And we’re off… It’s the 2nd of January 2018 and undaunted by the bleak weather forecast or the weight of two weeks’ foraging in the Quality Street tub over the Christmas holidays, 12 runners reported for duty at Wholefoods in Richmond.

Mark promised us a gentle short run to ETNA in St Margarets, a local community centre, where we were due to finish a job we started last year, putting the weeds to bed for once and for all with some heavy duty matting and several bags of bark.

It kicked off with a game of ‘Where’s the wheelie?’, a bit like ‘Where’s Wally?’, although you’d expect it to be less challenging since the wheelie bin we were looking for could house a baby elephant (it took two search parties…).
Then it quickly became clear that this job was Mahmoud’s personal mission. Thwarted by too little time on our last visit, Mahmoud was determined to see the job through this time. He was so committed to the task, in fact, he even ran home to get better tools when those in the shed were found wanting. Then he set about cutting and laying matting like a man possessed, whilst we weeded and mulched around him. By this time, we were being pelted by rain and a little icy wind had whipped up around us, testing the spirit of even the most hard core GoodGym runner. The garden shed was starting to look pretty tempting. But Mahmoud, seeing one last bag of bark and with five minutes on the clock, persisted until all the bark was gone. He was definitely our player of the match.

So, 2018 got off to a stomping start with old and new faces joining us for the inaugural run of the year. Let’s hope the weather is a bit kinder to us for the rest of January.

Finally, remember to log all your runs on Strava/Runkeeper (and link it to your GoodGym profile) during January for the GoodGym challenge. Collectively across the UK, we are aiming to complete 5,000 good deeds and run 50,000 kms in a month. And then, of course, there is the chase for the glory of being the best team in the UK…

Welcome to Judith on your first run, I don't think Richmond has had a mother and daughter team, so it was good to have Heidi back and for her to bring you along, well played for getting stuck in at the task. Welcome back Thomas (lots of the newer runners were delighted to see you laden down with you graze snacks.)

Well done to all those runners who have signed up for events this year. One of the challenges mentioned was R.E.D January for the charity Mind, to raise awareness and funds for mental health. Jenna is running this one daily and whilst not necessarily participating for sponsorship, if anyone would like to donate then please contact her.

In amongst the news tonight , I should have mentioned that we have a "starter" run in the calendar for Jan 13th, if anybody you know is considering joining a GoodGym run but struggles with a Monday evening or wants to have a go with other newbies then this is the run for them. If you are already a GoodGym runner you can also use this to build up your mileage, so all welcome. The run details and task are listed on the website.

Finally, we left last year singing and for those that stuck around at the end of tonights run we started the new year in fine voice too as we sung "Happy Birthday" to Mahmoud. Definitely player of the match, holding his birthday celebrations at bay while he tends to his good deeds.

BTW.....BIRTHDAY'S ARE NEWS! You must tell us about them, we promise we won't give you the bumps!

Happy New Year all

Can you spot all of the Chase and Status tracks littered throughout this report?? Answers in the comments below!!

On genuinely the coldest night of the year, 11 brave Brent warriors hit the streets, to leaflet drop their way to the top of the pops, then lay down some tracks, Goodgym style.

With a chill in the air, we had nothing to do but run fast and hard down to the Track for our once a month fitness focused sesh. Fighting the shivers, we paper chased all the way down Willesden High Road and as usual the team were the ultimate charmers handing out our local messages along the way, always with a Goodgym smile :) Once the leaflets were all successfully handed out to our fellow Willesdenites, before we could say *Gangsta Boogie * we had arrived safely at our destination for the night, the track!

With my crew (like always) committing their Blind Faith to me, their watchful coach I was ready to begin. No worries here though, as they can Always count on me to get their pulses and legs racing.

So with my squad at the ready, I began to explain the fitness session of their lives, hoping that all goes right, instead of All goes wrong. We started with warm up drills of high knees and bum kicks, up and down the stairs of the spectators gallery. This was swiftly followed by our very own Uzman (Army Soldier in training) leading us through some drills of his own, squats, press-ups and sit ups, with military precision.

After warm ups were complete, it was about Time to get down to some real track attack! You'd think they couldn't Love me more until I asked of them......"400m sprints, times four please!!!"

Can I just say, this crew are just off the scale fit, I have to tell you! With an average speed ranging from sub 6 to sub 10 min miles and always with lap consistency, even into the forth!! If you don't know what that means, here it is in simple terms..... THEY SMASHED IT No problem!! Even when our lovely Joe, felt a tightening in their calf, he didn't stop! While the rest of the team burned rubber, Joe and I hit up some Ab-soultely awesome Core work, side by side on the track!

After the main body of the session was complete, the team came back together for one last pace back to base. Feeling more alive than ever, the endorphines were definitely flowing strong, which led us home on a high!
But before the end credits could roll, we huddles together for a cool down of stretch and breathing exercises, which ushered in the calm and welcomed the final close.

Now it's time for me to Let you go, what an evening, don't you know! To give back to the borough, our beloved Brent. With all the effort and fitness, an evening well spent!

See you next time familia. Next week it;s all about the Xmas themed tasking for Brent! WOO HOO

This awesome run report was written by equally awesome sister sledge - Debs and Tabs!!! YAYYYYY!!

10 Goodgym runners braved the cold, less than 10 degrees so I'm told. To help Jack our trusty man, with the help of tools from his van.

We started off running through the bitter chill. Dinesh setting off fast against our will. Before long we arrived to the task at hand, ten-ding the canal, soon to be our piece of land.

As quick as we could we began picking the litter. Luckily for Jack this bunch couldn't be fitter. The bin bags themselves were pretty small, so we set ourselves the task to fill them all.

5 minutes to go and we moved to our biggest task of the night: Pulling the trolley out of the water, what a sight!

The boys set to it, that's right we had four! We're hoping they're all back next week, and even some more.

We hot footed down the road, back to our bit of Brent. Along the way dropped off Debs and Tabs, away they went.

A great task was had by all and thank goodness unlike last time, not one fall!!

See you next time!!!!