym group run last night!

But before we headed out for our task we did a round up of the week's news:

• This Saturday we have the monthly GoodGym long run - 16km or 10km along the Wandle Trail. Here are all the details you need

• GoodGym is taking over an aid station at the British 10K on Sunday 21st July from 7.30am - volunteers get a free place for the Oxford Half, Hackney Half or the next London 10K. Sign up here

Last night's run was one of a number of community events as part of the Great Get Together, inspired by Jo Cox, who in a parliamentary address said:

"We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us"

So as part of our session last night we celebrated kindness, respect and what we have in common by making a special effort to speak to somebody we haven't chatted to before. So, with this is mind, we headed outside for a warm up and to talk about all the good things we're looking forward to this week. Lots of lovely holidays, brunch, meeting up with friends, sleeping and BBQs happening!

After a 2km run to the Omnibus theatre, an independent charity which provides education and programs for local young and disadvantaged young people, we divided up into three groups. The biggest team headed round to the back of the building to tackle the massively overgrown garden, while the other two groups tackled window washing and sorting out the front garden. There was a lot to do, but as the organisation relies on volunteers and supporters to keep bringing the arts to the community, we worked hard for 40 minutes and the difference was huge.

After tidying up we jogged over to Clapham Common to do our fitness session, which focused on high intensity mixed with planks for our core. After partnering up, we hit a huge round of squats, frog jumps, burpees, and fast feet - all the old favourites!

Next week we have a two task week with a choice of a longer or shorter run - both to help local schools with various projects. Here are all the details.

If you can't wait until next Monday to get your GG fix, then there is a community mission this weekend in Battersea helping out at a community garden and war memorial. All welcome! Sign up here.

Have a happy week everybody!

Well. You get on the tube and it's a bit drizzly. You get off the tube and it's straight out big snowflake snowing. That did not deter 29 cracking runners from jumping on the good ship Lambeth for a night of two tasks and two decent runs. Nice!

After a good warm up, George and Tom led a merry band up the hill to West Norwood, where John was waiting at the Portico gallery. The famous West Norwood Feast gazebo sides were waiting to be sorted into CLEAN or DIRTY, folded and put away. Not the dirty ones though! They needed to get clean. This was a solid 4km each way, which kept everyone warm and the snow even stopped. Tom H took some photos and they are a bit blurry. Or perhaps they show the speed at which people were working? You decide!

My children's phone has produced some Gerhard Richter style portraits tonight...Said Tom

Katie and Lucy headed 3.5km down to Vauxhall to help prep a new community cafe that will be opening in February. Be Enriched have community spaces that anyone can come along to, have a chat and get some food for free. This cafe will charge people from the nearby sports centre and the profits will go back into the rest of their work. There was a lot of degreasing to do and so everyone donned gloves and set about cleaning fridges, shelves and a manky deep fat fryer, as well as sanding some wooden condiment containers down.

Shout out to Tim for tackling the greasy job of under the fat fryer!

We returned back to base and did some nice stretches, before a small party headed to the pub for some light refreshments and chats about our forthcoming trip to Liverpool in March.

Last night 39 runners turned Blue Monday GoodGym Red, running 4k to dig over an outdoor learning space at a local school, to take on a fitness session and to beat the January blues!

Good News

A huge welcome to Hugh, Roisin, Caitlin and Hazel who all came for their first group run tonight - give them a cheer when you see them!

GoodGym has some £10 community entry places for the Big Half happening in London on Sunday 10th March. If you're interested please email bighalf@goodgym.org. Deadline for applications is Wednesday 30th January. Names will be drawn at random from those who want a place. It's a great race, and very well organised, so if you're after a goos half marathon, whether it be your first or if you're chasing that PB, then why not give it a go.

We're getting closer and closer to that January challenge target! We've done a massive 168 good deeds out of a target of 220, and have 1192 kilometres under our belt out of a target of 3000km. There's still a little way to go, but well done for being part of the massive wave of good happening across the country at the moment!

A big round of applause went to Sarah who reached that magic milestone - 100 good deeds. That's a huge amount of digging, cleaning, planting, sorting, and general good-doing and who knows how many planks! Brilliant.

We dug our task last night

After all that good news we were ready to head outside for our warm up, and kicked off our third run of 2019 with some high knees, heel flicks, fast feet and, given that it was rubbish old Blue Monday, a discussion about what makes us feel happy. Food, hugs, rest, burritos, our friends, wine, books and of course GoodGym were all sources of joy for us!

Our job last night was at Chirstchurch school, a local primary school which has an enormous project they are undertaking. So after a speedy 1.5 km run down the hill stopping only to do some toe taps to keep our heart rates and body temperatures up, we arrived to find Barry the site manager with a whole load of spades and a big job for us.

The learning space is going to be for all the kids and visitors, and will feature hives, composting, teaching areas and lots of other fun elements, but the area first needs to be prepped for such a large endeavour. They've raised the money for this incredible project themselves, but need a hand from volunteers, and GoodGym is always happy to help out! So after putting on gloves and grabbing tools, we got stuck in digging over the soil, picking out stones for repurposing elsewhere and getting rid of weeds. After 40 minutes of work we called it a night - but we'll be back soon to help with the next stage!

We nipped across the road for our fitness session, which started with a game of clusters, and then moved on to a more intense workout which featured repeated inchworms, vertical jumps, shuffles, plank knee taps and more. Conditioning is important to protect against injury, increase strength and improve overall fitness, so well done on working hard last night.

All that was left was a quick run home and that last hill, before stretches and lots and lots of cake. Nice work everyone! Next week we have a great new (indoor!) task and a choice of two runs. What are you waiting for, sign up here!.

We also have the first of our monthly socials coming up soon - check out the details here and sign up!

With the penultimate run of the year and two tasks ahead of us, we were feeling decidedly Christmassy in Wandsworth last night !

We kicked off the night with a bumper news session...

If you're free on Friday and can sign up for this mission on Friday for the amazing Evolve housing charity, please do as soon as poss! The organisers need eight people for the mission to go ahead and will cancel it if they can't get that.

Next week is our last run of the year but we're back on the 7th January for our first run - perfect for shaking off those January blues and any vestiges of a NYE hangover. We'll also be doing a starter session, so let your friends know if they wouldn't like to find out more about GoodGym!

Remember all those bulbs we planted for the Kambala Cares project? They're having a Christmas party on the estate, complete with local choirs and mulled wine, and we've been invited! Check out the details here.

We had to bid a tearful farewell to Alyx who is leaving us for new adventures in NZ! She's been a big part of the GG family, and we'll miss her. Thanks for all your amazing efforts and enthusiasm over the last two years Alyx! Come back to visit please!

Two Task Monday

It was a biggie last night, with two tasks to choose from. The first was a shorter run down to the Venue Community centre to various jobs at this local centre, and the other was a longer run to a family refuge centre in Balham to do a painting and weeding job.

So after a warm up and a discussion on our favourite veggie meals, we divided up into two groups, with Alyx (who might have thought she'd get a night off on her final run for a while with us) taking one half on the longer run.

The Venue group made it down to the centre in very quick time....perhaps a bit too quick as the task owner hadn't turned up yet! But after a quick call while Helen led the group through a few exercises and our weekly plank minute, we got our instructions, and started by taking compostable waste over to the local community garden. On returning, we knocked out a few less fun jobs, such as clearing rubbish and cleaning, before moving onto the creative bit - decorating the community centre! The decorating methods were pretty inventive - from some lovely tinsel garlanding, to some trolley-based arranging ("I've never been so tall" said Beth!) - but very effective. We left the place looking very festive, and jogged over to Battersea Park to do some competitive fitness. Dividing up into groups, everybody had a turn in choosing the exercise (including dancing like a fairy? Apparently this worked our ABCs...!) before sprinting, with one team just pipping the other to the post - but not by much. Excellent effort guys!

Over to Alyx to hear what the guys who ran down to the family refuge centre got up to:

After a long but steady run, we arrived at the house ready for action and were greeted, welcomed in and shown our task. One of the bright yellow rooms was to be painted yellow, plus there was some weeding to be done outside! We took it in turns painting and doing 1 minute planks, so despite the long run we still all got in an abs workout too. After just 30 minutes we had weeded an area of the garden, laid down some wood chip and painted an entire room - many hands sure do make light work! We ran back to the BAC to meet Ana and the rest of the team for some stretches.

Next week it's our final run of the year! (sniffle). But don't worry, we are really going to go out with a bang. Sign up here for a very festive running and caroling task in support of a local cancer centre, a very Christmassy fitness session and then our very last social of the year in the Four Thieves across the road. See you then for a Christmas cracker of a run!

With only four more groups runs to Christmas (well, three now!) we gathered last night to do as much good as we could possibly manage in the few weeks that are left. Undaunted by the old there were 22 of us, thermalled up and headtorches at the ready!

News roundup

Hello and welcome to all the runners coming to Wandsworth from other GG areas tonight. Lovely to have you join us!

Don't forget the Christmas party this Saturday- we have discussed our idea for the theme and the following link courtesy of Paul might help! Sign up and details here

We've been approached by FareShare, and amazing food charity, to participate in a massive food collection mission. It's soon to be listed on the website, so keep an eye out, but you can find out more here

Icy you baby, nailing that task

After a warm up (much needed) where we got our hearts pumping, we went round the group and found out the name of our first pet. There were Not one but two Goldys, along with several other very creative names, and a few non-pet owners.

Our task tonight was at the Kambala estate in Battersea, where we had been a few weeks earlier to start planting loads of bulbs in the raised beds there ready for Spring. The volunteers there have founded an organisation called Kambala Cares, which aims to bring residents together and to make the estate a lovely place to live. They have recently got funding for the project, but can't do such a massive job alone and so asked us along to lend a hand!

After a nice steady run down the hill we arrived to find Donna waiting for us with a load of tools and even more bulbs. Taking on one bed per group we got stuck straight in. It was hard going, and a great upper body work out, but half an hour later the job was pretty much done with just one guest appearance by the police -who took our photo! So it was off to the park to do some fitness.

Alpah-bet on Red

Tonight's fitness session focussed on our ABCs - agility, balance and coordination - which are vital for every runner and something we should be getting into our regular schedule. These drills strengthen muscles, help activate our fast-twitch muscles, work on our balance which ultimately improves our form and running economy. So over a given distance we worked on these crucial points with some grapevines, high skips, toe taps, reverse lunges and hopping. Passers by must have loved watching our sumo walks! To finish off the night we did our weekly minute's plank. You guys make it look easy!

After a steady run back to base, we had time for a stretch and a chat about next week's run. In a first for us we have an absolutely huge task on Clapham Common, shifting literally tonnes of compost ready for an incredible wildflower initiative. Sign up here for Monday fun and fitness.