17 GoodGymers ran in circles and then cleaned and set up the amazing Kids Adventure Playground in Gillet Square as part of the Rio in Dalston social enterprise festival.

On a sunny morning in H-Town we were overjoyed to have loads of GoodGym first timers as well some GoodGym Glitterati and even Paul an amazing GoodGym Tourist on an epic Good Doing weekend coming all the way from Bristol.

We started off by running down to one of Londons prettiest streets and working really hard doing some speedy laps in some Team and pair relays! The change overs were of Olympic standard and the pace was electric, everyone set there own Olympic bests on the continuous laps and the races came down to a photo finish in the high five relay.

We ran back to Gillet square had a nice static stretch out then got to work with the task! First we unloaded all the oversized kit then we scrubbed and washed it down before the production line went into overdrive and carried it over into the centre of the square were we used our artistic flair to create the GoodGym inspired Obsicle course for the Kids to race over in there Olympic time trials!

With such a great job done it was rude not to give the course a thorough test run so we not so gracefully climbed over crawled through and skipped across the course before heading on our way with a job well done!!

So great to have you all along on the run and hope that you can come along to a GoodGym run very soon! Would obviously love to see you on Tuesday evening in Hackney! Check out next weeks run here.

Smooth Sunshine

Joel

A wonderful turnout for GoodGym Lambeth tonight, IT WAS FREEZING. I’M STILL FREEZING.

Still keeping with out New Year focus on getting faster, fitter or going longer, there was a choice of two runs.

Half the group took on the long run down to Portico again ... This meant covering a good 5 miles in total and a nice bit of hill action on the way there. Becca reports…

“A group of us took on the long run up to the Portico Gallery. Dodging the crowds, we made out way out of Brixton and up towards the hill.

In no time at all, we arrived at the big yellow storage company and met John, who led us through the labyrinth of passage ways to the right yellow door. He talked us through the tasks and we got to work. We split into two to get the jobs done- one group moving tables and the other sniffing gazebos (I think I know who had the most fun..)

The first group left the storage place to start the run back. We discussed methods of how to get rid of a stitch (and all made it back without one.) The final group sped back and made it in time for the cake Katie had made for Alex- a glittery masterpiece!” Becca N

The other half chose the shorter run to Myatt’s field to help Guy at Streetscape. Unfortunately this was cancelled at the last minute which was a shame, but it did give people another chance to get in some strength and speed training. We jogged a mile to Clapham Common, where the guys set about 300m reps as fast as they could with a mere 30 – 45 seconds rest before going again. 5 sets were completed before we jogged on again to the bandstand for some strength circuits which basically involved a shit load of press ups and squats on every bench. Everyone looked like they had got a good work out (especially Dan who admitted he’d drunk tow pints before the session… hero) as we jogged the mile back to Papas for Katie’s magnificent cake. It was a bloody great cake despite being vegetable based.

Who knew vegetables could taste so good? I certainly didn’t. Feeling pretty smug that I got one of my five a day through cake. My other portions of the day are from the Terry’s Chocolate Orange I’m currently eating whilst writing this, and the grapes in the wine I’m drinking.

I’m absolutely nailing my healthy January.

Last night around 40 goodgymers said “no deal” to the cold and dark conditions and made their way to Papa’s park for another Goodgym Lambeth session. The elements didn’t put folks off as we had loads of new faces all wanting to get involved, cracking stuff. Before we set off we gave James a big round of applause for completing over 100 good deeds, James is one of the original members of GoodGym Lambeth and is an all-round top guy and between visiting his Coach Keith and pounding the streets of Lambeth he has amassed many a mile and more importantly contributed loads to local projects and tasks have we done in Lambeth, well played sir, well played.

After the introductions we all ran around 2 km to Myatts field to meet Guy from Streetscape. Streetscape is a great local project that gets young people into employment through learning horticulture skills, as they are busy learning new skills their yard often gets cluttered with bits of woods from jobs they have done and that is where we came in tonight.

As some of us arrived slightly early we did a lap of the park only to be welcomed by the rest of the group forming a human tunnel to welcome us in (I bloody loved that by the way!!). Then split into two groups one with Rebecca and one on the task. The task was simply to get all the off cuts of wood in the yard and load it into the truck. Now a big shout out goes to John Hunter who did his best impression of a lamppost by shining a light on us throughout the task and was vital so we could see what we were picking up and helped loading it in the van. At first the pile of wood looks pretty daunting however in true goodgym style we packed it to the rafters and managed to get it all in there. We even had some time spare to load some bits of fence and even a bench, which was expertly shoved in by Guy at the end.

Half way through the groups swapped and the non-task group were faced with Rebecca’s circuits. Now I don’t know about you but my legs have certainly been feeling it today. This was because we were put through our paces by doing 25 squats and burpees followed by 20 lunges on each side, we did three sets of these reducing each by 5 each time and at the end to mix it up we did another lap of the park. In a word ouch (but a good ouch none the less.

Safe to say by the time we made it back I was spent however Sarah’s homemade millionaire shortbread that welcomed us back was a definite great way to end another cracking Tuesday night.

Tom

As we said goodbye to September, GG Hackney were also wishing a fond farewell to Coach Ellie from Brent, as they hosted her for one last fling with the East.

After a bitter-sweet housekeeping, an energetic team of eight adventurers took to the streets to conquer the creeping cold and complete the mud shifting task for the Narrow Street partnership.

With a swift shuffle to Wilton Estate to collect the tools with Debbie, the team split into 3 sub crews and at varying speeds weaved their ways through the back streets up to the meet point to begin.

The people of Mare Street didn't quite know what to make of the red shirted army of spade yielding warriors as we hot foot it through the crowds. Luckily though, Ellie's safety briefing beforehand saved any casualties befalling the night... "don't hit anyone coz we'll get sued" Right you are then!!

Arriving on task the team worked furiously stuffing bin bags with soil from the old flower beds and stacking those bags into pile upon pile. The combination of lifting and squatting, worked up a sweat, got the blood pumping and kept spirits high, despite the holy bags and outpouring of the already collected mud!! Our hard work only to be undone and completed again twice over!!!! Aghhhgghhh

Despite the set backs, the time crept away and the crew wrapped up the final throws with a total of 12 full bin bags and 5 empty troughs!! Good work.

As quick as we'd arrived again we were on the move, with a weaving and bobbing manoeuvre extravaganza and last wheelbarrow push up to Wilton for the final drop.

Upon Steph's request and to the..... Ahem... Delight?!?? Of the rest, the night ended with a masterclass in squats and a team who were schooled in "engaging their glutes" and conditioning their hammys. Becoming experts in no time (despite the odd accidental twerk) coach Ellie was proud and set the homework to continue the good work started and invited them to GG Brent to keep it up!

Stretching to finish and a collective team brain scratcher to come up with the pun....I'm.still waiting for team entries LOL The night was at a close for another week.

Until we meet again Hackney Crew, you've been a delight and a breath of fresh air, to this westy out of water. See you again soon!!

FEEL GOOD. DO GOOD. INSPIRE

While Mr Malcolm's away the kids will play and operation was the game of choice, operation St Lukes that is.

Holding down the fort for the night was meeeee coach Ellie for a West meets East mash-up, over from Brent and raring to go in my new hood.

A jolly housekeeping threw me into the mix straight away and the red tshirts happy faces welcomed me from base camp cafe E5. A quick run through of 1 mission and the task at hand and hellos to 4 new faces the group waiting keenly at the door for the evening to begin.

4 off to mission and 11 on the road to St Lukes, Hackney was covered from top to bottom.

Arriving at st lukes the lovely Kelly was there to greet and showed us the work to be achieved. The gardens were over-run, by the largest collection of stinging nettles in the land.

With gloves at the ready the team set to work pulling hacking, weeding and bin bagging every nettle in sight. But every few moments a soldier would go down "ouch it got me" Another Sting - Somebody call The POLICE.........

With bags of enthusiasm, the crew persevered even having time for some leaf clearing and cleaning up of the kiddies Wendy house which had been left to ruin. We left it sparking and gleaming like new.

To close the session it was drills and spills of sweat over the 100 squat challenge. Yes that's right.....

100 squats!!! This hackney bunch may be wobbly on their one leg run pose freeze frames but they can squat for England and that they did!!

Blessed with no rain, a wonderful task and a group of welcoming delightful athletes who were up for every game and challenge thrown their way, it was an ace night of fun and frollocks in the east.

Thanks for having me Hackney, I'll be back soon!!

ellie x

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE.

---

Gardening at the House of Lords

MISSION IN ACTION

Report by Patrick Luong

This Tuesday evening the air was fresh after a day of rain: perfect for running. Ellie gave a quick briefing and then Kevin, Andy, Antonia and I (Patrick) peeled off from the group to do a mission.

We did a 3 mile tempo run from base camp and were warmly welcomed by the lovely Mr and Mrs Lord at their house. Though Mrs Lord is a keen gardener she's unable to maintain the garden herself at her age and needs help from willing neighbours when they can spare the time.

They were so chuffed to have four pairs of hands turn up at their doorstep and enjoyed hearing about GoodGym.

We were presented with a decent set of tools, gloves and garden waste bags and a classic GoodGym mission: cut and pull the much overgrown and twisted ivy, trim back the fuchsias, weed between the paving slabs and clean up the debris.

After around 40 minutes of chatting about all things: * Santa, * Welsh cakes *Ashley Madison

We'd filled three bags of green waste. That was enough to earn a cereal bar each and many thanks from The Lords.

Andy headed back to base camp while the other three of us were in local territory and went straight home to rest from the fairly hefty run.

Till next time................. Mission Done.

I often wonder if we ever take stock of the amount of good we have actually done.

Due to some Last minute rescheduling 11 wonderful awesome amazing individuals took to the streets for a GoodGym tour of Hackney.

It's not every week we get an opportunity to check in on how projects are doing nor is it every week we get an opportunity to run a 9k loop letting our legs loose on the roads.

We had 4 newbies on this muggy wet evening, all of which were amazed at what had been done.

Visits to sites where trees had been planted, planters had been built, fences had been painted, manure shifted, sheds built, benches constructed, weeds dragged out, flowers watered, grass cut, estates reclaimed and more importantly communities reunited.

When you come for a run with GoodGym just remember that it's more than just a run, you're making the world a better place for those that reside in it.

Join us next week for more awesomeness.

21 runners ran 5km focus on hip position to shift a tonne of Compost for Dalston Curve garden.

This session focused on hips. Good hips means good running.
We had to shift a mound of earth for Dalston Curve Garden. Home of Becky Greenwood's Pizza oven.

We jogged over to Dalston at a nice steady pace lead by Mark. Mark has great hips, and a nice light running style.

When we arrived they were not quite ready for us so we strengethed our cores and hips on the sand, in front of a band who played us some delightful music.

purple tunnel of "buddleja"

By this point we had a lovely load of spades and shovels ready for us to start shifting the mound of earth hidden behind the purple tunnel of buddleja.

Those not digging did more work on their hips, strengething with some flutter kicks, planks and mountain climbers on the sand.

"Space for a van"

By the time the reps were over the mound of earth was moved leaving ample space for a van.

"hip partners"

We headed to Hackney Downs for some more hip interrogation . We got ourselves some hip partners who kept their eyes on our hips to give us some feedback.

HIP INFO

If you're interested in little bit more hip stuff, here's a short video of Americans talking about good hip position, and here's a longer article about why it's important.

MISSION REPORT

While the rest of GoodGym Hackney headed to the Curve Garden, Ros and I did our best Charlie Dimmock / Alan Titchmarsh impersonations at a Groundforce-style mission in Stokey.

"rolls of astroturf"

We ran 4km to visit the friendly Rachel, who was ready to meet us in the front garden with rolls of astroturf and a selection of paving slabs. It soon became apparent Ros had been a Landscape Architect in a previous life, as she talked Rachel through her “vision for the space”.

"climbing into the brown bin"

We set to work clearing the space of garden waste, with Ros climbing into the brown bin to maximise capacity. With light rain falling, we laid the astroturf, pinning it in place with carefully arranged slabs.

"a very generous round of applause"

We all agreed the finished article was a lovely sight – and if Groundforce were rebooted, Ros would be top pick. We said our goodbyes and made a speedy run back to meet the others for a very generous round of applause and some much needed stretching.

20 Runners ran to dig up roots for a community garden in Hackney. 2 went to clear an older persons garden.

"some mid road planking"

Well, well, well. Firstly, the taskmaster enforced some mid road planking. With 22 men and women strong, we moved at breakneck speed weaving through the backstreets of Hackney towards the idyllic Wilton Estate. Greeted by the lovely Debbie, she dished out a multitude of tools as there was lots to be done. The plants were gasping from the summer sun, so a group of good gym'ers carried endless watering cans to relieve them of their thirst.

"count to 3 whilst sprinkling"

The correct way to water plants is to count to 3 whilst sprinkling. Whoever knew?!

Witness the fitness, the root digging system, one hope, one quest. Meanwhile, there was a small army of strong armed gents swinging their pic axes, spades and sharp implements to remove the toughest of all roots.

"ripped"

Miraculously no one was damaged during this challenging task, aside from the roots, clearly, which were ripped from the ground successfully. Whoops and high fives followed, victorious. There were however, other troublesome weeds and ivy lurking in the gardens, attempting to rule. But, not for long. We were on hand to tear them from the ground. We piled them high into a bag large enough to fit at least 6 good gym'ers.
Witness the fitness, the root digging system, one hope, one quest.

"casual hustling"

After our quest was done, we summoned up the power to run to Hackney Downs for some casual hustling, relay style. We hustled so hard you could hear the beats of our feet on the ground. Then, basking in the glory of our achievements we ran back to our start point, E5 Bakery. Excellent work team, until next time. Witness the fitness, the root digging system, one hope, one quest.

Mission report

Antonia and I (Paul Bown) both volunteered for the mission to help Catherine in Clapton clear an overgrown bush in her front garden. So we headed north on Mare Street, were directed around a Police cornered off area and weaved around the busy streets of Hackney. After 3.3km we'd arrived and were mission ready.

The situation was that ivy, vines and bushes had become overgrown in Catherine's front garden so the council had requested her to cut it back off the street and take the routes out. However due to the fact Catherine had a stroke a few years ago she is reasonably immobile and unable to do this.

"good tempo pace"

Armed with shears and black sacks we were able to cut back around 1/4 of the ivy growing into the street (at least 1.5 metres deep) before we had to set off. We got rid of the bin bags and then said our goodbyes to Catherine. Our return run was at a good tempo pace as we needed to make sure Anthonia got on her train home.