A big old to-do list

26 runners gathered tonight to head back to Oxford House, to our first visit after the summer break, as the weather on our first September run didn't disappoint.

We were looking forward to an evening of varied tasks, as Deborah, our task owner for tonight, had warned us there was plenty for us to get stuck into...

On arrival at this beautiful community arts centre, we were split into four teams:

• One team headed onto furniture clearing
• ...another to window shining
• ...and another to stairwell cleaning,
• ...while another crew went to clean and clear the dance studio
• ...and two groups headed outside for weeding and litter-picking

There was plenty for us to do, but as usual, highly productive and industrious GoodGymers finished most tasks early, and so it was a big crew who headed outside to finish up with an almighty litter-pick.

Lots was accomplished and by the end of the task, a very grateful Deborah was saying her cheerio, expressing heartfelt thanks at all the runners had achieved, explaining that the furniture that needed moving from one storey of the building to another was a job that had needed doing for ages.

Indeed we were pleased with what we accomplished, not least because as we waited in the cafe for the final furniture-removal runners to finish, we focused on some balance moves. Nothing like a bit of active recovery.

And so to Weavers Fields, for our fitness session of the week. I had promised the runners that The Weavers Workout would be a total body workout, and so it was. Scorpion push-ups were blitzed along with MMA sprawls; prisoner lunges beautifully performed, as were the cycling crunches. The runners were on fire. And before we knew it it was 8.25pm and time for us to head back to base.

Another glorious GoodGym evening. Well done everyone and thank you.

Big Monday shout-outs

• Thanks to Liz and Dave for backmarking.
• Thanks to Dave for topping up our pics.
• Thank you to Dharmesh for amazing tech know-how and helping the report picture process (you offered game-changing advice - thank you)
• Welcome to Rohan and Emma, our first time runners. We loved having you join us - thank you for tonight's vast contributions, and please come again soon.

What's coming up...

• This Thursday there's only one place to be - yep, it's the GoodGym social in town, so take the night off, come and join us here
• Next week, we're back for another glorious gardening task at beautiful Meath Gardens, so do come and join in next week's fun with us here.

Until then, have a wonderful week, everyone, and hope to see you reeeeally soon.

A lovely sized crew of 34 gathered for tonight's two tasks...

Stitches in Time SAVED by nine...

Following a recce of our new task at Stitches in Time in Limehouse, our wonderful Task Force were heading this one up like a military operation: numbers were planned, runners assigned, task owners instructed, routes mapped...It was all systems go from the weekend! And so a team of 11, headed by Lieke, headed to this fab new task along the canal. Writes task force member Dave, "Community arts charity Stitches in Time is worth nine plucky Goodgym-ers taking a scenic 7km circuit along the Regents Canal to the deceptive Limehouse Town Hall (which has never actually been a Town Hall, FYI).

On arrival at this new task location, task owner Paul quickly set us to work removing a lot of lengths of wood, screen-printing materials and some large wooden structures, to make way for the dismantling of shelving and a tougher-than-it-looked dark room.

The sound of creaking crowbars and banging hammers soon filled the building in a hive of activity, and excellent team work, making a very large dent in this terrific task. Time ticked on, our planned fitness session came and went, but finish we did, before the team returned to base along the dusky canal, for some final mileage for the day."

Glossing at Hollybush Gardens

Meanwhile, I took the rest of the team around the corner to Hollybush Gardens where Michael and Margaret had some fun outdoor painting work to do. Due to the recent rain, the outdoor furniture still hadn't received a lick of summer paint, and so 22 runners were put to work with pots of gloss to get the chairs, planters and outdoor benches looking bright and shiny for the Autumn months ahead.

A splinter crew of 3 headed to the garden for weeding, and industrious they were filling bags and bags before we wrapped just before 8.

Fabulous team fitness work

With a few minutes to spare for this evening's task, the team did a superb job taking the fitness reins: Si headed up the route operation, taking us straight down to Bethnal Green Gardens, while David took creative cardio control and led this evening's speedwork, planning and directing a tough lap of the park, with teams divided into two. And what fitness work it was, with all runners arriving back at The Fitness Clearing panting for breath and begging not to brave another lap. And so we settled for a real full-body blast of a workout, with plank-and-pushups, jumping single leg deadlifts, abs cycles and the sprinter lunge to name a few. Incredible work, yet again, from everyone. Your fitness - cardio, balance, flexibility, and strength - really does seem to be improving by the week.

And then David led the crew back to base, and through some brilliant calf and quad stretches on our favourite hotel stretching steps.

What a night.

Great big, glorious Monday shout-outs

Where to start this evening?

First up, welcome and thank you for a wonderful first night to our new runners, Victor and Kerenza. You were amazing and we hope you'll come back very soon.

A big pat on the back to our David who last night celebrated his 50th good deed and our Chris who celebrated his 70th. Thanks for being a great, big part of our group.

Thanks to David and Si for their fabulous fitness input tonight.

To Joel for pretty spectacular pun input as usual (and sorry for my eleventh hour change...).

Now. A huge shout out to the totally brilliant team who headed to Stitches in Time, including Leo and Dave for pics; Dave for report-writing and leading the runners back to base at 9pm, and Lieke for heading up. And to our wonderful task force who were all on board with planning over the weekend. Thank you from us all.

Next week sees a fitness double bill!

Yep, come out and celebrate the Bank Holiday Monday with a fun leafleting task, followed by running and Pilates: swap sofa for sweat and strength work at this fun Monday session. Details and sign up are here.

Right, that's it for this week. So until next time, have a thoroughly good week everyone!

The more the merrier

What a busy Monday evening it was from the off. The sign-ups kept rising: I was keeping our task owner Nancy posted with numbers, as she has to plan carefully and ensure she has sufficient staff and those numbers just, well, kept on rising (“Yes, I expected it to be a small August group too, but, hey, what can I say…They love a litter-pick.”).

And so we gathered for hello’s and welcome’s at our usual lovely base. Thanks to our fabulous Task Force as always who are continually on hand to save the day: Kat saved the day from the off this evening, opening up the hotel room and offering a warm welcome to tonight’s first runners as I was delayed en route. Thank you.

It was such a treat to have Nicola, from new area Crewe, join us tonight too! Friendly, welcoming and managing the sign-in sheet like a pro, it was a real treat to have her visiting us here in TH.

We were also joined by first time runners Isabelle, Ivy Johnny and Lianne, who wasted no time in getting stuck in with everything from pre-run chatter to serious litter-picking and newspaper-delivery this evening.

No more tedious traffic lights

We’d decided to try a new route this evening, to cut down on traffic light delay, so Kat and Dave expertly headed up the run (route and pace) while I back-marked in full Dragon-PT mode, hustling everyone along Whitechapel streets as quickly as they could manage.

Three-task team

We arrived promptly at the Royal London reception area where our wonderful task owners Nancy, Bernadette and Richard were ready and waiting, tasks prepared.

One team headed to the wards to deliver newspapers; another to the front of the hospital to prune roses and collect a huge amount of litter, while a third, big team headed out back to the John Harrison Garden to complete another massive litter haul, filling bags and bags, picking up everything from discarded vodka bottles to unwanted umbrellas and…phone cases.

The time flew and just as nearly every last cigarette butt was removed, it was time to pack up, empty bags, return brooms, and make our way back to join our fellow runners to compare notes and say our cheerios.

Catch me if you can

We then raced back to base playing our usual greyhound-and-hare game: me leading the hares and Kat leading the greyhounds tonight. I just want to congratulate everyone on this part of the evening too: all runners pushed themselves speeding back to base in their own best times, and then cheering all the incoming runners in, right until the end. Massive effort, on all fronts, so well done.

What a marvellous night’s work. Well done to each and every one of you.

Check OUT what we have coming up…

Now I can’t wait to do it again next week. Talking of which, let me tell you what we’re up to: we’re heading back to our beloved Meath Gardens to join Tunde and the team for more watering, weeding and planting, and they’re really looking forward to seeing you, so sign up here.

Now, here’s some really good news: if you don’t fancy waiting that long for some more GoodGym fun and frolics the amazing news is, you don’t have to.

Check out what else we’ve got coming up this week:

• On Thursday our Lieke is leading the most terrific Community Mission at the very civilised time of 5.30pm for St Margaret’s House, a wonderful community arts centre located right by Bethnal Green tube, to help set up the garden with candles, blankets and furniture for their spectacular evening storytelling event! This’ll be a lovely, short, sociable Community Mission to join if you fancy it.

• …Which ties in very nicely with the next GoodGym Social, also this Thursday, so when you finish that task, you simply hop on the nearby Central Line, hotfoot it over to the Waterloo & City Line (yes, I’ve Google-mapped it for you) and in 29 minutes, you’ll be joining fellow GoodGymers at theMulberry Pub on the Southbank. What a way to celebrate our lovely summer.

• And last up for this week, we’re lucky enough to have Liv heading up the Pride 10K set-up and bag-drop this Saturday in Victoria Park. There are already a few signed up, so do join them and get your weekend off to a splendid sociable start by signing up here.

Phew! Well, that’s finally it from me for this week. Have an absolutely wonderful week everyone, and really hope to see you SOON!

A good sized group gathered on the steps of our hotel base tonight to run through a couple of dynamic stretches (we’re taking it easy on the warm-up front this summer), before heading the short run around the corner to Weavers Adventure Playground, for our first visit of the summer.

A LOT of work to be done…

On arrival, task owner Alex had a whole variety of very different projects for us to get stuck into: our largest team focused on clearing a huge area around the go-kart track, lifting branches (looked more like small trees, TBH), carting fridges and tables across the playground, and many large objects I couldn’t actually identify.

A second team headed to the skip, the soon-to-be-converted skip, to give it a thoroughly good lick of surprisingly flattering spearmint paint. A third team headed behind the slide to paint benches and tables a delightful combination of Oxford United blue-and-yellow, while a fourth team headed out to the park to weed the borders of the playground.

Industrious or what.

The time flew by. Task owner Alex was rushed off his feet, hurtling from one side of the playground to the other project-managing all the different tasks. Runners got stuck in as usual, with the heavy lifting, speedy painting, proficient weeding, and superb post-task clean up. I am always so proud, you know that? And then it was 8. Well, a little after, and the clean-up continued as David blitzed the last of the paint from the patio, with a big brush and lots and lots of water. We gathered for our cheerio pics, where Alex explained what you’d achieved tonight would have taken him days on his own. It’s that bit that really brings the evening to life even more. A little bit of context to all that you’ve achieved.

A balancing act

And so we headed out of the playground, and onto a spare bit of grass in the park, where we whizzed through our balance and flexibility moves, all taken in very good spirit, particularly as the balance-and-core/flexibility ratio was slightly out (in favour of the former). More sturdy work, team. We then made our way back to the hotel, nearly to time, to continue our Monday evening, safe in the knowledge we’d lugged, glossed, uprooted, discarded to the absolute max, and made a dent in the work for this beloved children’s play area.

Monday shout out’s…

First up has to be a massive, GG warm welcome to Sarah who joined us for her first GG run tonight. Thank you for doing so much on your first run! And thanks for the fun, and for being such a key part of tonight’s wonderful evening and we hope to see you again super-soon.

Thanks to tonight’s contributing photographers, Danny, Charlotte and Steve. Wicked pics everyone.

And a big shout-out to Becky and Danny for beautiful backmarking.

And a great big gracias to Joel who came up with tonight’s perfect, perfect pun (which had me laughing all the way home).

An exciting array of events coming up…

• Now, first up: the GoodGym Olympics is taking place on Saturday! Yes, it’s here, and all the details are here. You don’t need to be booked into any event to come along and enjoy this ultimate GoodGym feelgood fitness day. Just fancy a day of GoodGym socialising, cheering and cake-eating? This should be on your Saturday radar.

• Then, moving into next week, we have a wonderful Community Mission coming up, from 5:30pm next Thurs Aug 8th, helping set up the garden at fabulous St. Margaret’s House for this exciting summer storytelling event! Come and wind down for the week helping Lieke and the team set up furniture, distribute candles and blankets and generally muck in and enjoy this unique event.

• …And then next Monday, the 5th, for our glorious Group Run, we’re back to the Royal London where task owner Nancy is planning our activities as we speak, so do come on board for that.

Right, that’s me for another week. Make the most of the sun, don’t forget to run, and most importantly, look after yourselves. Have a great week!

Warm weather, warm welcome

It was a warm night as we gathered outside our lovely hotel base to welcome new runners, talk through tonight's task and welcome Dani, the new GG trainer for Derby!

After a couple of dynamic stretches, we headed straight out to our task, via a recce of the planters we were going to be tending to on Roman Road. Expertly navigated by Bryon and Chris, and formidably back-marked by Katherine, we made excellent time to our first planter, which set the tone for the evening: we whizzed up Roman Road, identifying which planters needed the most work; those that just needed just a lick of varnish, and areas that were in desperate need of a bit of litter-picking.

And then we arrived at the Fire Station, to be greeted by three of the warmest welcomes from the phenomenal Globe Town Community Gardeners, Joseph, Marco and Jess, who were brilliantly prepped with everything from wire brushes to a scooter (on which to shuttle varnish between planters).

Productive planter work

Two minutes of efficient briefing and we were dispatched: teams of 4 and 5 ran up Roman Road to their designated planters to start blitzing cobwebs, uprooting unsightly weeds, ditching Coke tins and glossing panels.

It was quite a sight to look down Roman Road and see a sea of red t-shirts dotted along this busy street, earnestly at work. Shop vendors came out to film; residents and local businesses came over to thank, and pedestrians smiled. We were appreciated last night. Of course, that's not the driving force for any GoodGymer ever, but it is so much appreciated and very much adds to a sense of community and positivity on the night.

Timings were adhered to and the work was complete by the 10 minute countdown. Last to finish were the painters working on the London Buddhist Centre planter who insisted on finishing the last panel (quite right - "GoodGymer's prerogative").

And so we gathered for outros and pics - and water. Courtesy of the Bethnal Green Fire Station crew (thank you very much - you made our night!).

What a brilliant time, all down to fabulous GoodGymers and our truly, truly terrific task owners tonight - powerhouses of efficiency, smiles and appreciation. We'd love to join you again soon!

Single leg burpees in the sun

So we still had time to run some of our fitness session as planned (with a last minute bit of mileage for our recce, I wasn't sure if we were going to have time for our scheduled workout). Cut a bit short, the runners still managed single-leg burpees, monkey push ups, eccentric lunges and a speedy lap of the Museum Gardens. Way to go. And in 30 degrees.

Monday night shout-out's

Bundles of appreciation for lots of runners tonight.

Thanks to Katherine for brilliant backmarking (and an additional thank you to Katherine, from us all, who attended the Shindig at the weekend, and will be briefing us further soon).

To Bryon and Chris for expertly, instinctively leading the crew to our first planter; and to Dani and Sam for being so hands-on and doing so much, while learning on the job.

And I feel compelled to give a mighty shout-out this week to Polly and Si who opted to take the task of jumping into a couple of tree planters and blitzing the worst litter (in terms of volume and material matter) we have ever seen.

To finish, a HUGE GG welcome to our first time runners, Caoimhe and Jill - well done for a fabulous first run, and we hope you'll come back very, very soon.

Don't miss more fun this Saturday!

On Saturday, we're doing it all again! It's the Tower Hamlets Summer Planting Party, complete with: two tasks, some running and Pilates, and a picnic and the pub.

Come for as little or as much as you fancy - this is YOUR day. Details and sign up can be found here.

And next week, we're back to Weavers Adventure Playground for our first visit of the year! Details and sign up are here.

Blue sky, gentle breeze... - all the better for watering trees

A blue sky and a gentle breeze set the tone for tonight's wonderful two-task evening.

25 of us gathered on our hotel steps ready for a couple of mobility exercise before heading out to two great gardening tasks.

Task force member Bryon had saved the day leading a digging crew to the Kedlestone Community Centre in Hollybush Gardens, to meet Margaret, one of our longest standing task owners who needed some urgent digging.

The team blitzed the area, achieving a huge amount with small trowels and lots of weeds. They worked tirelessly along multiple borders, deftly ditching weeds of various shapes and sizes to help this dedicated community team keep the gardens pristine and pretty for the residents to enjoy over the summer months.

I, in the meantime, took the remainder of the runners to meet Joanna and Jane of Friends of Meath Gardens for a wide variety of gardening tasks in and around this huge park.

Teams were divided into watering tasks (one headed nostalgically back to the canal with the large trolley to tend to the trees with large pails of canal water; others filled from the tap and lugged oversized buckets around the park...). There were two other tasks beautifully tended to by our very proficient new runners: Lara and Nancy took on The Heavy Weeding Work, while Iffet and Lucy were responsible for getting some new seeds bedded in.

The Lower Body Blast workout

Before we knew it, it was 8.05pm: our fellow gardeners had arrived from Hollybush to meet us for tonight's fitness session and we were making our way over to Steve's chosen sunny spot for tonight's Lower Body Blast workout. After a hiccup with our playlist (some of Cardi B's lyrics proved to be not quite in keeping with the gentle feel of our evening), the runners blitzed all manner of moves from single leg combat kicks, to one-legged planks. Amazing work and, I say it every week, your balance is improving by the week. Well done everyone!

Monday Mentions

A massive warm welcome and huge thanks to tonight’s first time runners, Iffet, Tom, Nancy, Susie, and Maelle. You did SO well! We just loved having you on the run, and really, really hope you’ll consider coming back and joining in again very soon.

Thanks to Dave and Jo for lovely backmarking; to our wonderful task force member Bryon, for leading the Hollybush task, some great pics and for getting the crew back to Meath in terrific time.

Exciting things coming up…

So next week we’re at a new task, giving a sanding and lick of paint to some newly adopted large planters on Roman Road! It’ll be a fun one – guaranteed. So, have a look and see what you think.

And don’t forget on Saturday 27th July, we have the Tower Hamlets Planting Party, a mixture of our favourite activities to which everyone is invited. Do think about coming along, whether for a bit of planting, some running-and-Pilates, or a bite to eat at our picnic. Or a drink at the pub. Details and sign up are here.

Okay, that’s it for another week. Have wonderful week everyone: enjoy your running, enjoy our July sunshine, and we hope to see you very soon.