5 GoodGymers ran 5k to St Andrews Youth Club and helped maintain the fitness equipment on a very somber evening in Central London.

On a day that will be remembered for the wrong reasons in Westminster 5 runners decided to do some Good!

Running through the eerily quite streets of super central London filled with loads of taxis and very few people we safely navigated the 2.5k route to the St Andrews the Oldest Youth Club in the World.

Meeting Adrian we had a look around the whole building and the task we were due to get stuck into if we were at full power. We will just have to save that one for next time!

Finishing the tour in the basement Gym where we got wiping, scrubbing and tidying quick smart! Making a huge difference to the gym with 25 strong minutes of action!

As a reward I treated the squad to a arm workout!! Hitting up 15 minutes of intense Super setting bicep curls, press ups and tricep extensions! For sure everyone will know all about the arm workout in the morning, great effort getting big work done!!

Leaving the club with big thanks from the staff and even a quick drink we ran back towards base at a nice controlled pace. Gathering at the foot of the Green Park Hill we powered up it at great pace! When the leaders hit the gate 400 metres up the road the flew back down high fives the tail runners and powered back up repeating the big efforts until everyone at reached the summit!

A short trot through Mayfair and a stretch put in the New Balance store rounded off a top session!!

Next week we are returning to Rhythams of Life to sort out rooms of donations to be utilised by the homeless people they help. Be great to have you along!

Smooth Arm Curls

Joel

9 runner hit the streets of Westminster to promote the new friendly over-50s choir for St Paul's Marylebone.

Nice one Emily and Meneka for completing your first GoodGym runs - give them a cheer!

It was bitterly cold before arriving at the warmth of our new start point at New Balance Flagship Store. Amongst the speeding manikins and selection of the latest fresh foam shoes we assembled and discussed our task.

The St Paul's Marylebone church was working with Open Age to start a new social singing group for the over 50s. They needed to let the local neighbourhood know when and where it's happening. This was our job for the evening.

"entice the local residents"

We were tackling about 2 square km of streets around the church hoping to entice the local residents into the (non-religious) singing sessions which aim to prevent isolation.

We headed bravely out across Oxford Street with Phil, who recently became a year older, bringing up the rear.

We focused on our footstrike working in pairs to try and identify where our feet were landing in relation to our hips. It was dark, so this was hard.

"the far north"

2.5km later we'd arrived at St Paul's Marylebone - we gathered in it's slightly-warmer-than-outside foyer and distributed the leaflets to our three extraordinary teams. One heading to the far north, one to the near north and a further team, to.... the South.

We gave ourselves 15mins to distrib as many leaflets as we could or until our fingers fell off with cold.

" The word was out there."

15 mins later the teams arrived back. We had about 20 of our 200 flyers remaining. The word was out there.

On the way back we did a mix of ethiopian-style-arm-waving and increasing a pace by increasing our cadence. Phil lead us out on a 1.5km effort along the south of the Regent's park and we hot-footed (and cold handed-it) back to NB HQ, getting into the warm was just wonderful.

Well done all, job done. See you next time.

30 runners hit the streets of London from New Balance's flagship store to run 5km and help clear some workshops for young people in central London.

In the bright lights of our new location a crowd of runners emerged from the throngs of Oxford street shoppers.
We had a massive crew of first timers and a good gang of Westminster regulars.

"amazing opportunity for young people"

Our task for tonight was to help Makerversity clear out their cupboard to make way for more making space for young creative businesses. The dark vaults of Somerset House now vacted by HMRC are home to a thriving community of designers and makers. Every 3 months they support two new young creative people to get their first studio and workshop space free of charge - it's an amazing opportunity for young people to get started in Central London.

"7pm cutoff"

Our gang split in two: one lead by Barnet run leader Damien - taking a longer, posher, faster route down Bond Street and passed he Ritz, while Ivo's group went as the crow flies - through London's busiest streets including the very monica for busy-ness - Piccadilly Circus.

We battled through the crowds (and waited fro many a green man) and made it to the location just before our security-enforced 7pm cutoff. Both groups arriving within minutes of 7pm.

We got to work quickly - one trip for each person was enough to fill a skip with the designated unneeded materials. In no more than 6.5 minutes the job was done.

"planks, squats and dead bugs"

A quick task meant more time for exercising under-exercised muscles. The steps from the Mall to Pall Mall were the back drop for planks, squats and dead bugs. Everyone completed 2 sprints and all three exercises.

The groups made it back at 7.45pm. A rapid, efficient and speedy start to our runs from our new home on Oxford street.

See you next time.

Massive thanks to Damian, Nina, Gillian and Millie for their help guiding us around town tonight and wishing a speedy recovery to Joel - our new trainer for Westminster.

Until next week, safe running.