18 GoodGym-ers ran 9km to set up Santa's grotto

This was the last GG Barnet run of 2016! It was also the 18th run ever! (Sorry, I told you it was the 17th... my bad!)

This was also the most amount of runners we've had on a run excluding the launch run – tying with our run to Newstead to paint the walls. It was nice to see so many of you – particularly the return of Aimee from the Phoenix, who arranged for some incredible mulled wine, mince pies and popcorn for us for after the run. She definitely deserves a cheer for that!

Also a massive welcome to GoodGym tourists Sarah and Frances who joined the Barnet crew this week.

This week we split into two groups, with Damian leading the speedy group with the help of Sarah as back-marker; and Heather leading the less speedy group with Hazel's help back-marking.

Sarah and Jody ended up taking a little detour after a quick costume change at the trafic lights. Luckily they had a map and were together!

When we reached Community Focus, we were greeted by Danusia and the team – and Buddy the dog. 30 very speedy minutes and a tonne of GoodGym magic later and a plain white room was turned into a grotto Santa will be proud of!

The team did a great job decorating the grotto, whilst having a little dance to some Christmas tunes.

We split into two groups again for the run back and celebrated the end of 2016 with a festive Barnet Biscuit: mince pies. Plus some mulled wine and popcorn – all courtesy of the Phoenix. So wonderful I thought it worth repeating =p

We also had some Lindt chocolate balls courtesy of Jody – which is probably my fave chocolate of all time.

We'll be back on 3 January 2017 with a run to Dell Fields care home to do some painting. Sign up here

Have a wonderful Christmas ( / winter holiday season) and I'll see you all soon! Lots of exciting things waiting for us in 2017. Well done for all your hard work so far.

Pennie