Storm Brendan made a bit of an unwelcome appearance at our run last night, but that didn't stop 30 slightly damp GoodGymers running 4km to a community garden to lend a hand.

• Welcome to the group Anna, Calanna, Becky and Emily - lovely to meet you all!

• January challenge update! We've still got along way to go, so we need to keep those missions, group runs and coach visits going. Check out where we are on the rankings here. Let's go, team!

*If you know of anybody who wants to join GoodGym but is a little nervous to come to a group run, or you simply want to do a bit of good on a Saturday morning, check out this starter session this weekend. All welcome for a big litter pick and circuits session.

After a warm up where as well as raising our heart rates and getting our systems warm and ready to run, we talked about the nicest things we had to eat over the weekend. Ikea meatballs, steak, vegan pizza, lobster (veganuary fail!), and cheese cheese cheese. Sounds like a weekend very well spent!

We took at gentle (wet) run for 2km down to the Venue community centre where we picked up some tools for our night's task. It was then just a short walk over to a local community garden which, before this summer, had been closed to the public for many years. We had previously helped local residents get it ready for opening, and our job for last night was to give it a bit of a spruce up.

With Brendan showing no signs of shoving off, we got stuck in to the jobs, which included clearing leaves, weeding, litter picking, cutting back ivy and sweeping. Half an hour of elbow grease later and the place was looking much tidier. Check out the photos to see the phenomenal number of bags of litter and leaves you cleared - great work!

We returned the tools to the Venue, got rid of the rubbish, and took a nice steady run back to base, stopping only for a few wall sits. The original plan to do hill reps was scrapped in favour of a nice inside abs blast session, so after a five minutes of intense core exercises and one plank, we were done for the evening. Well done everyone!

Next week the BAC is shut so I'm busy finding a one-off alternative starting point for us nearby. If you've got any ideas let me know - I'll keep you posted when we've got something sorted. You can sign up for what's going to be a cracking task at a children's adventure playground here. Have a lovely week, and until then, run happy!

A brilliant 36 runners met up tonight in Wandsworth to lend a hand at a local community garden, do an intense fitness session and get a run in - what better way to spend a Monday evening?

** Welcome to the group Mia, Bethany and Sandra - give them a cheer, GoodGym!**

• Don't forget to look out for the Fareshare, a food poverty charity, and GoodGym community missions like this one happening in Wimbledon

• Well done to Oliver for doing the Valencia half marathon, and to Emily and Stephen for getting out at the league races to cross country on Saturday. Great running!

• Lovely to see so many of you from different areas coming along to visit us in Wandsworth - everyone is always super welcome here!

After a warm up outside where we shared our middle names (except for the three of us who didn't have one...jealous!) we set of for Christchurch community garden. This space for local people has recently started to be looked after by a friends group. After some antisocial behaviour making it less than welcoming they wanted to make it a garden for everybody. Currently they have a big old leafy problem that needed some attention from GoodGym!

It was a short run down there so we took it at a good clip, stopping only to do some toe taps and one legged lunges on the way. We found Nigel, a memebr of the Friends group, waiting for us with tools, gloves and bin bags and we set to it.

After promising it wouldn't be too big a job I had to make my apologies, as it turned out to be a bigger task than anticipated, but essential as the leaves are stopping the grass and other plants growing as well as being a slippy hazard for people using the garden. We got stuck straight in piling the leaves into bags, raking, sweeping and using some interesting stick-based techniques. It worked though, and just half an hour later we had collected an impressive 53 bags! Many hands really do make light work....

After piling up the bags ready for collecting, we nipped over to the football pitches to do our work out, which tonight was tabata. This tough session is divided up into 20 second segments with 10 seconds recovery and is a very efficient workout in a short amount of time. We smashed out two rounds of 4 minutes, featuring power lunges and squats, mountain climbers, tuck jumps and more in cardio blasts. All that was left was a run back to base, that tough old hill, and a few stretches. Great work everybody! Next week we will be spreading the word about a free Christmas lunch for the elderly in Battersea so that as few people as possible are alone on the day itself. Until then, run happy!

Fresh off the back of a weekend where we saw a man and a woman run faster over the marathon distance than ever before, we had our own running legends to celebrate:

• Well done to everybody who ran all the halves - Wimbledon, Royal Parks and Oxford -and who got out there to kick off cross country season!

We also welcomed

• Helen to her first group run - give her a cheer!

and there was something to look forward to in the shape of our special

• Halloween run plus social on the 28th October. We'll be doing a terrifying task and a fiendish fitness session followed by a spooky social. Sign up here for all the details.

• Special shout out to Oliver who managed not one, not two, but three good deeds in the space of one short day - amazing work!

It was a small group thanks to the rain that refuses to go away, so well done for making it out - you're superstars!

We headed outside to do some warm up exercises that got our heart rates up and mobilised our muscles, and then before setting off did a quick survey to see what would be the first thing we'd buy if we won the lottery tomorrow. Holidays were very popular, as was property, but our wishlists also featured the BAC and a chocolate bar!

Our job last night was at the Omnibus theatre, an independent theatre charity. They believe that the building should be kept open for the benefit of the public and to offer community arts projects to people from all walks of life. They receive absolutely no guaranteed funding or support, but continue to provide education for young and disadvantaged people. They do have an outside space that they need help managing, so asked us to come and lend a hand.

We arrived to find a huge pile of stuff that needed to be shifted so the council can remove it, and a load of rotting apples that needed to be cleared. We got stuck in to the outside jobs, while Jordan and Isabelle went downstairs to the kitchen to give it a good clean.

After half an hour of elbow grease the jobs were done so we jogged over to Clapham Common to do a fitness session that focused on form. We started off concentrating on ABCs - agility, balance and coordination - before doing a series of sprints looking at a different technical point each time. Don't forget to not spill the water while carrying those crisps!

Next week we're off to help a school we haven't visited before with lots of jobs - sign up here. Fingers crossed the rain will have done one by then!

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!

Loads to celebrate last night, not least lots of great new faces joining us for their first run! Please give a big GoodGym cheer to:

• Vanessa, Tina and Alice

As always, we got the weekly news done before we set off for our evening task:

• We have a community mission coming up this weekend helping put away chairs and equipment after the community day in Tooting where all profits go to St George's hospital. Sign up here to help out.

• But the best news of the night came in the shape of a double 100 milestone - that's right, we have not one but two new GoodGym centurions! After clocking up 100 good deeds, many community organisations helped, and a huge number of kilometres run, it was three cheers for the lovely Helen and Emily. Give them a high five when you see them next for all the amazing effort and commitment they've put in!

Summer runnin', happened so fast

After all that great news, a warm up and a poll where we discussed our favourite things about London (the parks, food, pubs and people came out on top!) we headed down to the Venue Community Centre.

The Venue is a busy centre managed by Hadas which is home to amazing organisations like Waste Not Want Not - the first project in Battersea which collects surplus food from nearby markets and distributes it through the local area - and many other community projects such as intergenerational art and support for children and parents.

So after a 2km run down there we arrived to find Hadas with a list of jobs including composting boxes of unusable lettuces, sanding benches, litter picking the outside area, clearing the overgrown plants and transporting compost to the roof garden.

Getting stuck straight in, there was lots to talk about while we worked. The brilliant weekend GoodGymers had enjoyed at Love Trails and Night of the 10000m PBs, how brilliant the flash new litter pickers are that even manage to do cig butts and cocktail sticks, and why cherries are the most expensive soft fruit (something to do with them having to be dried if they get wet on the tree? This is being verified for next week's run!). We even had the newly patented 'lettuce train' - thanks to Viv for her bright idea to get the heavy boxes up to the roof garden!

After 45 minutes of hard work we waved goodbye to Hadas and set off for a local green space to do our fitness session, which this week focussed on alternating core conditioning with exercises to get our heart rates up. That way we got a tough all over workout, whilst getting some strength work in too. Nice work team, especially Emily who soldiered on with a helium balloon tied to her waist, and all of the rest of you who had a very vocal and very young audience 'supporting' you!

You all faced the hill head on on the way back, with every single one of you running all the way to the top, which was fantastic. Next week we're back for more fun and fitness. Go on, get yourself signed up!

It was a whopper of a night in Wandsworth last night, and good job too as we had a massive task!

Welcome to Marika, Ben, Ingrid, Emma, Emily, Chloe, Karen, Thomas, Izzy and Guy - give them a big cheer GoodGym!

We started the night with a round up of the week's news:

• Congratulations to all those runners and volunteers at the Hackney Half on Sunday!

• We have been invited by one of our task locations, Elay Networks, to their Ramadan Iftar on Friday. If you would like to go, check out the details and book your place here. Elay is an amazing organisation founded to provide a community support structure for young people and students at risk of exclusion from school, and not in employment, education or training.

• Plogolution is coming to Wandsworth. Fancy running (5k) or walking (2k) whilst picking up rubbish at the same time? Get that double endorphin hit of not only keeping fit but also making a massive difference at the same time. Everyone welcome, pop along and make some friends! Sign up here for all the details of these event on 8th June.

• A big welcome to Klara, who is the new trainer for GoodGym Exeter - spread the word about GG's newest area!

Next stop was to head outside for our warm up, which featured lots of dynamic moves designed to get our heart rates up, and a very quick survey to find out all the places we'd like to go that we haven't visited yet - New Zealand came up pretty high, as did anywhere hot and tropical, and even the moon. Better start saving those airmiles!

It was week three at our massive ongoing task last night, so we ran down to the Venue Community Centre to pick up our tools, then headed over to the Doddington Estate in Battersea. This huge space right in the middle of a big residential estate has been shut for many years, but we have been helping with the project to transform it into somewhere that can be opened up for the local people, is welcoming and safe for everybody.

The garden is already looking much better, but there is still a lot to do. So we got straight into weeding, clearing, pulling up astroturf and plastic, cutting back shrubs and ivy, scraping moss, litter picking, sweeping, and digging over. After 40 minutes of hard work, the garden was looking even better - there is still some stuff to do including painting benches and planting, so we'll be back in a couple of weeks to the last few jobs before the big opening. We even had Chi there taking some pretty amazing pictures to document our work!

So after returning the tools, we jogged over to a nearby green space to do a bit of a fitness session, which last night focused on a variety of unusual planks. Not only does a strong core improve your running posture and speed, but it increases stabilization in the torso, keeps you upright, reduces rocking and so lessens the energy you need to maintain form, and improves balance. For 30 seconds each we held bear, reverse, X, side, single leg and dip planks and gave our abs and proper good work out.

All that was left was to run back to base, tackle that last hill, and do some stretches kindly led by Klara. Great work everybody! Next week it's a bank holiday - but don't worry, you can still get your GoodGym fix! We'll be meeting at the BAC as normal, although there's nowhere to leave bags on this week only. Spend your day off doing good and getting fit - sign up here for all the details. See you there!