24 awesome runners ran 4km to paint the fence at Grinling Gibbons School

We were joined by new runner Aaron last night, who got the warmest of welcomes from JC who took off his shirt as soon as he saw him... but of course this is GoodGym so nothing dodgy was taking place, they were just comparing tattoos, as you do.

Before we set off, we went round the group to find out what events we all had coming up. Lots of people doing the Oxford Half which I'm sure will be an awesome race and made even better with many familiar faces in red T shirts running around the course. I hope training is going well for all of your various goals and remember I'm always here if you need a hand with anything!

After a little warm up we headed out of the uni along the main road to ensure we got to the school as soon as possible. I wasn't joking when I said the fence was big was I! It catches me by surprise every time! Natalie had organised everything for our arrival. For those who don't know, Natalie is a teacher at the school. Bet she loved going back in while she's on school holidays! Sorry Natalie but we all really appreciate your help! :)

There was a small amount of sanding still to do plus the painting of course. Without much hesitation, everyone got stuck in.

The gate was open this time so we could paint the back of the railings and actually see what we were doing this time round so that was handy! As instructed before we left for the task, speed would prioritise over accuracy with regards to the painting and lo and behold we managed to get LOADS of it done. NICE JOB!!

There is probably still about three quarters left to do, it's certainly the task that keeps on giving! After 40 minutes or so, it was time to head back. No time for a fitness session this week sadly (which seems to be a recurring theme and for that I do apologise, clearly my timekeeping skills have got a bit too relaxed lately haha) but we took the more scenic route along the river instead, LOVELY!

A few stretches and we called it a night!

Next week we are back at Charlton House, snipping down cable ties from old posters and clearing a path for wheelchair/buggy access. Join us for a slightly longer run than usual!

Social Stuff

Here is the link to the GoodGym monthly social taking place this evening. As always Greenwich is in the bad books for never having anyone turn up... woops! But in all seriousness it's a lovely opportunity to meet some likeminded GoodGymmers from all over the capital so if you're in the area make sure you pop in and restore our image!

We also have our Greenwich social coming up in a few weeks! We haven't had one since spring so it's well overdue. Sign up for the run here and if you know anywhere in Greenwich that you think might be suitable for a few dozen sweaty beings to have some food and drinks then give me a shout!

Great work last night everyone! We really made a good dent in the fence, hope you're all looking forward to future visits! Have a lovely rest of the week!

18 awesome runners ran 4km to help out at Ballast Quay Garden!

Another wonderfully successful evening down in Greenwich! It was a bit of a special day as the wonderful Claire was celebrating her 50th good deed, proving consistency is most certainly key! Claire is genuinely one of the loveliest, happiest and is most certainly the smiliest person I know! Nothing can bring this girl down, even after realising she had a flat tyre on her bike she still managed to run to Greenwich and make it on time! We greeted her with her very own finishing tunnel and whipped on her cape!!! Claire is the Parkrun queen and has got to be one of our most improved runners amongst us. When she joined GoodGym she was recovering from knee surgery and then last week she smashed out a 5k PB of 20:28... super speedy and no doubt was smiling the whole way round! Super proud of you Claire, it is an absolutely pleasure having you in this group, can't wait to see you break 20 mins and follow you on your journey to your first marathon!!! WOOO!

Since I was out of action last night and feeling sorry for myself, run leader Ben took everyone for a nice gentle jog the long way round to Ballast Quay. Everyone arrived suitably puffed after CHOOSING to run up the hill.... nice one everyone!! See, deep down you know those hills are good for you ;) Can't get enough of 'em clearly!!

Diane had lots of things for us to do. We had three big bushes of ivy to cut back, railings to paint and leaves to sweep! Everyone grabbed a tool and got to work! All of this is to help Diane put on a wonderful day at the London Open Gardens event in a months time. Anyone and everyone is welcome to attend and is in aid of the Greenwich and Bexley Hospice which is "where we will all end up anyway"... Diane's words, not mine!

After half an hour the garden was looking great! The ivy had all been chopped down and thrown in the river along with all other green matter that had been collected. The railings were looking fab, there was a bit of paint on some hands but nothing some white spirit and San Pellegrino couldn't help remove! That's SO Greenwich isn't it, washing your hands with San Pellegrino.. HA!

We took a quick pic, grabbed a biscuit or two on the way out and ran back to the uni for a few little exercises before it was time for BURGERS!

Thanks for a lovely evening everyone. I'm not really one for public announcements or speeches but I just wanted to say that I really am so overwhelmed with what you've all been up to and achieved over the past few weeks and months, whether it's been a cracking result at a race, or just consistently turning up to GoodGym, doing countless missions and group runs and inspiring each other, it really is amazing so well done one and all!!!

Also thanks to Chi, Sara and Ben for sending me some photos for the run report :)

Great work last night guys n gals. Diane was absolutely delighted with all the work you did, a lot of which she absolutely could not manage herself so she sends her sincerest thanks. See you next week where we will be fixing some airbeds for the night shelter at St Marks!

23 runners ran 4km to plant 160 saplings at The Bridge!

Another week and another lovely evening with a summer like temperature as well. The Goodgym Greenwich gang welcomed new runner Matt last night and during our raucous briefing and welcome we were asked to move on as our voices were louder than a choir concert happening inside the Naval College.

After a very quick warm up we were off for another opportunity to run inside Greenwich Park. We were promised that we would do the whole hill, however we certainly managed the mean section of Maze Hill!

We were rewarded for our up hill struggle with a downhill path and swiftly arrived at The Bridge and got to task on planting 16 varieties of trees, weeding and other maintenance. Most of the team began preparing pots for the trees to go in while Claire and Sara carefully wrote out the labels for each variety - a Goodgym task anomaly.

The saplings were planted in their new homes and the labels were assigned to their correct pots. The team weeding had made a massive improvement to the flower beds outside the centre and we were all rewarded with biscuits and squash.

The group set off back to the naval college and finished with a quick leg strength session of squats and lunges - and we were careful to avoid the concert and making a reputation for ourselves as troublemakers.

Great work everyone! Ruth was SO pleased with all the work you managed to do, it would have taken her hours and hours so huge well done to you all for working so hard!!

22 runners ran 4km to weed, plant and pick up litter at Vanbrugh hill!

Our run last night was extra special as it was the first group run starting in the daylight! Well done to all the runners who kept up their good deeds through the cold winter nights, but I’m sure we are all very much looking forward to some nice sunny Goodgyms!!

We had a few new runners (welcome to Julian, Eleanor and Gavin) joining us last night and lucky for them they got to learn not only our names, but our favourite things to have on toast! Peanut butter seemed to be a common favourite, but that’s no surprise amongst a group of keen runners.

After a quick warm up we set off to Vanbrugh Hill through Greenwich Park (yes, the park is open long enough for us now!!). We were greeted by Fiona, Patrick and Eddie who are part of the East Greenwich Resident’s Association. They work hard to keep East Greenwich looking clean and bursting with flowers, and we were on hand to help. As we were quite a big group we split into two. One team took on the task of gardening. There was weeding to be done and new plants from the Royal Hill Community Garden to be planted. Everyone quickly got to work making sure the flower bed had a new look in no time!

The other group was on litter duty. Armed with litter pickers they scoured the roads and local train station for anything they could find. Unfortunately, it didn’t take much effort to locate litter. It was everywhere! Four big bin-liners were filled. A great job done but sadly only a dent in all the litter in the area.

After helping to make Vanbrugh look a little more dashing, we ran back to base for a quick fitness session. There are lots of Greenwich GoodGymers who are racing this weekend (good luck to Bliss, Jonny, Alex and Steve running the Manchester Marathon and Claire running the Adidas City Run) so instead of strength we did some….more running! We did four laps of a small loop, each time adding in a bit more speed. A quick stretch and we were all finished for the night!

If tonight’s session wasn’t enough and you want to get involved in more community activities check out this fun community mission here taking place next month at the Mini Marathon in Greenwich Park. Deadline for sign ups is THIS FRIDAY!!!

Also, as already mentioned, Steve and Alex are running a marathon this weekend. But, if that wasn’t enough, they’ll be running another two this month. It’s all in aid of Barts Charity and they’ll be holding a quiz night to raise money on Tuesday 23rd April. If you’re interested in attending (excellent company and even better prizes have been promised!) then drop one of them an email: alex.j.murtough@gmail.com / stevemurtough@gmail.com

Great job everyone, we absolutely transformed the area!! See you next week for some more gardening, this time at Christchurch Church at The Forum!

15 fab runners ran 7km to tidy up at Charlton House!

Our run was a wee bit longer than usual last night, well I say a wee bit, it was over double the length of what we're normally used to doing here in Greenwich plus it was the first time in a long time that we had to run up THAT hill!

We welcomed back Lizi after a a 9 month hiatus who in that time has got married and honeymooned! Good to have you back Lizi!

So we set off as soon as we could knowing it would take a little longer than normal. After about 20 minutes and a big hill later, we arrived at the wonderful Charlton House. We were greeted by Simon who had buckets, sponges, brooms, scissors and an industrial strength cleaner for us.

Our main tasks were to clean graffiti, snip off a bunch of rogue cable ties from the railings and litter pick the grounds. However, in reality, our main task was actually FINDING the grafitti first. After a lap of the whole house, none was spotted but after about 15 minutes searching, lots was finally found on the brick wall of the park. The high strength cleaner worked an absolute treat, it was like rubbing out pencil! Disappeared in an instant!

Meanwhile the rest of the crew were off in search for litter. It was a bit more challenging than expected in the dark but by the end there was a nice little haul collected. Nice!!

The success story of the night though was the team on cable tie duty who managed to collect a whole bucket's worth of cable ties from railings, benches and fences etc. GREAT WORK!!

After about half an hour, we reconvened, put everything away, took a pic and off we went! We said bye to Kat our back marker who, by the way, can speak 6 different languages... amazing! Or should I say incroyable!

No time for a fitness session last night, sorry guys, but we will be back with a bang next week! Lots of people tapering for big races though so I promise to keep it light :)

We had a little stretch and called it a night!!

Just a quick few links for the things that I mentioned yesterday

Here is the link to the Mini Marathon community mission on 12th May. Stewards, marshals and set up volunteers required!

Also the big Earth Hour community mission is taking place on Saturday. Have a look here, sounds super fun!

Great work last night everyone! Lots of great running from you all and thanks for all your hard work and patience when we got there!! See you on Saturday for Beckton Parkrun or next Wednesday!

23 awesome runners ran 3km to clear leaves and weeds at St Marks church!

And so the heatwave continues, but it seems to be a good thing as it brought out 4 lovely new runners last night so please welcome to the gang Beth, James, Marianne and Rachael! Hope you enjoyed your first run with us!

We have a Facebook group for GoodGym Greenwich where people often post about races or other bits going on so feel free to join!

Yay for Bliss!

Big congratulations were in order yesterday as it was Bliss's 50th Good Deed! Well done Bliss, hope you celebrated with a tequila last night!

We headed off for a quick warm up and then ran through the park (which was looking rather sad and yellow) to St Marks Church! We were met by the lovely Tony who had got everything organised for us and even had some cold lemonade at the ready! What a fab host!

There were 3 tasks which needed some attention. The first one was sweeping and bagging up leaves at the front of the building. The second was weeding and clearing the courtyard and the third was cutting brambles and vines out the back!

We split off into groups and got going immediately! Everyone grabbed some tools and went for it. There were two stand out tools of the evening, the comedy broom which was about 10cm wide and the cool leaf grabber which was super effective! After 20 minutes, the front of the building had totally been transformed and lots of bags of leaves had accumulated. Nice work!

The other two groups were getting on just as well, group 3 even had some snacks to keep them going... blackberries from the brambles! They were REALLY sour though, probably because they were covered in fox wee hahaha.

After half an hour the place was looking WONDERFUL!!! The bags were brought around the back, tools were put away and a final drink was had before we took our group photo and headed off! What a transformation!

We went back through the park, back to the uni for a quick partner core session on the grass (which more resembled hay) and then called it a night!

Great work everyone as always! We got so much done!!! See you all next week!

17 awesome runners ran 3km to help out to tidy up at Maze Hill station!

Another lovely evening in Greenwich! We were joined by two new runners, Ekta and Sara, welcome!! Hope you enjoyed your first GoodGym run!

We started off with a few form drills, not sure I actually told you the name of them but they are called A-skip and B-skip, and you can see how to do them again here! These are great drills to do to work on your running form as they open up the hips, emphasize correct foot placement on the ground and promote a quick leg turnover which will all be beneficial to your running as well as being a good warm up too. A bit faffy but the more you do it the more you'll get the hang of it!

After warming up with those lovely drills, we headed out of the uni, through the park and dropped down into Maze Hill station. We came across what I thought was the correct garden but we were actually the wrong side of the station completely! We made our way over the footbridge to the other side and met Patrick, Rich, Helena and Fiona from the East Greenwich Residents Association. The land is owned by the station but it sadly has no one maintaining it apart from Helena and a few volunteers every now and again so there was lots for us to do!

Rich took 6 of the group to the Westcombe Woodlands to untangle some bindweed which had snaked its way around some of the young trees. This left the rest of us to do the watering, weeding, litter picking and mulching! Everyone assigned themselves a job and got stuck in! We had half an hour to get as much done as we could!

We had a good system going with the weeders, waterers and the mulchers and after just 20 minutes the place had been totally transformed (I always forget to do a before photo - sorry gang). We had filled loads of brown bags with weeds and unwanted grass, a few binbags of litter had been collected, all the little trees had been mulched and everything was glistening with water! Another few minutes passed and the Woodland folk arrived back having tackled the bindweed... SUCCESS! For the last couple of minutes it was all hands on deck tidying up and picking up as much litter as we could reach. Crazy how much there was in such a small area.

Fancy a cuppa?

Just as we were about to head off, our wonderful hosts had brought out some mugs and a pot of tea, top hospitality there! A few people had a brew, we took a quick photo and then headed back to the uni for some leg work! We did 3 pretty basic (yet effective) exercises to work different parts of the legs to get them STRONG! We did some side leg lifts to work the glute medius (side bum), some hip bridges to increase mobility in the hips and strengthen the glutes and hamstrings and then finally finished with a wall sit to engage the quads! Hopefully you felt the burn with that one! All really easy and simple things you can do ANYWHERE! Ideally you'd repeat them all so you do all of them at least 3 times but we ran out of time sadly! But try and include some of these either during your run or just while you're watching TV!

We had a little stretch and called it a night!!! I think hotdogs were on the cards for dinner, am I right?

Thanks so much for all your hard work!! We got so much done in such a short space of time, so you should be so pleased. They don't get many volunteers anymore so we really helped a lot and it was much appreciated! See you next time!