GoodGym Greenwich smashed all previous records AGAIN last night with a whopping 33 of you running 8km to help the Scouts!

Last night was AAAAAAMAZING. The weather was slightly nicer than the complete washout we had last week, plus we had our biggest turnout EVER in Greenwich. It doesn't seem long ago that I had Taylor Swift in my head after 22 of you came... never did I think it would continue to grow this much... you guys are AWESOME!!!

We welcomed quite a few new faces to the group last night which is GREAT! Big thanks to recruiters Helen and Mridula for bringing their colleagues Maria & Irina. We were joined by two lovely gents Pulin & Nick. We also welcomed back Amy G after a little break and the wonderful Jack from Wandsworth who travelled quite a distance to get to Greenwich, but we're worth it aren't we Jack :) GIVE THEM ALL A CHEER!

HOLIYAY

The headcount used to take about 4 seconds, now it has become part of the ritual and takes a good 5 minutes to go around everyone! Favourite thing pivoted slightly last night to next holiday destination (inspired by the sunshine obviously) and it was great to hear where you're all off to. There were some pretty exotic ones, Swindon in particular, Alex and Steve please could you take me in your suitcase????

We dropped off our stuff, did a quick little warm up and split into 2 groups. Ben with the hat and Ben with the hat led a fast group who we lost sight of in about 40 seconds. The rest of us went at a slightly more leisurely pace :) We went through the park, everyone smashed it up the hill, had a 60 second breather and then pushed on!

20 minutes later we arrived at the scouts. Group 1 had already got themselves stuck in which was great to see! Scout Leader Alan explained the tasks that needed to be done. Arguably the most exciting of which was putting up the flagpole! This is something that has been on our list of things to do the last couple of times we've been here but we've never actually got round to doing it. But last night it was ON! George got started and he dug deep... literally.

"Tonight Matthew, I'm gonna be..."

With a little help from Christian, Elliot & Steve the cement was ready to go in, which created a lovely Stars In Their Eyes puff of smoke. Steve filled a bucket with "water" and chucked it down the hole and 5 minutes later it had set... JOB DONE.

In the meantime, other people were painting shutters, weeding in the jungle, filling fox holes (don't worry Nina there were no baby foxes in there), axing trees... literally everything was going down. 8pm approached and it was time to get going. We had a group photo by the wonderful flagpole which kind of looked a bit naked without a flag on it, just a white stick in the ground basically.... but it had to be done. We headed back the way we came, by this point the sun was a little less fierce which made for a lovely chilled run back. Since we were a bit later than planned and everyone had already run 8km, we skipped the fitness session and went straight into some nice stretching... you're welcome :) Trying to up my game after hearing other GG groups do yoga in their sessions haha!

Brownie points!

We went to stuff our faces with some amazing brownies baked by the equally amazing Mridula! Then we parted ways.... until next time gang!!!

For those of you who are new, here is the link to our ever growing Facebook group where people post about races and missions and well, anything really! Please join :)

Amazing job last night everyone! Thanks for getting stuck in as always, that would have taken Alan a whole day (if not more) to get everything done that you did in half an hour so really well done!!! And congratulations on, once again, being a part of our biggest ever run! YOU GUYS ROCK!! XXX

Hey, spring! Where did you go? It's very rude to lure us in with your pretty sun and warm weather, only to whip it away again so we have to start our runs in the cold and damp. Still, it didn't put off five runners ready to get fit and do good in Hounslow, for we are GoodGym.

We had a lovely new runner, Barry join us for the first time last night. Barry, like a total legend, has recently given up smoking, so he deserves a double cheer. Go on, GoodGym, do the double click! We also said a big well done to Andy, Toni and Dave who are all topping the Hounslow leader boards. Great work.

After a chat about the upcoming missions this weekend ( if you fancy it you can sign up here)we did a few quick stretches, and found out where everybody's favourite place in the world is - answers ranged from Spain, Tenerife, and Rome to anywhere by the sea. Lovely stuff!

It was a good two mile run to the task this week, so we set off on a nice route that meandered by the river. After no time at all we arrived at the Friends of Cathja shop in Brentford, an amazing charity that supports local people with enduring health problems. The warehouse is full to the brim with every kind of donation you could imagine, but our job this week was to sort out a towering pile of books into manageable boxes. While testing our spatial awareness we had great fun flinging bags of things over the donation mountain. We came across every book, from The Very Hungry Caterpillar (remember that?) to The Bible in Spanish, and before long we had amassed a huge pile of boxes full of books ready to sell.

We all (sort of) agreed the run back felt much shorter, maybe because we were discussing what was for dinner. While Alannah and Barry debated the merits (or not) of KFC, Andy made us feel tired as he did a couple of tough loops of hard running, and we even managed to find out a bit about the amazing history of this corner of Hounslow. A jam packed run back! After a few stretches, our Wednesday run drew to a close. But it was not without making a difference to our local community, plus getting a good long run in. Well done team! Next week we're off to help the homeless at Ealing Baptist Church, you can sign up here (and I hope you do!):

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/a-helping-hand-for-the-homeless

24 amazing Greenwich runners ran 3km to clean toys at The Bridge community centre!

A sunny, yet deceptively cold evening last night, but it didn't stop TWENTY FOUR of you lovely lot showing up! We had two people celebrating their first good deed with us, the lovely Yaz, who believe it or not was the person who inspired me to start running a few years ago back in my sedentary office days! So if it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't be here. Not that I would be dead, I just mean I probably wouldn't be your GoodGym trainer! So I think she deserves a big cheer!!! As does Alex who also made his debut last night!

We welcomed two more new faces to Greenwich, Matthew who came along after doing a few runs with GG Lewisham and aspiring junior Parkrun director and hill lover, Kani who also went to Lewisham on Monday! WELCOME EVERYONE!

PANIC MODE ENGAGED

So as you know by now, every week I do a favourite thing, and I had a REALLY good one for yesterday, and I was so pleased that I actually had one planned for once... and then I forgot it. GOOD ONE. So favourite running shoe it was! New Balance just pipped to the post for everyone's fave, because let's face it, they're the best. We realised no one really knew how to pronounce Saucony... is it Sock-A-Knee, or Sork-Oh-Knee.. who knows. But what we do know is Brin absolutely nailed the pronunciation of Hoka One One! Nice one! Or should I say... nice onay!

We dropped off our stuff and did a warm up comprising of a little jog and some dynamic stretching with a bit of holding hands thrown in, because why not. We set off down the main road heading out of Greenwich and within 10 minutes or so, we had arrived at the East Greenwich Pleasaunce (no Mridula I don't know what a pleasaunce is, nor do I know how to say it!). The Bridge centre is nestled in through a gate and up a little hill in a lovely green area. We were greeted by Ruth & Raeleen and also Raeleen's daughter, Henrietta! Raeleen explained what needed doing which basically involved removing the toys from the container, cleaning them, drying them and putting them back. Plus there was a spot of weeding to be done too so lots to be getting on with!

Feeling the pressure!

"Does anyone have any experience with a pressure washer?". Obviously Nina's hand shot right up! Awesome! So Nina, Ben and Andy went to sort that out, which took a bit of doing and was a lot more complicated than expected. It took a while but they got there in the end and it was up to Nina to live up to the hype. Which she most certainly did!

James and Alex grabbed some brooms and began sweeping in the container. While everyone else grabbed a cloth to clean the toys or headed for the flower beds for some weeding!

Little Henrietta was being extremely helpful and squeezing washing up liquid on people's cloths just to make sure that her toys were getting extra clean! What a cutie pie!

After half an hour, we were pretty much done! The playground was squeaky clean, toys were sparkling and put back into the container, flower beds were weed free. Isabella even went around all the plants and watered them! Great job!

We had some biscuits and squash, took a group photo (sadly minus Ben & Andy who were having an altercation with the hose out back!) and then we set off back to the uni. Except we didn't get very far since the gates had been locked. NOOOO. Vickie kindly went to go and investigate and since we were temporarily trapped I thought we could do some nice hill sprints to keep us warm. But of course, Vickie, being the speedy runner that she is, arrived back in the nick of time with the key thus saving everyone from a sprint! Next time you might not be so lucky!

OK.... GO!

We ran back the way we came and through the uni to the grassy patch for a little ab session to help get that core nice and strong. We did 3 exercises (Russian twists, bicycle crunches & heel taps). 30 seconds each, 2 rounds and those abs were feeling it! Time for a relaxing stretch with arguably the most beautiful GoodGym backdrop and then we called it a night!

London Marathon!

Massive good luck to our favourite set of twins Alex and Steve (yes we all know loads of twins for you to definitely be our favourite!) running the London Marathon on Sunday! And Ben Parkes too if you're reading this, which of course you are. Also best of luck to Helen's other half Paul (if he does still run) who has sadly somehow managed to contract shingles over the last couple of days :( Get well soon Paul!

There will be a group of us cheering on Sunday and I'll post the details about it on our Facebook group later today! GO GET 'EM TEAM GGG!!!

Massive well done last night everyone! You got loads done and I know it was a bit cold but you all did amazing! Hope those abs aren't too sore today! Hopefully see you next week!

9 Goodgymers ran 2.5k and returned to a task at the Marcus Garvey Library

unbeweavable

On our way to the task we paired up and did some laps around Clyde Circus before setting off for the rest of the run toward The Friends of Tottenham Green site.

Laura was just about ready for us as we arrived so we headed over to the library to continue with the task we started last week. Lots more of the over grown area was cleared along with a pile of rubble and more of the dark organic matter that had fallen on the white pebble dash that weaves alongside the pathway into the green space. Speaking of weaving we uncovered a cool wicker woven mini tipi in the undergrowth. It was pretty unbeweavable.

A fitness session with partner exercises and a warm down ensued.

Sign Up For Future Sessions Below!

Sign up for our next Wednesday night group run & task Here, followed by our monthly social! So head on over for a eggselent feast.

We also have a weekend missions coming.. check it out Here. Get involved.

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Until next time folks - do good, stay fit & look out for the light