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So much lovely news this week. We kicked off by saying a huge well done to Emily and Tom who both smashed their first trail runs this weekend at the Maverick races. Great running! Well done to all that took on the challenge this weekend, and everybody that did a parkrun too.

A huge welcome to Vicky

Only two days to go to hit our January challenge target and we're only 15 good deeds short! So if you can make it out to another group run, mission or community mission before Thursday, we have got a chance of making it!

There is a great community mission going on this Sunday in Battersea Park, and you don't need to be DBS checked for it. Sign up here to help out with the mini marathon and spot the stars of the future!

Want to spend Early May Bank Holiday weekend doing something to challenge yourself? Chi is organising a weekend away at the Spartan Race where if you volunteer for one shift in exchange you will receive a FREE race pass - check it out here . He will also be putting on a series of fitness session to get you ready for it in advance - all welcome!

No cold shoulders here

It was super nippy last night, but with two tasks and two options of distance to choose from, we got stuck straight into our warm up (discussing nice things that happened to us at the weekend, highlights including discovering brussel sprout gratin, coffee in bed, spending time with family, eating and drinking all the beer) before dividing up into two teams.

Team Little Village opted for the longer run (6.5km in total) to Balham. After a nice run down there we spent the evening sorting donations for this amazing charity which provides clothes, toys, supplies and other useful things to families who need them. Little Village is like a foodbank, but for equipment for babies and children up to the age of 5, it's a movement committed to alleviating material poverty in London - find out more about this wonderful initiative here.

Meanwhile Team Two, led by Chi, ran down to Battersea to help out Anthony with his allotment. Anthony grows food for the residents in his sheltered housing, but struggles to look after the whole garden by himself. So after a good stint helping him out with digging, clearing and weeding Chi took the group into the warm residents' dining room to do what sounds like an intense workout featuring mountain climbers, side planks, tricep dips and planks! He's a tough taskmaster, but he gets results! Thanks Chi :)

Next week we have an exciting new task for an amazing charity, the Rainbow Trust, which supports very ill children. You have two options - runt he first half down to Putney and take public transport back (so bring your oyster cards with you!) or to complete the whole 10k (5k each way) but be prepared to be back a little later than normal. We'll make sure everybody sticks together on the run after this fun new (indoor!) task. Please do turn up on time for this run if you can because we'll be leaving at 7pm sharp so we can get there in good time. Sign up here for the details.

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!