Here's tonight's running commentary

7pm kick off , team GG Richmond headed for the pitch (aka Richmond Green) to warm up...World Cup style! We did some football warm up drills as well as a friendly game of crab football to work our triceps. One nil, one nil Yay!!!! After tidying the green of the empties...Not ours I should add, we were off!

We jogged to and around Old Deer Park , then over and under bridges until we reached ETNA where we were to tackle some weeds and get Messi. With 14 of us (in England colours) we got lots done. Watering the flowerbeds, weeding (minding the rose bushes), and digging up overgrown plants.

The task was made even more interesting as we were asked to not only keep our hands busy but our minds with Mark setting us the competition of getting as many puns as possible and beating him in a pun match.

While we were there we were greeted by the task owner - the lovely Sian who told us about how the community centre is looking to raise funds for a new Kitchen. If you live in the borough you can vote for ETNA to receive funding, visit here to find out more.

Just before the second half of the night we downed tools for a group photo and talk on all the great things ETNA do and then ran back over Richmond bridge to Wholefoods and a stretch. It's fair to say though , we all wanted extra time to do more at the task. We Moscow again soon to finish the job!

Back at Wholefoods news circulated that England had drawn with Tunisa and we were ready to head home for the highlights but before the final whistle we congratulated Seren and Miranda on their second run and Penny and Jenni (from Ealing GG) on their first run with us.

Great evening as ever - Nice one on the back marking Anita and Jon you get the award for man of the match!

Thanks for a great night all - Looking forward to Monday next already!

On 16th July we will be celebrating our second birthday, the taskforce are finalising how the evening may look but if you have any ideas please share them.

Fresh from our QUARTER FINALS success at the Twickenham festival Tug of War on Friday night, Richmond GG had a buzz of excitement and a refreshed sense of energy. The news section took plenty of time as we relived the competition & the Goliaths us little Davids competed against. We were also filled in on several people's 10k runs they'd done on Sunday, with a good contingent from Richmond GG having done the Turks Head. Special mention to Elaine for getting through it whilst under the weather.

Then we were off out to Richmond Green, starting off with a nice jog round to find a space big enough for the warm up amongst all the picnickers. We were in, out & round about in a circle. We all got a little over enthusiastic with chasing the person in front, well before Mark said 'Go', but by the end we were certainly warm.

Were we given the Richmond run around?? pic.twitter.com/caeh0KeKtt

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) June 11, 2018

Despite the destination of our task being a stones throw away, we set off for our run along the river, over the bridge to the other side and back again. Once back we were well and truly ready to get started with the task.

We were all set to wash and rub down the fence that surrounds the Green but found the tools we'd been left were a little thin on the ground. With just 4 wire brushes between 15 of us we had to get a bit creative with our approach; in true GG style we set about doing what we are good at and making our environment a better place. Some of us used the brushes to rub down the paint on the railings and posts, whilst the others got cloths to wash off the mud and general roadside grime. The rest of us went on a litter pick around the Green. There were also a few trips to be made to The Princes Head pub to get buckets of water (not Pimms), which they very kindly supplied. THANK YOU PRINCES HEAD, would have been tougher without you! All that scrubbing was tough going on the arms, so we were glad to be able to swap tasks every now & then, especially those of us with Tug of War related aches!

Being in such a prominent position was a bit of a novelty for both us & the local residents. We caught a lot of intrigued glances and fielded several questions from passers by. Everyone was pleased to see us working hard to make the area look good; even getting a few congratulatory shouts from people in cars; thanks for the encouragement Richmond!

In the end we got one end of the fencing looking pretty well polished, litter free & sparkly! After a few pictures & a quick tidy up we made the short journey back to Whole Foods for a quick warm down. Congratulations to Emily on her first run, well done! And welcome back to some familiar faces, Aran, Hugh and Michelle too! Always happy to see you! All in all, a job well done everyone!

Great report thanks Kate - and also congrats on your own Castle to Castle 10km event at the weekend!

Here is a link to next week's run, we'll be met at ETNA by the Task Owner this time and I am told there is a "to do list"

Great pun eh? It's all thanks to Seren , one of the new GoodGym runners tonight. She was joined by another new runner Miranda and 9 other hard core regulars ready for another night of good fun, a good run and a good deed.

After talk of drunken texts that led to someone signing up for a 10km this weekend and other more sober commitments; we set out to Richmond Green for our much needed warm up – where has the sun gone?

Mark tested our co-ordination tonight - BIG TIME, with partner work, swinging left and right feet, inch worms that were a half inch in some cases! and that funky move that see’s us doing something that resembles an Irish jig – we definitely got warm!

From here we ran up Richmond Hill and into Richmond Park, heading down the trail in the park rather than up this week, greeting the local wildlife on the way. Although hot and humid with us all feeling ready for bed before starting out tonight, the run off road was definitely worth it. At the bottom of the hill, in Petersham Farm we met Ken from Richmond Council ready to offer our “guns” to carry logs and fences through the common.

As we walked through Petersham Farm, some of us commented on how it would make a beautiful GoodGym retreat and some were ready to camp out for the night. Instead of having a jolly, we were there to move logs and fences ready for Ken and the council to erect around Petersham Common in order to keep the path clear and protect the natural wildlife.

For this task we looked like participants from the World’s Strongest Man/Woman competition (those CrossFitters won’t know what hit them come Friday!) We teamed up to carry the posts for the fences and the fences themselves 400 meters at the bottom of Petersham Common. Such a great physical task, our muscles will ache tomorrow.

#GoodGym bicep on the move! #Richmond #doinggood #mondaynights pic.twitter.com/oqUfff4XuZ

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) June 4, 2018

We then headed back to Wholefoods, pausing to take a selfie with the cows along the way. We also passed a Heron or “the grumpy men of the river” as Kate informed us and ended the night with some good stretches.

Welcome again to Seren and Miranda. Don’t forget to all sign up to the Tug of War this Friday - if spaces are gone please still come down, you may still be able to have a go. Well done to Kate and Seren on their recent PB’s. Good luck to Kate on her 10km this weekend and to other runners taking part in the Turks Head 10km. Salwa is also taking part in a 400km cycle before the end of the year from Boston to New York. Lots of great stuff happening!

We are very busy over the coming weeks with some awesome new tasks, next week is no exception! We need as many runners as possible to join us in scrubbing down the posts around Richmond Green so that they are ready for painting. Please sign up and bring people who might want to try something different on a Monday evening.

pic.twitter.com/74aUdPgsu0

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) June 4, 2018

The sunny evenings are increasing and the red shirts are looking brighter than ever.

11 Goodgymmers were amongst us tonight, although late to the party Mark Allen still did a run and then joined the rest of us at the end to stretch. Great to see you Mark!

The rest of us had set out on a gentle jog to Marble Hill park. There Mark had us in training for our Tug of War competition coming up on 8th June in Twickenham. We paired up and trained not only our glutes and quads for power in tug of war but the exercises also doubled up as running drills, so now our fitness is all fired up!

Plus there is nothing quite like a game of "try not to make your partner fall over" to get you focused on technique.

The finale of the fitness session was a practice run of tug of war, the determination and grit was incredible....cant wait for the real thing. Make sure you all sign up!

All fatigued but happy, we got into teams to tackle the Richmond streets with 2 different sets of leaflets (and maybe the odd GG one too!). One for the Volunteer Fair ran by Council for Voluntary Service in Richmond on Thursday 7th June and one for The Poppy Factory and their event the Trumpeters House Garden Party on Saturday 2nd June. We were lucky to have task owner** Rhiannon** tonight from the Poppy Factory. It was great you joined us on the run Rhiannon – Always welcome!

No one went up the hill (except Mark ha ha). But we did tackle lots of stairs (eh Richard) , lots of weird and wonderful gardens (some with inflatable dinosaurs in according to Kate) and even a cat on our travels to deliver 800 leaflets.

Then it was a race back to Wholefoods for the cool down.

A great night! Looking forward to seeing you all again next week when we head out to help Spear in the Richmond hub!! Look up and sign up here https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/cleaning-and-organising-the-shed-and-cupboards Well done Laura on the back running whilst testing your limits still in recovery – very impressive!

21! 21! I think Mark might be saying that in his sleep tonight. It was amazing to see runner after runner walk into Wholefoods and one who even changed his mind mid-run to come and run with us! Great to see you Al.

Amongest the army tonight were also 3 GG Hounslow visitors, Andy, Remy and Michelle. So great to see you and well done to Remi who will have done her 50th GG run by Wednesday this week. We also had Louisa and Chris back for their second run and newbie Sally introduced to GoodGym by Holly (lovely to see you and Jon back Holly!). It felt like even more of a reunion when we were also joined by Salwa, Victoria and Jane. Great to see you all!

Before we set off, Richmond residents and commuters got an eye full as we showed off our warm up skills in front of Wholefoods to the rhythm of our thumping feet as we fired up our fast twitch agility skills.

Richmond taking the warm up - up a gear! @goodgym pic.twitter.com/TWUkk86KlR

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) April 30, 2018

Tonight we had a new task and a new task owner and what a task it was. We ran 4.5km along the river, thankful that the heavens had closed for the day! Some of us took a detour and shortcut, keen to get first dibs on the adventure playground and pick their activity (no names mentioned)....only to be disappointed that Mark wouldn't allow us on the swings until the end.

So, we got to work, after a brief chat from the lovely Esther the Senior Playworker at the** Adventure Playground at Marble Hill Playcentres** about the fantastic provision they provide for 5 to 15 year olds of Richmond Borough. More info about the great work they do can be found here

We were asked to turn over wood chips, create a compost pile ready for growing vegetables and organise the inside of the Playcentre so that the little ones to the teenagers had somewhere to hang out. It was a fulfilling and rewarding task and one we all hope to return to. Finally after all our hard work was done...we got to have a go on the swings and get an ice pop!! Wow what a step back in time!

We took a gentle 1.5km run back over the bridge as we witnessed a beautiful sunset. Thank you for the photo Remy

There was a warm glow for GG Richmond as they completed the task tonight. Even the sky went a colour far from the grey. A scene we had almost forgot. pic.twitter.com/4VMJUwrMpe

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) April 30, 2018

Back at Wholefoods we cooled down and headed for our suppers, proud of all we had accomplished!

Well played all (no pun intended). Next week is tree felling, mat laying and some other goodies, sign up. here