Amazing GG Brent tonight!! 2 tasks, 2 teams and 2 run reports!! POW POW

Part one - Elle Energy talks shaking asses with the masses and chopping the grasses

OMG Could it be... A number sixteen, who came out to clean, chop and shift and pick up sticks across the borough, it could be none other.... Than the Brent GG, hurrah and Yippppeee!!

So there I was on this sunshine filled glorious evening with tasks coming out of my.... heavily branded Elle Energy leggings clad bottom!! Not one but two of our community friends requested support tonight and so as not to let anyone down, my glorious crew showed up in masses, to shake their asses down to Harlesden Community gardens... and.... our old pal Col, at the Police Station for a last min help request to make the building a safer environment by clearing some crazy debris!

So with a 9/7 split we head down Walm Lane in our two teams, red tees glistening in the sun and making people stop and stare at all the laughter and good vibeing fun.

At the turning up to St Peters Av, we said our goodbyes and departed, with me leading the 4mile gang to the gardens and Mouse and Sadhana leading on to the Police station. And can I just say it was absolutely wonderful to welcome back so many beloved old faces - Nisha, Dimple, Roshni and Isabelle and...... the incredible Karen back from her half marathon charity run in Kenya!! But as Karen was used to running next to Giraffes in her last big jaunt, she may have been disappointed by the lesser impressive wildlife on offer in Harlesden so chose instead to hit up the Police station for some much needed grounding. With our jungle runner specialist lost to the coppers, it was left to me and crew 2, to Get down, get down and jungle boogie with Gabriel at the gardens and tackle the massive branches for some serious tree surgery!

Along with the jungle bashing affair with our resident dare devil and head for heights honey Liz leading the way, the gardens played host to all manner of other nature filled fun - Watering the plants although Debs mistook my ass for grass at one point, soaking me entirely!! Thank you cheeky monkey!!, clearing litter from the grass with help from some extremely cute local kids, stomping down compost and breaking up branches and with only 30mins to do our best, we wasted no time and threw ourselves in to the tasks with motivation and grit!!

In no time at all, it seemed, the time was up and wishing farewell we turned on our heels once more! Fast pace and gunning for a race, there were a few points where the gang were smashing pace below 7min miles AMAZING aghhh but wait.... was it because they heard from team one that if we swung by the cop shop on route back, we could enjoy some of Colin's home made banana and date smoothies..?!???!!! No monkeying around, because these chasing chimps couldn't be stopped from getting to those bananas!!

After the jungle-juice pit stop we had less than a mile to trot back to base and rejoin our lovely gang once more! So as we reconvened, we shared our stories of the wet and wild adventures on both sides and how maybe one day if we were lucky, we could be selected to join Colin's special boat party VIP's!! Dunno how my land loving jungle Janes and Joe our resident (not so good with heights) Tarzan would do on water..... guess we'll have to see when the invitations arrive!!

Ok here goes - Part 2. Second half of the run report, from the marvellous Mouse

Colin’s milkshake brings all the girls to the yard…

Seven super strong GG Brent ladies (Dimple, Roshni, Nisha, Isabelle, Karen, Sadhana and Mouse) smashed the short distance down to Willesden Green's old police station to assist Colin in his cop shop clearout.

And imagine our delight to be welcomed with by a lovely pear….of juices (clear and cloudy) and homemade banana and date milkshake. Fruity!

After a quick refreshment break we set to work in clearing a variety of items (tents, musical instruments, boxes of ladies shoes that Colin offered to us but alas - despite lots of interest from Karen, Roshni and Nisha - no-one was Cinderella and the shoes did not fit) out and up into the gallows. We didn't hang around… and before Colin knew it we'd lifted and shifted everything bar a bit of tinsel that made a bid for freedom. He was almost lost for words… almost.

And so we moved on to our second task of the evening… clearing out Claudia’s closet! Thankfully there were no skeletons to be found, just a huge variety of theatre costumes and props, which Sadhana created a one-woman show with... whilst pocket rocket Dimple scaled a ladder to heave everything up into the loft.

Jobs all done there was just time to check out the “medicinal herb” garden and the hives on the roof...the bees knees! before we bid farewell to Colin and his trusty sidekick Rob and ran back to base to regroup with the rest of the GG Brent team and swap stories.

And there you have it Fitness Familia. A lot of LOLs and always Good Vibes, I am in love with this fierless, happy and wonderfully weird Goodgym tribe

See you next time!!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

This week 25 glorious good-deeders graced the streets of Islington for our third journey to Sunnyside Community Gardens. An amazing community garden in Archway that is for all to enjoy and specialises in therapeutic horticulture for those with physical and mental disabilities.

Among us were first timers Nadia, Del, Katherine, Ceiran, Kim, David and David. A very warm welcome!

We split into three groups for the journey up: fast feet folk led by Graham, medium men and women taken by David and philosophers with Simon.

On our journey up we discussed how we all had an axe to grind with drivers. Apparently lots of things bug us about them: not indicating, tailgating, middle lane hogging, opening car doors on cyclists, stopping for no reason, not stopping at zebra crossings, not pulling over far enough, speeding, cutting up cyclists, and simply existing. Stupid drivers.

Anyway, we made it to the task without getting run over and met our hosts, the ever-keen Yvonne and Alan, who had plenty for us to do.

Half of us continued cutting back brambles and branches from the garden's corner. Loppers and secateurs were in action as usual, but some of the slightly thicker branches needed an AXE. Check out the photos and tell me these guys aren't having fun. There were a couple of wheelbarrows and buckets in action as a few of us carried the discarded foliage to its resting spot.

At the other end of the garden the rest of the GoodGymmers wielded shovels and spades (yeah, axes aren't the only things you can wield) and set about clearing a path of woodchip and made a gigantic pile held in place by some of the logs we shifted a couple of weeks ago.

Today's biscuit break took the form of a Bourbon Cream. Quite a popular choice.

Before heading off Richard showed Simon the "Skunk Cabbage" (Lysichiton americanus) in the garden's pond (see photos). I've read up on it and apparently "... it contains calcium oxalate crystals, which result in a gruesome prickling sensation on the tongue and throat and can result in intestinal irritation and even death if consumed in large quantities" Glad we remembered the Bourbons.

For the journey back we got into the same three groups. David's group sped off, Graham added in a few hill reps before zooming home and Simon's group played secret surges and took the blurriest selfie ever.

Another week of getting fit and doing good. Excellent tasking and running everybody. That's what it's all about.

Next week we're off to Barnsbury Square Gardens. Don't miss it!

Simon

P.S. William's head was not chopped off by an axe in the group photo.