On a lovely Wednesday evening 23 GoodGymers ran between 4-10km, delivered leaflets and did some DIY.

Wow lots of newcomers to GoodGym, welcome to Kat, Lucy, Mara, Sylwia, Rosie and Frederic. Fantastic to have you along!

In the news this week:

1. GG monthly drinks, an opportunity for everyone from GoodGym to meet up, is on Thursday 6th October (Pritesh's birthday), sign up here
2. Well done to Danica who completed Richmond Half Marathon on Sunday in 1.59.29 - completing her sub-2 hour goal. Well done #proud.
3. Also well done to Steve Moody for doing Hull Marathon at the weekend, he is planning to do a marathon a month between now and April, amazing!

Our tasks this week were to help Abbey Community Centre spread the word of their amazing work through leafleting and doing some DIY for C4WS, a national homeless charity.

DIY Run Report:

After a game of tag we did a short run to C4WS led by the wonderful Sophie Hedges, arriving to find a cabinet and desk to put together.

Ikea!

With Ikea instructions, great minds, allen keys, and focused hands we were sure to complete the task. We lacked a little space in the room so five of us headed for a run around the block while the other 10 split into teams, with Polly in overall charge, putting the furniture together.

With a swap of DIYers and runners we were only getting closer to finishing the mammoth task. Boom the cabinet was first to be put together, after a group pic 10 people headed to Russell Square while five team members stayed to continue the finishing the job.

We've done the Good now for the GYM!

Intervals - this weeks fitness session was based around a PYRAMID, using time as our tool. It went something like this:

• 1 min fast
• 1 min slow
• 2 min fast
• 2 min slow
• 1 min fast
• 1 min slow

Everyone did very well and really smashed the fitness session!

Meanwhile the DIYers continued to put together the table, with Steve, Arnulfo and Polly staying until 8.45pm! #commitment #good

Leaflet report written by Pritesh:

Tonight I had seven hardy runners joining me on my favourite run up to Abbey Community Centre. It was a great little group and we kept a good pace (including the ‘stomp’ up Primrose Hill) and had some nice chats about what we’d been up to over the summer and various race plans for the winter too.

Tower Block Climb!

We weren’t sure if there’d been a ‘cock-up’ as we arrived at the community centre as there seemed to be no lights on but Laura was awaiting us and was just saving some energy. Tonight’s task was some leaflet distribution in two nearby tower blocks to let the residents know about the various upcoming activities at the community centre. We had a 102 flats in each tower block and so we split into two teams (“How about girls vs boys?”) and Laura then led us out to the blocks.

Girls vs boys

The girls took on ‘Casterbridge’ and the boys ‘Snowman’, yup there really is a Snowman House – we suggested Steve might want to consider a new place here so he could have the address ‘Steve Coman, Snowman…’ Both teams went hard at the task but in the end the boys prevailed and were first back to the community centre. The girls were not far behind and Laura then showed us the mural that has gone up (we whitewashed the walls on a previous task so great to see the outcome) in the kids playground. There was some discussion over whether the boys might’ve taken the lift but the evidence was inconclusive and so thoughts turned to the pun…with ‘Snowman’ and ‘Thomas Hardy’ as possible references we thought we’d be in for a jackpot… we came up with nothing!

Lemonades!

So with that we had a quick group pic and some goodbyes and then we headed back into the night. We naturally split into a fast and faster group and headed back home for a good stretch and then a few lemonades at the pub. Smashing night – thanks all.

Thank you as always for coming along, sign up for next week's run here.

PB out.

On a very hot & sweaty night, 12 intrepid runners made their way 11km to help out on the farm.

The promise of piglet viewing meant that most people weren't put off by running in the heat. We assembled at Old Spike, did a quick warm up of high knees, bum kicks and lunge twists and got on our way. It was a pretty pacey group as we avoided Rye Lane and made our way up into Rotherhide.

Michael and Helena led the way ensuring that everyone got there safely though

We were guided by the scent

As soon as we arrived, Gemma welcomed us by showing us how big the piglets had gotten since the last time we visited. They were still pretty cute even if they were disappointed when they realised the commotion was a load of runners and not dinner time.

This week, we were clearing the yard next to the goats. It's the area where all of the volunteers come in and the farm is going through the post-summer holidays quiet with few volunteers available.

Sweeping, shovelling and wheeling shhhh

We had the help of Roo the bottle fed goat who helpfully stood in swept piles of manure and let us say hello without head butting us. Together, we proved we really are the goat-to people to tidy up the farm!

Once we'd cleared the yard, there was time to see the new pig hut and say a quick hi-bye to the sheep. As ever, time was too short and we had to leave tearing runners away from the animals.

We knew what was in store for us... Another 6.5km back. But we triumphed and made it to Old Spike ready for a lot of water and to say Bon Voyage to GG regular Becky for 6 months as she goes off travelling. And a mini goodbye to our new-regulars (it's a thing) Hanna & Chris as they head off on an epic safari-hike adventure. And not forgetting Michael who's off on a birthday adventure. We'll miss you all.

Don't worry everyone else, we've got GoodGym to keep us going! Post run drink anyone? 28th September

As the summer evenings draw to a close, 12 runners got their sprint on, ran 4km, did some gardening and ate a BBQ!

It's always fun when you manage to fit a lot into an evening. But we got a lot a lot into this GoodGym.

We welcomed Anna who will be leading the Hammersmith & Fulham GoodGym starting next week. She took us through a warm up on the run making sure we skipped as high as possible, stretched out those calves and made sure our glutes were engaged!

Soon everyone was ready for a time trial around Peckham Rye: a timed 720m sprint set against yourself. A mega effort from all especially the first timers who had never witnessed anything GoodGym and got so involved.

Next up, time to deal with the never ending hill.

The lovely lot at Grove Park Allotments were hosting us this eve with a lot of watering, pruning, potato digging and weeding to get through. We were, however, to be spoilt and fuelled by a brill BBQ (home made tomato chutney was a particular highlight) that Lizzie at the allotment had put on as a thank you to us.

Knowing there was food to be had, we got through all the jobs with much speed.

Outnumbered by veggies

We got to work with our penultimate task of eating. Which meant a brief silence enjoying the peaceful setting of a London garden.

Obviously, there was a run home to be done despite the eating. So, once rubbish had been collected, some home brewed quince & pear vodka sampled, we were off on a slow jog home.

A minimum of two stitches and we made it back. Full and a full evening, we stretched off and said our goodbyes. Good eating and good goodgymming.

On the sweatiest of summer nights, 10 runners assembled to flyer for the Salvation Army running 8.5km.

The joy of summer meant that this Wednesday night was pretty muggy but very pretty. We assembled at our usual place with the scent of roasted coffee.

feeling pretty roasted ourselves

The hill to the Salvation Army is a sneaky one that doesn't look so bad but we all made it up despite being pretty sweat-laden. The lovely Janet met us with a very welcome jug of squash and told us about the event we were flyering for. On Saturday 10th September, it's the 135th birthday of the Camberwell Salvation Army and there is a family party for the community to enjoy. So we split off into teams after a briefing for flyering and being safe whilst out and about in Camberwell.

We came across lots of blocks of flats, higgle-di-piggledy staircases and some friendly locals wanting to know about the event.

After we delivered the majority of the leaflets, we utilised the car park at the Salvation Army to play the famous GoodGym Islington game

Cups and Cones

For those not familiar, this involves cups and two teams named cups and cones respectively. Cups upside down are cones. The winner after a set amount of time of turning cups/cones around and around are those with the most of their namesake. Some dubious tactics of attempted hidings and a lot of chasing and time was up.

Congratulations to team cone! The battle is won but the war has just begun.

We still had a hill to conquer for the journey home so to push each other through, we Indian filed up it at jogging pace with the back person sprinting up to the front. The hill was soon over. An amble home including a 60s plank and we just about beat the black clouds and looming thunder shower.

Superb effort on a very hot night from everyone.

Fingers crossed for no rain during the bbq at Grove Park next Wednesday. See you there!

Unlucky for some, 13 runners took on a shed surrounded by lots of cobwebs and flower pots as well as 3.6km, a hill and some sprints.

We welcomed some travelling GoodGymmers as well as some first timers who got straight to it.

After a long run to Surrey Docks Farm last week, we had a shorter and more familiar route to Grove Park Allotments. Though up hill and a bit sweaty, we all made it in one piece and with no drama.

Lots of people are away at the allotments so there was lots to do... Strimming, watering, path clearing, paint brush cleaning, web clearing and shed waterproofing. A team with yoghurt pots to hand (big up Helena for bringing her own) got to work on the shed and the community board after sweeping off lots of cobwebs. We were a bit sad that it wasn't a more colourful coat but I guess waterproofing for the winter is a little bit more important.

what colour would you paint your shed?

The rest of us were spread across the communal areas in the allotments, lots of need for strimming though the strimmer was of the more lively variety! Lots of watering and weeding and dreaming of having a London garden and then, all of a sudden, time was up.

A quick round up and team pic and we were off. We took a different route home and stopped in Warwick Park for a quick pyramid session. As time was short, the group only had to do 4 rounds...60% effort lap, 1 Burpee, 70% effort lap, 2 burpees, 80-90%effort, 3 burpees, all out lap, 4 burpees. And then we were done.

After a quick jog back and a stretch whilst Pritesh told us about the next big goodgym social and we were off to the Rye Pub. We made it in time to see the GB men win our first gold medal for the diving & to eat some yummy post-run fuel.

See you next week folks.