Amazing! 9 runners ran 6.5km, cleaned the heck out of some garden furniture AND did burpee/mountain climber TABATA! And now an awesome run report from the awesome Kerry!

Last night's run started at Bodyline Fitness Studios, with a great crew of 9. We gently jogged to Haven Green across the road for some bright and cheery warm ups to get us ready for the 3km run to Impact Theatre in Perivale.

We ran over what felt like many hills, but of course what goes up must come down! The classic running mantra! And the steady pace saw us all there in one piece so we got straight into cleaning some furniture in the back garden of the theatre. Mel was on it with the hose and everyone else scrubbed and tidied and it was looking shiny and nice. The theatre is a lovely facility for adults with disability to learn through theatre performance and creation.

Many hands make light work and we were finished quickly. Onto a quick HIIT session of burpees and mountain climbers before heading back to base in Ealing. TABATA training is a great way to do high intensity exercise in a short period of time and exercises like burpees and mountain climbers with strengthen your whole body and help your running too!

After a tough but satisfying journey back, we did some lovely stretches.

Great run team, looking forward to next week!

36 brilliant runners moved loads of garden waste for gardening social enterprise Streetscape before saying a sad goodbye to Vicki

It was finally a mild enough evening to meet outside at Papa's and this was good news as our numbers were big this evening. Katie would like to think it was due to her superior run leading skillz but in actual fact it was due to many folk wanting to say goodbye to Vicki. Our favourite New Zealander is heading back to live Down Under and, after three years of pounding the pavements across many London boroughs, we are all sad to say So Long.

Vicki managed the great task of earning her 100 wings last week and whipped off her top as soon as her t-shirt was given to her. Thankfully / sadly (delete as appropriate) she had another top on underneath. With wings newly donned, we were off to the basketball court with Beth for a lovely warm up.

We split into two groups, Tom Benson's group ran down the right side of the road and George and Elise's group ran down the left, so that we didn't mow down all of Lambeth as we sped the 1-mile towards Myatt's Field. We have been visiting Streetscape for over three years now and it is always a physical task. There was loads of garden waste that needed moving onto a bigger pile of garden waste at the back, to make space for more garden waste.

Move this garden waste onto that garden waste, said Alex

We also learnt from Alex that 75% of the unemployed young people who enter the Streetscape programme find employment upon graduation, which is a pretty awesome figure. Of course this is something that GoodGym wants to help, so we kept in our two groups and Tom's group went into the park to do some strength work with Katie and George and Elise's group got stuck in moving some gaden waste on top of other garden waste.

After about 12 minutes, the groups swapped over so that everyone got stronger bits (ankles and core to be exact) by the end of it and we had cleared a massive space ready for MORE garden waste!

I can't wait to receive more garden waste! Said Alex

And with our good deed done, we whizzed off into the night and George took us through some lovely stretches. We then presented Vicki with her leaving gift, which was a school-style tea towel with our faces drawn on it. A brainchild of the Lambeth crew, Tom Benson had set about getting input from all the Boroughs that Vicki runs with. Polly had made the lovely GG border and Emma had been kind enough to make all of the backgrounds the same shade of white. A true team effort and also an interesting psychological insight into the minds of each GoodGym artist.

Wow guys I love my tea towel! Said Vicki 'Now let's hit the pub!

We all know Vicki loves a drink and so how could we say no? Off we went and some people even had some food! Great work Lambeth and we shall miss you Vicki. We look forward to shots of you wearing your GG wings on the other side of the world.

This week 21 glorious GoodGym-ers ran 2.8km/5.2km to sort through a local carehome's DVD collection

This week (the 25th week of GG Barnet) marks the largest ever number on a group run since we started (not including launch day)! Massive shout out to all the new faces this week, helping us smash our PB: Catherine – who actually came last week too, but I wasn't here so still counts as new! Ciara, Jo, Madeleine and Nadia. Give them all a cheer!

Also give a cheer to GG tourists Jessica and Emily! Let's see if we can smash 21 next time!

After a quick warm up by the cinema and several attempts at a number circle, we were off to the Hammerson care home to take on their DVD collection. Damian lead the group up the hill, while I back-marked. It was a real short run but a real steep hill, taking us 1.4km to the home. Once inside, activities co-ordinator Chris offered us water, biscuits and chocolate before telling the team the task. With multiple stations to work through, the team split into groups. Jody took the opportunity to mentally extend her To-Watch list as she sorted through the care home's goldmind of classics.

With such huge numbers we were able to speed through the collection in record time! Heather kindly volunteered to take the team photo as we posed behind our mountain of CDs.

It was then time for the fitness session. Chris let us use the rec room again, which was such a pleasure. Doing the fitness session indoors is wonderful – especially on that soft carpet! A few of the team opted to help some of the residents organise some jewellry, while a couple of the others sat down for a chat. Everyone else joined me for what I like to call the Animal Olympics.

We started nice and gently with the Inch Worm, then worked our way through several different animals, incorporating matching bodyweight exercises at the other side. Chris and Heather were the speediest of the bunch. They picked up some incredible pace on some of those animal walks. Paul requested we include the Aligator Walk (which was actually more like the Spider-Man, if you ask me) and the Shrimp – and even suggested the team all do some burpees. I love when you all request burpees of your own accord. I knew you were learning to love them! Paul also had some smashing plyo pushups, which definitely deserve a cheer!

We soon finished the animal races, said our goodbyes and headed back to base. I took a group back the way we came: 2.8km in total. Damian took the others the scenic route: 5.2km in total. Massive props to Nadia for choosing the long run – today was her first ever run! Super impressive!

Two trusty favourites crowned as this week's Barnet Biscuit: Oreos and Chocolate Chip Cookies. (Thanks, Freya!)

See you next week when we run to Archer Acadamy to build a pond

Pennie

P.S. Thanks for the headline this week, Damian!

WELCOME TO BARNET. You have to shout it cos it's so good. Tonight we welcomed Bryony and Jo along for their first GoodGym runs.

This evening we were delivering flyers for RSPCA clinic. Paul, Heather and Graham led groups around the Oak Lane area, and once we managed to find houses with letterboxes the doing good bit of our evening was done in no time. Which left plenty of time for the getting fit part.

First up it was CIRCLE OF DOOM. Well, circuit of exercises. Each of the 16 GGers in attendance chose their favourite exercise for the group to perform for 20 seconds. This included some classics such as press ups, some evils such as burpees with tuck jumps (thanks, Uncle Albert), and a set of squats in honour of the missing Pennie.

Next up, we got technical with some running drills. We did Leg Cycles, A-Walk and B-walk.

Finally it was time for a step-up challenge. Who can do 50 step ups quickest? While standing on the street explaining a window above us opened and a head popped out. Had we disturbed somebody? Had we annoyed somebody? Of course not, we're GoodGym. Local resident Tania just wondered who we were.

We explained the concept of GoodGym and she was so impressed she joined in the step-up challenge while cute little kitty "Humbug" looked on. She also knows a few folk around the area who might need out help for some missions, so keep your eyes peeled.

Right-leg step-up champion was Hazel and left-leg champion was Chris. Well done, both. These skills will come in handy if you ever have to run for a tube.

Biscuits were provided by Joanna, a deliciously sweet cinnamon mix. And there were plenty to go around. Nice baking.

Thanks for having me, Barnet. I really enjoyed myself. Pennie'll be back next week for a trip to Barnet Furniture Centre.

xxx,
Simon

P.S. did anybody leave a hat behind? Heather has it.

P.P.S thanks again to what is becoming my personal pun mascot Chris for pun report title :-D