10 Goodgym folks arrived nice and early last night (including new Goodgymmer Kate- welcome!), and it was lovely to catch up before heading over to our task. There was lots of talk about upcoming races; (The Big Half next Sunday for example, and a few running films to catch on streaming services. Hanry recommended checking out "3100: Run and Become", a documentary about the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, which takes place in Queens, New York City each summer. This race is held around one square sidewalk block (0.56 miles) and requires at least 59 miles a day for 52 straight days to complete the event.

Before we set off, we performed the count-off, and asked each other "If you could run anywhere in the world, where would it be?". The answers were as follows:

• Bosnia
• The Lake District
• Patagonia
• The Copper Canyons, New Mexico
• Aviemore
• Paris
• Somewhere in Wales
• Cornwall
• Kiev, which I am doing in April (see info here!)

Chain, Will Keep Us Together (working in the shadows)

Our crew jogged up Holloway Road for about 2km before connecting onto Mercer Road. At number 107, we met up with Regina, the volunteer coordinator for Single Homeless Project, and we got straight to work on shifting the last of our woodchip pile. Back in September, our team unloaded almost 4 tonnes of wood chip off the streets of Islington in record time, and we have dedicated the last two weeks of tasks to distributing the mulch to the appropriate gardens. A small team took it in turns to shovel and fork the material into builder's sacks, and everyone else safely carried the sacks through the house, and into the back yard.

We made short work of the huge pile of wood chip- keeping a constantly moving string of workers moving through the building proved to be super efficient. Our final additional task involved a bit of light weeding, taking our a few troublesome plants from around a new quince tree growing in the back yard. We will be sure to return soon to continue with some additional weeding and gardening tasks.

After collecting all of the tools and equipment together and saying goodbye to Regina, we made our way back to the Emirates for some light stretching and a few congratulatory Oreo cookies for a job well done!

NEWS

GG Islington Monthly Social- March 2020

We will be hosting our monthly social meet-up after our group run on Monday 9th March!

Come and join us for 2-for-1 pizza and drinks at the Victoria Tavern (straight after our task at Sunnyside Community Gardens, Archway).

Sign up here to confirm your attendance, or turn up on the day!

Hackney Half Aid Station Volunteering

Goodgym have been asked to assist on a second aid station for the Virgin Hackney Half marathon (17th May 2020)!

So many folks asked to help at the Mare Street aid station, that the organisers have allowed us to also take on the Broadway Market aid station at Mile 9. This is awesome- 2 out of 6 aid stations will be manned by Goodgym runners (1/3 of every aid station will have a GG cheer squad)!

Basically, we have had a presence at Hackney Half since year 1, and it is a really fun day! A proper carnival, with cheering and some water distribution to runners involved.

Also, any volunteer at Hackney Half will receive a free place in either the Oxford Half or the Asics London 10km later in the year. It's win-win!

Sign up here before the places fill up!

25 GoodGymers came out to do good not once but TWICE on an otherwise dreary Wednesday night in Camden!

For the first time this year, there were no newbies joining the herd so we motored on through the intro speech in record time. After some stretching out, we all ran to the American International Church together along the backstreets, arriving with 15 minutes to make the beds and head on to the second task - a mini-litterpick along Regents Canal.

C4WS (American International Church)

Jonathan was there to greet us as normal and we got stuck in, making 16 beds in record time - 4 women's and 11 men's (an extra being Jonathan's up on the stage) - finishing just before the homeless people arrived for a good night's sleep out of the wind and cold at 7:30. In a spare moment, Jonathan told me that a Syrian family had moved into a sheltered housing building directly behind the church, having previously been users of the homeless shelter. They'd arrived 3 weeks ago and were getting settled - yesterday's task was getting a flatpack wardrobe from IKEA built - and I mentioned that Helen from Scope Camden was always looking for volunteers who'd like to improve their English by working in the shop, so hopefully we can connect both places together.

From there it was full steam ahead to Granary Square for a litterpick. HUGE thanks to Liz for the ploggers and bags and Abi for the gloves (from Story Garden no less!). It wouldn't have been the same task without you two! Please go and give them an extra cheer! Thanks go to Suraj for the killer pun for this week's report.

Mini/Maxi Litterpick along Regent's Canal

After arriving at Granary Square, we got the plogging bags and litterpickers ready. 3 teams of 8 were set out to clear different sections of the Regents Canal with another fifteen minutes to get stuck in. Cigarette butts were the butt of most jokes out on the plog and many ploggers perfected the use of the litterpickers to pick up the tiniest butts. Fifteen minutes later and 6 bags full (3 of recycling and 3 of litter), it was time to head back to the Living Centre. Abi's team decided they wanted to do a maxi-plog and carried on homewards, picking up extra litter as they went.

While we were out on the run, I couldn't help but notice how great it is that so many of you are talking to each other and catching up, or finding out about a new member of the herd. That's what GoodGym is all about and it's wonderful to see!

NEXT TIME

COMMUNITY MISSIONS ON A TIGHTROPE: The wonderful Liz has organised a full day of activities for you at the Camden Highline. Much like what the Americans have done in New York with the original HighLine, Camden are working on a similar concept here in the Big Smoke. The first Saturday slot is from 9:30-11:00, the second kicks off from 11:30-14:00 and the final volunteering slot of the day is from 14:00-15:45 - so lots to get stuck into if you have some free time this Saturday.

CAMDEN QUIZLETES: In the first of many upcoming Camden socials, John has organised a pub quiz for 12 of us (on two opposing teams) to battle it out for. It's at the Hanbury Arms on Thursday 20th Feb and there are still THREE SEATS FREE on the second team, so get yourself signed up here!

NEXT WEEK'S RUN: We'll be splitting the group once more next week, with one half going to C4WS and the other going to the Home of English Folk (and Dance) that is Cecil Sharp House to help Susannah in the garden with some weeding, clearing and tidying up. Add your name to the list here.

In the meantime, happy running and see you next week.