On a chilly November evening 18 fired up GoodGymers ran 6k to Core CIC to continue with the dismantling of the fixtures and fittings in preparation for the building refurbishment.

We welcomed Rich and Chidi to there first GoodGym run and look forward to seeing you both on many more to come!

We celebrated the epic 10k PB performances of Anna, Rich and Anne!

Talked through the last two monthly socials of the year 22nd of November and 13th of December.

I continued my mission to create the Manchester marathon running train and even welcomed a confirmed passenger Ian and a couple of very strong maybe's Rich and Anna aboard. Anyone else fancy a flat and fast April marathon?? The more the merrier!!

Just the small matter of keeping warm was the first order of business so we took a steady warm up run lead by Peter to a good spot for a few mobilising dynamic stretches, muscle activating exercises and some running form drills.

That got the blood pumping and warmth running through the body for the rest of the 3k run to Core CIC. We were in for surprise when we arrived as Danny let us know the builders had turned off the lights so we were literally in the dark. Undeterred we set about completing the tasks we could starting with loading about a thousand ceiling tiles into the skip outside! A great production line approach meant we zoomed through this task in no time. Then came half a piano (as you do), wooden flooring and carpet! With a bit more time we decided to remove 7 doors on the first floor, rip up piles ofwooden flooring and take down a hundred more ceiling tiles.

After 45 minutes of carefully performed physical work it was time to run off into the night after a big thank you from Danny from Core CIC and a huge thank you to Peter for once again boosting our tool supply bringing along a range of tools to help with the task.

It was time for the Race back to base! We had a running handicap race this week with the Steady paced crew running an even pace back while the Speedy crew waited 4 minutes before chasing us down on the 3k run lead by Rich who even managed to not take a short cut back for the first time (another PB racked up!)

A series of static stretches and we were off on our merry way feeling great with a fitness filled job well done!

See you next week for a new task installing a Polly tunnel in Hackney Wick! Be great to have you along sign up here.

Smooth running

Joel

24 Illuminated Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to Abney Park Cemetery to clear vegetation and fill graves!!

After a successful weekend of racing for Team Hackney with amazing performances from Rich and Ros in the Richmond Runfest Half marathon the group was on great spirts and couldn't wait to meet some GoodGym newbies!

Knowing that the darkness was descending quickly and that we had one of our longer runs we got going sharpish!! Navigating our way through the back streets towards Stoke Newington we even had the pleasure of a ride by from Paul the Camden trainer (if you are still feeling fresh why not try out Camden tonight? Just make sure you come back to Hackney next week!). Keeping the crew together was made easier than normal with the amazing poor run of luck we had with the lights! I would like to think it was the ghosts of Abney Park Cemetery just making it a bit darker to add a little fear for the grave task ahead!

After a strong 3k run we arrived to meet Tom where we grabbed a wheel barrow donned a head touch (if we had one) and got to work! Great to have the unmistakable Hackney Coach Runner Rep Andreana back in the fold and reminded us all why we had missed her much when she abandoned the wheel barrow after 100m as it was going to slow her down and went for the single shovel of earth sprints method (for a little while anyway) in its place.

We created a few great working pods with shovelers making huge digging dents in the huge pile of woodchip loading up the wheel barrows before the pushers doing a running loop tipping the woodchip into the Sunken graves before looping back around and loading up again! We also had a few runners on vegetation clearing, especially excited were Lucy and Annie who got to clear logs from a grave site while searching for frogs!

After 30 minutes of great work helping one of London's Magnificent 7 cemeteries we had done a top job moving a huge 2 tonnes of wood chip and soil, clearing 50 logs from over grown graves and petted a couple of frogs. This helped to keep the levels of the sunken graves up and ensuring the park remains amazing and beautiful.

After a big thank you from Tom, we set off on our way back to base picking up the pace for the 3k run back. Great running performances from everyone, great to see the fitness improving from our consistent regular runners!

A series our static stretches and a silent round of applause finished off a fun evening!

It was a fond farewell to ** Kevin and Kirsty** who have been great Hackney GoodGymers but Kirsty is moving away to take over the world while Kevin is going to using is volunteering time for a new project. Thank you for all your hard work and enthusiasm, you will both me missed!! Hopefully you will come and see us again soon.

Next week we return to Abney Park for some gravel path creation! Wheelbarrows will be in full force again as we build a path using special gravel which stays firm through the winter months. Please sign up here. If you have one or are thinking of buying one a Head torch would be pretty useful thing to bring.

Until next time

Smooth shovelling

Joel