18 GoodGym-ers ran 4km to help a children's centre this week

We broke GG Barnet records yet again this week with 18 people showing up to run – the most people to date (not including launch night)!

Big shout out to Graham, Lara and Eleanor who all joined us for the first time this week! Be sure to click their names and give them a cheer!

After a quick intro inside the cinema, we went outside to warm up the side road. It's always important to warm up properly to make sure our muscles and joints are ready for the task ahead. It was a nice easy run this week to Newstead, a nearby children's centre, to paint the hall. We ran 1.4km there, with Hazel our trusty backmarker.

Teje was there to meet us, armed with all the painting essentials and a box of biscuits! The team blitzed the first coat of paint in the hall in 15 minutes, leaving plenty of time for our fitness session in the back room. Today the focus was on agility, strength and conditioning, starting with some duck walks and knee tag games and finishing with some press-ups, crunches and jumpning squats. There were obviously also some burpees, because everybody loves burpees.

Thanks to Hazel for taking lots of pictures during the workout!

We then said our goodbyes and ran back to base, splitting off into two groups and taking a slightly longer (2.5km) route back. Damian and Mark lead the speedy lot back while I lead the less speedy group. Paul was my trusty back-marker on the way back, with Eleanor and Freya navigating the back roads of Finchley for me.

The run back was pretty much all up hill, so kudos to everybody for doing so brilliantly.

The Barnet Biscuit of the week: Freya's homemade gingerbread polar bears

We also had the biscuits from Newstead AND a box of chocolate fingers that my gran gave to Hazel on Sunday after a mission to clean her greenhouse.

We have two missions in Barnet this weekend. If you're already DBS checked you can sign up: Help deliver fliers for the Safer Neighbourhoods Team in High Barnet on Saturday (who have promised biscuits to any volunteers – unprompted) and clear the way for Ms D's carers on Sunday also in High Barnet.

If you're not DBS checked yet, just bring some ID and proof of address (two of one and one of the other) along to next week's run. We'll be flyering for a local christmas fair. We'll also be going to the pub afterwards for some food.

The following week will be the last GG Barnet of the year – running to set up SANTA'S GROTTO. And the Phoenix will be providing Mince Pies and wine for us when we return to the cinema.

See you next week!

17 GoodGym-er run 6km to varnish a carehome's garden chairs

This week GoodGym Barnet set a new record for attendance (not including launch night), with three brand new people joining us for our run. Massive welcome Rachel, James and Lauren who all made it down to GG Barnet for the first time – give 'em a cheer! And to Beattieand Will who finally returned!

This week a number of people hit 10 GG Barnet runs! Well done to Will, Mark, Heather and Freya. The Phoenix is giving everyone who comes along to 10 GG Barnet runs a free cinema ticket. I have the first 10 already waiting for enough of us to go and watch something awesome together! We are three people away from the first 10!

After a quick warm up along the side of the cinema, I lead the way to Dell Fields Care Home. Heather was my trusty back-marker this week. The 3km route to the carehome took us over the big bright bridge crossing the North Circular again, which Hazel and I agreed was oddly satisfying to run over.

Once we arrived at the home, we were handed some sand paper and paint brushes and set upon getting as many of the garden chairs varnished as we could in the allocated time. Everyone did an amazing job. Within 25 minutes we'd finished eight (or so) chairs – there were only two left. We ran out of paint brushes, so while most of the team worked, people took it in turns to run, side-step, duck walk and high-knee down the garden path.

We then had a quick workout out the front of the home involving some sprints, squats and rocket jumps. It unfortunately also involved Hazel ruining a very nice pair of leggings.

Freya then lead the team back to base along a different route, while I back-marked with Heather, Hazel and Phil. Half way back we split into two groups, with Damian leading the speedy group back to the Phoenix and me taking the less speedy group back. Everybody in the speedy group agreed that it certainly earned its name, with Damian ensuring the pace was kept on zoom.

Back at the Phoenix we were treated to this week's Barnet Biscuit: homemade Jaffa cakes, courtesy of Heather. I'm still blown away that these are even a thing you can make at home. Heather deserves ALL OF THE CHEERS for making these.

Next week we have a nice short run to Newstead Children's Centre in East Finchley to paint the hallways. Sign up here. It's only 1.5km each way and will be indoors – what more could you ask for?

Don't forget to bring your documents along next week if you'd like to be DBS checked – ID + Proof of Address, two of one and one of the other.

See you next week, folks!

This week 13 GoodGym-ers ran 5km to tidy up a nearby park

With the rain upon us this evening, we all gathered inside the wonderful Phoenix Cinema for sign-ins and the intro. Massive welcome to GG newbie Paul who came along to his first run with us this evening – and who acted as a wonder guide as we detoured around to our destination. Be sure to give him a cheer!

After a quick warm up along the road beside the cinema, focussing on ankle, knee and hip mobilisation, we were ready to head off towards this evening's task: litter-picking Glebelands Open Space. Hazel was our trusty back-marker, while Damian and I lead the way, opting for the dark and windy alley ways down the hill.

Once we reached Glebelands, it was time to spread out and clear the main path of any rubbish. The team did great, blitzing the bushes in under 20 minutes, with time to spare for a great photo-shoot running up and down AND a fun little fitness session running up the little hill. I think this week's photos are my favourite of all photos in all the 14 weeks of GoodGym Barnet. I mean, look how incredible Joanna's hair is in that running shot! And those prisoner pulses, which I may just have to include every week for comedic value. And the ridiculous photo of me running in between Freya and Damian – who happen to be GIANTS. I've been laughing for the last 10 minutes sorting through them. Thank you to Hazel for taking some pictures so I got to play too!

We then ran back to base, taking the straight route back up the hill along the high road. A route we're all quite familiar with by now.

Back at base, there was fist-bumping, which Dorian, who was first back after a quick sprint finish, dubbed the Barnet Bump, stretching and biscuits. I'm really enjoying the increased use of alliteration among the team.

The Barnet Biscuit of the week was: Custard Creams.

Impressively, Heather came back with the chocolate bar she accidentally ran away with last week, meaning double treats for the GG Barnet Crew.

We didn't quite make it all the way through the Barnet Biscuits this week, so I gave the rest of the packet to the man who sells the Big Issue on my way home. He was so excited about them that I may have to make that part of the tradition.

Next week we will be running back to Dell Fields carehome to varnish some furniture. Be sure to sign up to run with us!

Don't forget to bring your ID and proof of address if you'd like to get your DBS sorted. Either two letters and one ID or one ID and two letters. Letters have to be under three months old and official-like (utility bills, bank statements, doctor's letters etc).

And finally, be sure to sign up for our last run of the year on 13 December to build Santa's Grotto. It'll be good to get lots of us along, as it's quite far and we won't have as long to get everything finished. Damian has promised to bring a Christmas playlist. It'll be amazing.

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

15 GoodGym-ers ran a total of 4.5km to help a care home with a rather unusual task.

It was great to see so many GG-ers at this week’s run, particularly so many newbies! Massive shout out to Jess, Jeff and Nicola who came along for the first time – be sure to give them a cheer on the GG website! (Click their names – you can support each other from each others profiles, too.) Also a big welcome to Tejeswita and Dan who joined the Barnet crew this week from other boroughs. It was such a treat to see so many new faces! (It's also very much a treat to see so many of the same faces, so keep coming back.)

Jess actually decided to come along after seeing the GoodGym BBC feature this week, so that’s exciting! I’m pleased it worked!

Dorian was the first GG-er to join me this week, followed soon after by the rest of the gang. As it was halloween this week, Hazel brought along her cape, which Damian wore beautifully as he lead us up the Bishop’s Avenue to the Nightingale Hammerson care home.

We were greeted by 6 wonderful residents and activities coordinator Chris, who even provided a box of chocolates to share. Our task this evening was to hang out with the residents and tell them about what we do; we came by a few weeks ago to clean out their shed and they were very curious about us. Thank you to Freya and Heather for helping with photo-taking duties. I think today might be the first week I have GG Barnet pictures I’m actually in, apart from Long Lane Pasture! That’s a treat. For me, anyway.

It was a really nice task. Being able to have a direct impact on somebody’s day is a really nice thing and these women were all so pleased to see us. I gave a quick intro into GoodGym Barnet and GG more generally, before the rest of you wonderful runners explained a bit more. We then spent about half an hour chatting and sharing stories. The care home is being cleared at the moment for an upgrade and residents are slowly moving to other facilities, so there aren’t too many people left. Chris said this was the busiest the living room had been for quite some time and thanked us lots for coming and filling it with so much positivity.

She then offered us the common room to do our fitness session in before our run back to base, which was a massive treat! Exercising on carpet is definitely much nicer than tarmac and meant we could do a loads of fun exercises like burpies and squat walkouts. I know everybody loves burpies, secretly. And just look how high Hazel was getting in the picture above! BOOM

We did some squat and side-lunge walks followed by three rounds of full-body strength and conditioning exercises. There was a focus on core strength, because a strong core makes for all the difference as you take on those longer runs.

We then said our goodbyes and headed back to base, taking a slightly longer route home. Special thanks to Teje, Jess, Heather and Jeff for keeping me company at the back of the pack tonight.

After a quick stretch, Damian whipped out the homemade pumpkin seed flapjacks he brought along, which everybody agreed were yummy.

This week’s Barnet Biscuit of the Week is: Party Rings. Classic.

Freya has requested next week we find some ice gems. I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

Don’t forget this Saturday is the GG Parkrun tour in Oakhill Park, which means it’s on our turf. So we should all go! It’ll be great if you can make it down. The run starts at 9am, there’s no pressure if you wanna go fast or you wanna go slow. If you’d like to sort your DBS checks out, bring your docs along and I’ll do it afterwards.

And Sunday is Zombie Evac. We’re in the 10am wave, so meet at Allianz Park at 9.30 to sort ourselves out. I’ve been offered a free ticket if anyone wants it in exchange for writing a review. They offered it to me too late and I’ve already bought mine! Book here if you wanna play.

Sign up for next week’s task here. We’ll be running to do good nearby. It’ll be fun and good and I’ll reveal more soon.

More pics to be added soon! Just waiting on the ladies to say it's ok.

On a chilly October evening in Hackney 21 lively GoodGymers ran 6k to start a massive project with Core CIC buy starting to clear the building out in record time.

We started the evening by welcoming our GoodGym first times and high fiving our returning runners from their little breaks! 👏🏻👏🏽👋👋🏾

After a few big ups to the GoodGym Cross Country Team for a great first races of the season we got underway lead excellently by Hackney Task Force's Clare who guided us through the bright lights of Hackney expertly. We arrived at the brand new Core CIC building to meet Danny one of the Co directors of the project who walked and talked us through the amazing vision he has for the building and providing a location to help treat muscular skeletal disorders at reduced or no cost for the people of Hackney. If you want to find out more about the project check out the website and video here.

After the tour we got down to business removing all the ceiling tiles we could reach on the first floor at an impressive rate! Ripping up flooring, taking up carpets, dismantling shelving, taking apart kitchens. You name it we ripped it apart!

As the time ticked on we cleared up the space and took all the unwanted stuff out to be dumped in a skip, where we made a brilliant discovery Vintage clothing, there was a mad scramble and many outfits were tried on all beautifully modelled by Amy, Clare, Becky, Eva and Kate.

With a big thank you from Danny, we headed off into the night with a job well done on the 3k run back to base, a few stretches and very quite round of applause we finished the run but not the evening.

19 of the crew headed around the corner to TAD Turkish restaurant to get our eat on and had a great time doing so.

Brilliant to see so many of you come along to the monthly social and really hope you all can come along again on the next one which will be on the 22nd of November (put it in your diaries). A big thank you to Cecilia for choosing and organising the restaurant really appreciated, thank you!!

Next week we are off to Mabley Green to put some trees to bed for the winter! Be great to have you along for some more fun on the run! There will be a few running drills and skills thrown in for good measure to! If you have one bring a head torch or anything that lights up. Sign up here I also see that Hackney GoodGym Great Kev is making special visit from his new home in Bristol.

The Regents Park 10k race is coming on fast on Sunday the 6th of November and be great if we had a Hackney crew go down and dominate a top 10k race! All the information is here. Any questions about it give me a shout.

Pritesh of GoodGym social fame is wanting to do an East London GoodGym Monthly social! If you have any ideas of top drinking establishments for the GoodGym family to come visit either drop Pritesh a line on Twitter or tell me and I will pass it on.

Soft and smooth steps

Joel