Apparently yesterday was officially the most depressing day of the year.

Not on Wandsworth's watch! We kicked Blue Monday's ass with some random acts of kindness, a couple of brilliant community tasks, an abs blast, a pilates session for runners and some speed work.

We started off the night with one of our favourite things - welcoming lovely new runners to the group. Let's give a massive cheer to Fraser, Nicole, Matthew, Amy, Jessica, Lois and Charlie. Great to have you all with us - hope to see you next week too!

We also congratulated all those super park runners who got out there on Saturday morning. If you haven't done a park run yet, check it out like the 130 000 runners did last week, and prepare to get hooked on the free 5k time trials that take place all over the UK every Saturday morning at 9am.

We had a recap on our January challenge which is getting there. We have a goal of 241 good deeds and 1200 kms this month, so please get linked to Strava and get those good deeds clocked up! A huge well done to everybody who has contributed so much already.

To counteract Blue Monday, we decided to release a kindness bomb on London. Everybody picked out a different random act of kindness from the bag of joy on their way out to the warm up. Our job was to do 43 separate nice things over the course of the week to cheer other people up. We'd love to hear how they went!

During our warm up we were joined by the lovely Laura, the new Tower Hamlets trainer - welcome Laura! - and after a quick knees up to get us warm, we set off for Battersea. It was a short run there, split up with a few conditioning exercises, and we soon arrived ready to tackle a deep clean of the Venue community centre, and to clear a much neglected tunnel.

Hadas, who manages the community centre, told us about the incredible projects the organisation runs. Once a month the team there goes out in the night with hot food and drinks to support the local homeless people. This couldn't be more important in the winter months, so if you'd like to help out then let me know. This great place also puts on Feast and Film nights, where food that would otherwise be thrown away gets made into delicious meals by the brilliant Hadas, and a film (usually highlighting an environmental issue) is played. This community centre is massively important in bringing together the local community, so it's great we can get involved.

While one team set about giving the kitchen, fridges and bathrooms a good clean, the other half nipped down to the a nearby tunnel. This underpass is often a real mess and uncared for, so we set about sweeping, clearing and tidying the place up. After 20 minutes of work it was spotless. Well done team!

While we finished our jobs, we smashed out a quick five minute abs blast before running over to Battersea park where professional pilates instructor Laura took us for an intense pilates for runners session which saw us effectively work our lower body and core. This is really important for good running form and to prevent injuries, so thanks very much Laura!

We also knocked out a bit of pace work during our run back to the Arts Centre, saving something in the tank for that last hill. We needed a good old stretch after all that work. Finishing off the night sweaty but happy we turned Blue Monday a lovely shade of GoodGym red.

Well done everybody! Don't forget that next week we have a special run. Would love to see you there!

First run of the year! It was bound to be a smasher, and it did not disappoint....

It may have been a cold and frosty evening, but that did not stop 41 post-festive runners ready to burn off those mince pies and mulled wine and make a difference in Wandsworth.

We were treated to a bumper load of new faces for our first run of the year, which always makes us very happy. Ladies and gents of GoodGym, please put your hands together for the lovely Charlotte, Abi, Georgina, Julie, Ashleigh, Lindsay, Tamsin, and Monica who all joined us for their very first GoodGym session last night. We hope you'll all be back next week!

It was clear that you guys hadn't slacked off over the festive period, but have instead been tackling those park runs, races, training sessions and missions like proper troupers. Vix and Lorna were both still away after an amazing sub zero 10k in Norway, but we cheered Emily, Paul, Amy, Helen, Chris, Daniel, Morag and Hannah for smashing a tough and hilly 10k in Brixton only the day before. Jessie and Luke both tackled some insane racing in waist-deep mud, while John put in a fine performance in the Surrey leagues at the weekend. Well done to all those who did Christmas, New Year and early January park runs. You really are an amazing bunch! If you're keen to find the right race for you then just shout - the GoodGym team will be behind you all the way.

Our target this January is a huge one, but I know we can achieve it. Between us, we have got to hit 241 good deeds, and cover a whopping 1200 kilometers. With over 450 kilometers under our belts already (thanks in part to a slightly longer run that advertised last night!) we've made a cracking start. Don't forget to connect to Strava so the team can support you and we can clock those miles up for Wandsworth.

After a last minute cancellation, our task for the evening had changed. But the sliver lining was that we were in fact doing a job for a different and amazing charity called Caius House. This youth centre offers local young people a safe place where they are supported and can develop their own unique talents. Every child is valued - which we think is a pretty awesome ethos. So we were happy to help when they asked us to spread the word for their upcoming projects in the area.

But first - a much needed warm up. A few minutes of dynamic exercises later we did a quick poll to find out what everybody hoped to achieve in January. There were an admirable number of running related resolutions, some hoped to final banish their NYE hangover, while others just wanted to get through the toughest month of the year. We're here for you!

It was just over a mile to Caius House, so we soon set off with Helen kindly backmarking for us. Sarah had the great idea of pairing up new runners with regular GoodGym runners so they could get an idea of what it was all about, and we all happily set off for the first stage of our task. With a teenytiny detour at the end - just to add on the mileage, you understand - we arrived to find Charlene waiting for us with a big pile of leaflets. She gave us a quick talk about the work they do there, and let us know that if any of us had any special skills or work experience opportunities that we could share with the young people at Caius House, that would be great. After a few minutes pause to catch our breath we were off again, and divided up into two teams to put our trusty human chain approach into practice. Way over 400 leaflets later we were almost finished, but the clock was ticking and we needed to get our fitness session in so lovely Jamie and Alyx volunteered to do the rest on their way home, while we knocked out a quick but tough session.

We started off with a game which involved being honest and sprinting. If you answered yes to questions like 'did you have a cheeky snog over Christmas' then you had to sprint across the park, if you didn't, then you had to do a conditioning exercise while you waited. We then moved on to the parlauf - which, while it may sound confusing, is actually great for speed training. We paired up to complete as many circuits of the park we could complete in our twos, with Roshan and Luke emerging as the winners.

All that was left was to run back to the BAC, not forgetting that last hill, and a few stretches to finish off the night. Well done team, you truly smashed the first run of the year. Apparently next Monday, the 15th of January, is officially the most depressing day of the year. Counteract those winter blues by joining us for our run instead to do good, get fit and feel great!