Seven wonderful 'April Fools' met at the Queensbury and a bonus 'Fool' met at the task to help Harlesden Town Gardens.

Tabitha, Liz, Louise, Pete, Karishma, Pritesh and Samina, welcomed Claire who has just finished a creative writing course, back to the group after a few months break, and persuaded her to write the run report to put her new skills into practice. Liz, Tabitha and Claire lead a warm up while Pritesh locked up everyone's stuff, then we were good to go. It was a beautiful spring evening and it was great to head out and get the most of the task done in daylight, and even take photos without the flash and blinding dazzle of reflective running gear. We met Sabina on her (our bonus Fool) bike on her way home from work, and recruited her to pop down and help us as well.

Gabriel and Philip met us at the Gardens and explained the task - to help bring the meadow mix into bloom in a couple of months time, by literally stamping in the seeds they had just sown, to break down any big lumps of earth, and remove any big or medium-sized stones. We stamped, we shuffled and we kicked up dust like we were in a silent disco without the headphones, Dusty Spring-field would have been a good soundtrack though! It felt like a rain dance, lets see if it works...

We bashed the lumps of earth with rakes to break them up - I don't know about Brexit, but we did a lot B-rake-xit to keep us busy while the rest of the country argues about what to do. At first we were told just to lob any stones towards the edge of the field area, but after a few throws went a bit off course and we weren't provided with helmets, we decided it might be better just to gather them into a wheelbarrow.

Pritesh had to finally drag us away from the task as we were having so much fun. We downed our rakes and headed back in the dusk to the Queensbury for some final stretches and a well-deserved drink.

Well done everyone! Thanks for another fab evening!

Eight fantastic good gym runners joined me to help our friends at Mencap.

We started the evening with our weekly News bulletin: Don't forget to join us for the Brent social on Wednesday 20th March at the Queensbury. 7pm for food/ drinks followed by the quiz at 8pm.

The deadline for registering to attend the GG Shindig is Thursday 21st.

Don't forget to book your flights if you'd like to join the trip to Sofia.

On route to Mencap we ran a route in a figure of 8 to provide a picture on Stava as an option for our contribution to the celebration for the 50th GG area. We continued our journey singing in the rain until we reached our final destination.

We were greeted by Wayne who gave us a brief summary of the work which the charity does. Our task was to distribute leaflets advertising the Mencap Easter Party and charity film show of *THE GREATEST SHOWMAN! *

We promptly split into two teams led by Tabitha and Liz and posted many leaflets. We re-grouped to deliver more leaflets on the way back to base.

A wonderful EIGHT runners joined me in Brent as we headed back to Abbey Community Centre to continue our work to cover their entire funding area with leaflets about their community cafe! In the process we covered over 9kmand delivered a stack of leaflets!

As we warmed up the news this week went as follows:

• We congratulated Brent Run Leader Liz James on taking nearly 15 minutes off her half marathon PB at the Big Half at the weekend. There's no two ways of saying this - that's a better performance than Sir Mo! Amazing work in tough conditions!

• The GG shindig deadline looms large. If you're interested in attending and shaping the future of GG then register your interest before March 21st

• The Brent social is coming up - 20th March we are heading to The Queensbury on a Wednesday to pit our wits against the pub quiz! We'll get a page up for the event asap but do come along!

• Finally, later this month we are going to be celebrating the FIFTIETH GoodGym area opening in Solihull! As part of the celebrations all the areas have been tasked with representing their area number (ie in which order they were set up) pictorially! Check out our efforts, made more special by the fact they are created with EIGHT runners too!

Phew, that was a lot of news!

With that all covered and a quick warm-up done we got on our way. We're helping Abbey a lot at the moment so to mix things up we took a different route down to the centre passing through West Hampstead. We worked hard and kept up a good pace to get the centre and give us more time to get those leaflets out.

We said some quick hellos, were much obliged to get some water and then headed back out to get those leaflets delivered. We were covering an area to the south of Belsize road and we ran in to the issue of estates that we couldn't get into! Some were particularly annoying when we could see the letterboxes but there was no way in!

We still worked hard to cover all the necessary roads and even had time to fit in a mini fitness session and pose for some photos! GO US!

After a last splash to send some flyers we gathered ourselves for a quick blast (with a few too many up hill sections), said goodbye to Felicia who headed home and got ourselves backt base! A hard night but totally worth it and showed how gr-EIGHT we are!

Cheers,
Pritesh

Twelve fearless GG Brent runners braved the remnants of storm Freya and ran over 8km to deliver 200 to help Abbey Community Centre!

We welcomed Sally for her first run with GoodGym and on a chilly night, quickly did the intro before heading off.

With the luxury of a large group we split into two and took different routes to the centre. Liz led a longer route and I took a more direct group.

Once at the centre we split the leaflets between us and again split into a running and walking group.

In just over 15 minutes we had posted all those leaflets! What a fantastic job - to your from all!

Once all gathered we posed for a group photo and then headed back to base with myself and Liz leading respective groups!

We're getting rather adept at the leaflet posting tasks and we showed we're not afraid of anything as we survived what storm Freya had left in her!

Thanks everyone!

Four fantastic runners bucked the trend and came out and ran with me and helped Abbey Community Centre in the process!

When I eventually arrived we got things going and did a quick warm-up and intro including plugging the community mission we have coming up at Clitter House Farm House on 2nd March - sign up here.

We then headed out for the ~3.5km to Abbey Community Centre. It felt like a harder slog than usual but we all worked hard and made good progress. At the centre we met Simone who gave us a stack of leaflets and then off we went. In past sessions we have hit Rowley Way but we decided to get to the streets behind the centre this time.

We split into pairs with Liz and Rosie taking one side of the street and Sabina and Louise the other. We worked our way down the street and then gathered to see how we had done. With some leaflets still in hand we shared them out evenly and then worked round some more streets!

While admiring the huge houses we finished off - before we went we decided to guess at average house prices... over a £1m!

With that all done we headed off on a slightly different route home and before we knew it we were back - almost 8km - amazing!

The task for next week is being confirmed but sign up here now!

Cheers, Pritesh

Lose the boss? With Pritesh absent (not got the runs but unable to run), Tabitha stepped up to the bowl with nothing to loos meanwhile Liz brought up the rear end. Seven Clean Girls hot footed the two km to Brent Mencap ...with the secret(ed) mission to be revealed...they didn't know they would be cleaning toilets...

News of the week included congratulating Liz, Karen and Pritesh on their Saturday Beer and Burger 10 k Gladstone parkrun didn't go ahead as the course was dangerously icy, so watch this space for attempt *number Two *

After a welcome and warm up we made our way , keeping warm at the traffic lights with squats and starjumps, until we were saved by the green man. Only two km to the task so we made it in no time, on arrival at Mecap. Ann explained to us all the history of the building and the great work they do with the community. We split into three groups to get down to the dirty deed. Karen and Vero took the top floor , Liz, Karishma and Georgie took centre stage and Tabitha and Louise cleaned up the bottom. Mencap rent out the rooms to keep the charity afloat, so its important to clear the floaters and make sure the bathrooms are presentable. We did a job Mrs Hinch would be proud of, and after hearing what else needs doing in the building, may even have the next community mission lined up.

Once completed we set off back for a well deserved drink in the Queensbury . Thank you everyone for a great job!

Sorry for all the sht jokes, we tried to keep it clean. Love loo all, see you next time