Despite a last minute task cancellation seven wonderful runners joined me in Brent to do what I dubbed an ‘all gym no good’ session!

We were unfortunate to have a our shed building task cancelled at the last minute, but no problem, these things happen! Instead a little run around the neighbourhood followed by some technique and hill reps – just what the doctor ordered!

#RunandTalk

We did a quick intro discussing the fact that today was a #runandtalk session, a wonderful initiative from England Athletic highlighting the positive impact exercise can have on mental health. Have a look at the information on this initiative here and check out the wonderful blog from Tower Hamlets trainer Laura here.

We mentioned the social from last week (great Brent turnout!) and the impending GG Brent social on the 17th October for the Queensbury pub quiz and then I laid out the plan for the evening. We then did a quick stationary warm up with high knees, heel flicks, lunges, quick step and my favourite the spotty dog!

We had a good run taking in the Mapesbury Dell Pocket Park and then headed off to Gladstone park where I knew of a good hill for us to use for our reps.

Incline

Before starting the hill reps I got everyone to think about running upright (imagine that balloon), thinking about the high knees exercise we had done to drive ourselves up the hill and we did a little ‘pocket to socket’ session to think about how our arms move and how we can use them to drive ourselves up the hill. With that three reps up the hill, everyone did great and it was great to see improvement in everyone’s technique and form. If you want to read more about technique for hill running a quick google search will give you loads of videos and articles, here’s a nice one that breaks it into tips and also includes a final tip re coming down hill.

After that, we posed for a couple of photos, spotted the 12% incline sign (that is hard work!) and then we headed for a gentle job back. Thanks for all your efforts tonight, apologies again re the task but hope you enjoyed a bit of technique work. Sign up here for next week – we are either back to the shed or delivering leaflets. Page will be updated soon.

Cheers, Pritesh

Eight awesome runners gathered at the Queensbury and ran over 8km to deliver leaflets for Sufra NW.

It was an oddly cold night in Brent, perhaps winter is coming but that didn't stop a lovely group of lovely people coming together to do good and get fit on a Monday night.

We had a long run on our hands tonight and it was our first trip since possibly last year to Sufra just north of the North Circular. Our task to deliver leaflets about their Artisanal Workshop for families around the local estate.

Running there

Our 4km there took in some beautiful skies as the sun was setting, Rosie nearly took a tumble but expertly caught herself, we had a 'lovely' run alongside the North Circular (NC), got some heartbeats raised a little too high with a group photo on a bridge over the NC and then got extremely frustrated as I made us cross on the green man but had to wait what felt like hours for each light to change.

In any case we all ran hard and got to Sufra in under half an hour – top effort everyone. Once there we met Mohammed one of the volunteers there who gave us the leaflets. We split into groups, grabbed a healthy stack of leaflets each and then went off to deliver as many as we could in twenty minutes.

Everyone worked really hard and we got a load of leaflets out. We all gathered back at Sufra, gave the undelivered leaflets back, posed for a group photo and then we were ready for the run back!

Running back

And for our 4km back…well the lights again despite going a different way – we also witnessed the most terrifying road crossing ever – never never try and cross the NC without waiting for the lights to change please! We had a beautiful full moon, debate raged about whether we one is allowed to run across a road when crossing (I win (point E)) and despite our best efforts we arrived back a few minutes after 20.30 (sorry Tabs!).

We then all stretched, had a quick chat about next week’s task (should be back at the canal), the social next Thursday 4th and volunteering at the Shoreditch 10k in the 14th Oct before heading home or for a bevvy at the Queensbury.

Excellent effort from everyone tonight.

Cheers,
Pritesh

Ten tremendous runners joined me in Brent as we headed over to put the finishing touches to the dementia garden in Watling Gardens.

It was a great turn-out with faces old and new – thanks for coming along everyone!

News

So with intros done (the social on the 4th October, volunteering at Shoreditch 10k (14th Oct) and getting involved with GoodGym Race Team) we headed off for the short run towards Kilburn.

Arriving at the gardens we saw the task in hand – six bags of topsoil, likely a ton each! We met Gerry, Angela and Joanne who had all had a hand in the success of the garden. Not only did we have an enormous task but we were fighting the light from the moment we got there – we’ll need even more lights when the clocks go back!

Diggers and spreaders

We split into groups with some shovelling the topsoil into various containers, others carrying and then people spreading the soil around the garden. It didn’t take long before systems were made and everyone got into their routine ensuring that we were being as efficient as possible.

Caught in the headlights

Before long the light really had faded and so we resorted to headtorches and bikelights and Angela had cunningly parked her car so she could use her headlights to light us too. We kept at it, the spreaders having to work particularly hard as the topsoil was more like rubble in places with various stones (even bricks mixed in with the soil. Eventually we had covered it all and we decided that we would empty the bags we were working on giving a grand total for four bags emptied – a new record for us!

With all the tools collected and everything tidied away we posed for a group photo trying to use all our lights, said our goodbyes and after a quick conflab decided left for an extended run home

…except

The long run never happened! We ran via the Queensbury to drop Clare off and we ended up doing a relay fitness session! With two teams we went through a short sprint followed by an exercise (5 squats, 10 star jumps and 10 lunges) and then a sprint back to base. It made for a fun and breathless finish to the evening and provided some nice entertainment for the passers-by.

Great evening everyone, great effort and super fun! Sign up for next week’s run here, we’re either doing some leaflet delivery or going back to finish that shed!

Cheers, Pritesh

p.s. thanks to Rosie for pun inspiration!

Nine amazing GoodGym-ers joined me to help the Canal and River Trust to litter pick in Stonebridge.

With Ellen and Jack meeting us at the task the eight of us gathered together to hear the news and welcome Tom to GG Brent. In the news this week:

• It's the GoodGym-wide social on Thursday - we're on tour in Hammersmith. All details here, be great to see you.
• Thanks to Danny too for talking about the opportunity to volunteer at the Shoreditch 10k.

With 4km to run to get to Stonebridge we set off at a steady pace and reached the canal in good time. We there met Jack from the Canal and River Trust who ran us through a quick health and safety briefing before we gloved up and grabbed out litter pickers and bin bags.

Everyone paired up and got to work. The feeder levels were quite low compared to usual and sadly that meant that a whole host of things that really shouldn't be in the canal were revealed. A lot of the dumped things were far too embedded and big for us but we worked hard to get the litter we could get from the banks and surrounding areas as well as from the canal. Top marks to Ellen and Rosie who worked together to get a whole suitcase out!

Suitcase!

After 30 mins of hard litter-picking we were done and we all got cleaned up and posed for a photo with our haul. With that it was time to head back. We said our goodbyes and then ran back to base!

With a good stretch done we headed home or to the pub. Great effort everyone - you can sign up for next week's run here, task to be confirmed as soon as possible.

Cheers, Pritesh

Eleven excellent GoodGymmers ran to Gladstone Park to pick up litter and help keep this brilliant local space tidy.

We were unfortunately taskless going into tonight, but that doesn't stop GG Brent. After a quick stop to grab some bin bags we headed to Gladstone Park in double quick time to get to work picking litter.

We were joined today by Rosie for her first ever GG run: WELCOME. Everyone give her a cheer. We were also joined by Nicky who was visiting us from Lambeth. Love a bit of tourism.

We divided into twos and threes in the park and started picking litter. The team worked hard for half an hour grabbing loads of rubbish as the sun went down behind us over the hill. One might even say that it was lit(ter picking 👀). Can you tell I found it hard to choose which pun to use. Thanks for James, Rachael, Liz and Rosie for the brain storm in the pub after.

That done, we dumped the rubbish in the bin and met for some drills. I marked out a 50 metre run and set the team to work on strides: 50% effort out then 70% back x 2, before squats, then the same again, calf raises, then a hard run out and a recovery run back to recover. It was a brilliant effort by everyone!

From there, it was a light run back to base for a stretch and drinks in the pub 🍻

Thanks for having me Brent

D

Seven super runners joined me in Brent as we did a voluntary litter pick at Roundwood Park!

We were back at the newly renovated Queensbury this week and it was great to see everyone! Shout out to Marcos who joined us for the first time - welcome.

We were due to do a litter pick in Roundwood Park but officially the task was cancelled but I thought we could do better than that and so I grabbed some bin bags and latex gloves and thought we could still do the task!

With a quick intro and with Claire back-marking we set off for the 2km run down to Roundwood. Once there we split the park into three areas and split into groups and off we went. It was pleasing to see that the park was fairly clean but we still managed to find litter all over the place. Surprisingly, perhaps, a lot of the litter was around the bins - amost as if people couldn't quite make it to the bin!

We worked for around 25 minutes and covered most of the park - we filled around 4 bin bags full!

With some time remaining it was time for the... Roundwood Park 1.07km time trial!

Claire led a short warm up and then it was time trial time. Everyone did fantastically; the times are below (previous times in brackets):

• Claire - 4.45 (4.56)
• Dinesh - 5.12
• Liz - 4.57 (4.48)
• Marcos - 4.40
• Pete - 5.02
• Samina - 4.59
• Uthman - 4.25 (4.25)

We got our breath back and then ran back to base. A great night and top effort on the time trial everyone.

Next week Barnet trainer Damian is in charge, you can sign up here, task will be confirmed this week.

Cheers, Pritesh

Ten awesome people joined me in Brent for some top GoodGym action in the heat.

We said a big GG Brent welcome to Karishma (at goodgym for the first time) and Sabina (back after a few months away) and congratulated Amy, Liz and Lucy - the GG Brent Olympic Team before we headed off in the evening sun.

Olympians

Today we were back to Harlesden Town Garden with a mission. We'd been to the gardens a couple of times in the last month and had been working to clear the back wall of all kinds of garden detritus and some very tough ivy roots. Today our challenge was to get it all cleared.

We met Gabriel at the park and he equipped us with gloves and tools and off we went. There were some really tough roots to contend with that everyone had a go at, otherwise we swept the path round the edge and got rid of loads of rubbish. Down in the 'Corner of Doom' we chopped up some bushes and got that all bagged up - all very satisfying work!

With Chi visiting us from Haringey, he offered to lead a session for us to work on our core and abs. We don't often get to squeeze in a fitness session but we went for it today. With the task completed and the tools packed away Chi got us all ready for some hard-core work!

Ab-tastic

It was a short but hard session and we really did get those abs working - thanks so much Chi - hopefully we'll be having some more sessions in the future - I know how much you all loved it!

With our final goodbye to Gabriel done, he was really pleased with our work and it may open up the chance for some art work to go up on the back wall which hopefully we can be involved with too.

With that we ran the 3km home and then stretched and a number of us stayed for a well deserved drink - thanks everyone! Do sign up for next week - we are hopefully doing some deliveries for a community magazine. Sign up here.

Cheers, Pritesh

Five great GoodGym-ers braved the heat and joined in Brent as we ran over 8km to help the Canal & River Trust

Football might be coming home but if you want something more certain then you can always rely on GoodGym Brent to be doing good on a Monday evening. Today we were off to Stonebridge to help Jack at the Canal & River Trust with some litter picking and general cleaning on the section of the Brent Feeder.

The News

Before we headed off on our run we gathered our group, welcomed first-timer Becca and did a little news update:

• HIGHLY COMMENDED - that's what the GG Olympics committee had to say about the GG Brent Torch - I am feeling very proud right now. Have a look at the full report of a smashing day here.

• SOCIAL TIME - It's the GG Social and we're on tour in Wandsworth this Thursday. It's a bit far from Brent I know but the pub is right by Clapham Junction station if that helps. All the details here - come along if you can.

With that off we went, it's just over 4km to the task location which is one of our longest runs but it felt a lot longer in the heat - that said we did it in under half an hour - good work everyone.

Litter everywhere

We met Jack who got us kitted up and went through health and safety and off we went. The work we had done in previous months was unfortunately covered in loads more litter but everyone went at it hard and we filled loads of bags with litter. We also managed to fish a shopping trolley out of the canal too!

Half an hour went by in no time and we gathered all our bin bags and took a group photo with all we had collected. We were running a little late by this time so we went for a bit more effort on the run home and shaved a good minute off our previous time - excellent! Big thanks to Tabitha for not only back marking but taking on the new role of traffic monitor too.

Great work everyone - come back for more next week - you can sign up here, task should be finalised in the next day or so.

Cheers, Pritesh

Ten awesome people came down to The Queensbury on another super-hot Monday, this time to help out at Abbey Community Centre. No amount of ball-games are going to stop these amazing goodgym-ers from doing good in their community and so we ignored the tennis and the football and went for a run!

Hello and welcome to Tom who usually runs in Hammersmith and Fulham but was over this way for a spot of GG Tourism - we hope you enjoyed it.

Tonight we were off to Abbey Community Centre, they're down in Kilburn (and technically in Camden) and do an incredible job providing services to their local area to residents young and old. They have a beautiful community garden and our job tonight was to give it a good watering.

GG Olympians

After a quick intro - congrats to our GG Olympics participants - we set off only for Karen to have a twinge in her calf. We decided it would be better if she didn't force a run so unfortunately she had to head home - we all hope it's just a minor injury and you're back with us asap Karen!

We took a slightly different route to the centre today but it felt a more flowing run than usual and we still didn't avoid the inclines but no-one seemed to mind as much today. Once we were at the centre Simone greeted us and provided some much needed water. Once we had been watered we headed to the garden.

Stinky Butt

Armed with various watering cans and buckets we set about watering the thirsty plants. We started off filling our implements with water from the two water butts in the garden but some of the water was just a little bit too smelly so we switched to using the amazing expandable hose to fill up! With my cunning plan to not actually use the hose for watering we slowly but surely got the garden watered and even got to deadheading some of the plants (top job Lucy!).

Time soon caught up with us and with everything done we said our goodbyes to Simone and then headed back to base.

A lovely evening in the sun, great job by everyone - thank you. After our stretch we said our goodbyes and a few of us stayed for a drink, watched poor Japan go out of the World Cup in injury time and toasted Deborah for her impending nuptials this weekend - good luck!

Next week we are off to Stonebridge to work on the section of canal - it's just over 4km and the weather is set to be just as hot. Sign up here - see you then!

Cheers, Pritesh

p.s. Thanks to Claire for the great pun!