Oh how the lighter evenings are so much nicer for running...if only the warmer weather would follow suit!!! Tonight we were a smaller but perfectly formed group on a very fresh April evening. Amongst all my brilliant regulars, it was lovely to welcome along Helene and Mia for their second H&F group run, welcome back Lucy and GoodGym Lambeth tourist/mole (delete as appropriate!) Frances - thank you all for coming along!

It was also great to see Sapphire sporting her new shiny red GoodGym tee and weird to see Will in a GoodGym tee that didn't have his name on, how Will we know his name?! Good news, he'd like to be called "GoodGym"!

Without further ado, the news:

Firstly, a BIG BIG well done to Catriona and Jonny who both ran their first marathons in Manchester at the weekend and absolutely smashed it, both finishing in a sub-4 hours time and giving their legs a well-deserved rest tonight. Well done to Frances for got a parkrun PB at Dulwich parkrun and well done to Arba who ran the adidas 1-hour race. Some superb racing all round! 🙌🏼

1. Take the Bridge on Friday 26th April - the idea is that you hit a certain number of checkpoints throughout the city with your team on a 5km run - there are some great cash prizes on offer and a lot of fun to be had!
2. April London Long Run - Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath join Catriona on Saturday 27th April from 10.30am as she leads a scenic run loop around Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath followed by lunch.
3. Bath Two Tunnels Races 2019 and GG West Summer party on the weekend of 17th August we're looking to get a big group of us down to camp and run in one (possibly two!) GoodGym H&F 50km relay teams - post in the Whatsapp group/speak to Catriona if you're interested in being part of a relay team (other races are available if you don't fancy the relay), come along & join the fun, we'll also be celebrating Sarah's birthday month!

Two much of a good thing

Tonight we were going to be helping out TWO community organisations that provide wonderful and valuable services in the Hammersmith & Fulham area:

1. St Mungo's Reconnection Post - deliver the 'No Second Night Out' service and provide 25 beds to vulnerable and homeless adults with complex needs. They also work with the residents to get them reconnected in the community or repatriated back to their country.
2. Acknowledging Youths - a project that was set up to raise the aspirations and make a positive impact on the life of disadvantaged young people in London. They provide education and training to help prepare the young people for interviews and ensure they are ‘work ready’.

With the name and number count and short pulse-raising warm-up completed we headed up on our short 1.5km run up to St Mungo's Reconnection Post. Stopping briefly for our weekly walk sit where Johnny was very much ‘Johnny no mates’ on the wall he chose, we arrived in super quick time at St Mungo's Reconnection Post. Once inside we were met by one of the Reconnection Workers, Chris.

There were two tasks that we were going to be lending a hand with tonight:

1. Tidying & sorting a room full of unorganised clothes donations 👚👕👖👗
2. Revamping their garden aka weeding 🌳🌿🧤

To room it may concern...

The group efficiently divided up into teams and Chris led Team Room into the room that I can only describe as “the gift that keeps giving...” - those that have visited before will know what I mean!!

What do you weed to know...

Once Chris had gathered the gardening tools it wasn’t long before Team Garden were pulling up weeds from the flower bed left, right and centre, and clearing the moss from in-between the patio cement.

GoodGym didn't start the flyer...

While Team Room & Team Garden were getting stuck in, Team Flyering set off down Goldhawk Road to deliver some flyers for Acknowledging Youths 🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏻‍♂️📃 - they may have actually flown as they were all back, pretty much all empty handed in super quick time! In a case of 'many hands make light work' team flyering split into two and joined up with team room and team garden for the final ten minutes of the task.

Half an hour flew by as always, and with the light rapidly fading and temperature still dropping we decided to call it a night. Flyers delivered, a markedly improved and tidied room, and a wonderfully weeded garden, definitely a success all round! The group posed for the ‘much-loved’ jazz hands 👐🏼 group photo before we said our goodbyes and thank yous to Chris.

Running technique as per the brook

Once we were all warmed-up again (sort of!) we headed off on our short run down to Brook Green for the 1km time trial around the outer perimeter of the Green. We headed to the start of the Strava segment so that everyone's times could be logged and progress tracked. Andrew and Frances led the way, everyone displayed some excellent 'pockets to sockets' technique and good postures throughout, and post-lap everyone had significantly raised pulse rates, heavier breaths, with noticeably redder and sweatier faces. Brilliant effort all!

Off to our hoppy place

Time trial lap completed all that was left between the group and the monthly social (or home!) was a very short but gentle cool down run back to base, and a stretch off.

For most of the group post-run refreshments were in order as we headed to The Hop Poles to round off the night, where we joined by Catriona who was thankfully not hopping post-marathon. Great night all, thank you for all your hard work, energy and smiles!

Too cool for school?

Next week we’re heading back to Flora Gardens Primary to finish off the final coats of paint in ‘The White House’. Sign up for next week’s run here. Have a fab week!

Despite the pouring rain and prospect of another wet and cold run, last night a brilliant 7 other GoodGym'ers avoided the temptation to stay dry and in the warm and joined me for our final group run of 2018! Amongst my lovely regulars it was great to welcome along James for his second H&F group run - hope you enjoyed it!

That old chestnut...the news!

1. Tonight was the last group run of 2018! So NO Christmas Day or New Year’s Day GoodGym H&F but remember there are quite a few parkruns happening.
2. There’s still time to get your festive GoodGym badges with Community Missions still occurring over the festive break. Why not aim for the Winter 321 Challenge badge: 3 cheers, 2 community missions and 1 group run?!

In the line of flyer

This week we had a flyering task for 3 wonderful community organisations:

1. Family Friends - a small charity who provide a parent befriending and child mentoring service in West London. They use volunteers to support the service and are currently looking to recruit new mentors and befrienders.
2. Doorstep Library - a charity that recruit and train volunteers to go into some of the most disadvantaged areas in London to help introduce children from ages 1-11 to the pleasure of reading and inspire them with it.
3. Acknowledging Youths - a project that was set up to raise the aspirations and make a positive impact on the life of disadvantaged young people in London. They provide education and training to help prepare the young people for interviews and ensure they are ‘work ready’.

Following a quick warm-up we all headed off up to Shepherd’s Bush Road. Once at Brook Green we split into two with Team One - Sarah, Jonny, Jason and Chris covering one side of the road and Team Two - Sarah, James, Johnny and Beth covering the other side so as to maximise our flyering efficiency.

Both teams headed up Shepherd’s Bush Road and then along Goldhawk Road distributing many of the flyers to local newsagents, laundrettes and pubs as they ran, with the latter proving very tempting for a quick refreshment stop!

Safe you 'elfs for Christmas!

With the pub temptation avoided both teams pushed on and regrouped by Goldhawk tube station. With the rain still coming down and the flyers beginning to get overly damp we decided to call it a night on the flyering front and posed for a group photo under the shelter of an office.

In order to get a good run in, especially since as Sarah noted, I'd begun to get my bearings around the area a far lot better so there were less 'scenic routes' taken, we all headed down towards Furnivall Gardens.

The 12 Days of GoodGymas

Once at Furnivall Gardens the group completed a nice festive themed pyramid fitness session. In true grinch style I added an extra degree of difficulty by asking everyone to complete a short 10m sprint after completing each exercise.

On the 12 days of GoodGym Christmas, my GoodGym Trainer gave to me (carol singing however was not enforced!)...

1. One nutcracker knees
2. Two tricep presses
3. Three snow angels
4. Four Christmas Tree balances
5. Five Boxing Day Presses
6. Six lunge wraps
7. Seven shooting star jumps
8. Eight rocking bridges
9. Nine press on the walls
10. Ten leaping leap frogs
11. Eleven drummer squats
12. Twelve toy soldiers with high knees

Lighten up, it's Christmas!

Everyone put in 100% effort and had significantly raised pulse rates, and redder and sweatier faces after completing the session. Brilliant effort all! All that was left was for us to run the short distance back to base, admiring the wonderful Christmas lights on display at St Paul's CE Primary School en route. Back at base we sheltered under the car park of the Better Gym and had our final stretch off in 2018. Here's to 2019!

Thank you all for a RUN-derful latter part of 2018, thank you for all your hard work and smiley faces week in week out no matter what the weather. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2019! And many thanks for my Buddy the elf approved treat!

The first group run in 2019 will be on Tuesday 8th January!! It will be an INDOOR task sorting donations for St Mungo's Reconnection Post, sign up here.

It was great to be joined by 14 other GoodGym'ers for tonight's Hammersmith & Fulham group run, following a wonderful weekend of racing in York for the final big 6 races of 2018 - have a read about the very inspirational and emotional story of GoodGym York runner, Sean here. It was lovely to welcome Charley and Harriet along to their first H&F group run - great to have you both along, hope you enjoyed it! And for the second week in a row we welcomed back GoodGym tourist Alex.

As it was a very welcome dry and mild autumnal evening, we all headed outside for a quick round-up of this week's news...

Firstly, a huge well done to all those that raced in the very wet and windy conditions at the weekend, Tom & Fiona in the Royal Parks Half, Alex in the Yorkshire 10 Mile and Jason in the Cabbage Patch 10.

1. October Long Run - this month's long run will be this Sunday! (21st October). A 19.3km run along the Capital ring - East Finchley to Hackney Wick and will be led by Simon Fitzmaurice. Sign up here.
2. Fulham 10K (Sunday 18 November) - If you've entered, or are thinking about entering. Sign up here.
3. The big C word......GoodGym London Christmas Party! (1st December). Hosted by GoodGym Southwark, fancy dress, killer tunes, dodgy dancing! Sign up here.
4. GoodGym H&F Christmas Party - either on Monday 10th December or post-run on Tuesday 11th December. Please vote for your preference here. Please vote by next Tuesday's group run!

Chariots of flyer

This week we had a flyering en masse task for 3 wonderful community organisations:

1. Family Friends - a small charity who provide a parent befriending and child mentoring service in West London. They use volunteers to support the service and are currently looking to recruit new mentors and befrienders.
2. Doorstep Library - a charity that recruit and train volunteers to go into some of the most disadvantaged areas in London to help introduce children from ages 1-11 to the pleasure of reading and inspire them with it.
3. Acknowledging Youths - a project that was set up to raise the aspirations and make a positive impact on the life of disadvantaged young people in London. They provide education and training to help prepare the young people for interviews and ensure they are ‘work ready’.

In the line of flyer

Following a quick name and number count the group split in to two teams: 'The Red Devils' (Route 1) no resemblance or link to Man United! - Will, Jason, Catherine, Bex, Charley and Martynas, and the 'Hammersmith Flyers' (Route 2) - Sarah, Johnny, Harriet, Alice, Alex, Joyce and Helena.

Fast flyering

To add a bit of fun and friendly competition to the task I had devised a scavenger hunt for the group to accompany all the flyering! Each team had the same sheet of items to find or actions to complete on their designated route: a red car, a team selfie, a wild animal, a pub named after an animal, something beginning with H or F, three flyering puns (definitely not to cheekily help with my run report punspiration!), a stop sign and a joke ideally running based, tell someone about GoodGym, wave at another runner & the bonus point round....road scrabble, find a road name with the most scrabble points!

I briefed both groups on the shops and areas that they were looking to target and hand out the flyers to, with the key instruction that both teams were to meet at the corner of Askew and Uxbridge Road at 8pm. The flyers were distributed amongst each team and plans for efficient flyering, whilst successfully scavenger hunting were formulated by both teams.

Come flyer with me, let's flyer let's flyer away

Plans formulated, Sarah led the 'Hammersmith Flyers' off on their route up Shepherd's Bush Road and along Goldhawk Road, while I joined 'The Red Devils' on their route down King Street and along Askew Road. Each team quickly ducked in and out of coffee shops, libraries, newsagents distributing the flyers, whilst also on the lookout for lengthy road names and other items from the scavenger hunt list.

No flyers on me

Time 'flyered' by and it didn't seem like half an hour had passed as the clock struck 8pm. Will and Charley from the 'Red Devils' had bumped into the 'Hammersmith Flyers' en route as they either intentionally - possibly on a secret sabotage mission - or unintentionally - accidentally took the scenic route! To my great relief both teams arrived at the meeting point only a few minutes late, and thankfully there were no missing runners lost around Hammersmith! With heaps of flyers distributed around the Hammersmith area and the group as one again it was time to head off on the short 2.5km run back to base. As we made our way we stopped for some bonus squats, lunges, high knees and back flips...otherwise known as heel flicks!! There was also a quick stop for a group photo before everyone began to part their separate ways.

Flyer me to the moon/back home

Back at base we had a quick cool down and stretch, both teams then re-huddled and had a final debrief on their scavenger hunt. With both teams applying the same tactic of noting down multiple road names they saw while running, there was of a lot of referring to the scrabble tile photo and adding up before they brought their attempts and photos over to me for some 'official judging'. There was some brilliant lateral thinking on some of the items, with the 'Hammersmith Flyers' presenting me with a (bus) stop instead of a stop sign. It was very close between both teams with each amazingly finding a road that equated to 32 points!! However, with the full compliment of three puns (all included within this report!) the victory went to the 'Hammersmith Flyers'! Fab flyering and scavenger hunting this week, each charity is very grateful for your help!

Next week, we hopefully have two tasks, a shorter 3-4km run back to Hestia and a longer 7-8km run out to Ray's Playhouse. Sign up here.

Thank you all for another fun night, hope you have a lovely week! Thank you to Johnny of the 'Hammersmith Flyers' for this week's pun! And thank you to Clare who biked home to distributed some flyers around the Fulham area. And thank you to Helena and Bex for the extra photos!

I'll leave you with my favourite jokes from the night....

What do runners do when they forget something? They jog their memory!

What do you call a runner behind a car? Exhaust-Ted!

I had the pleasure of leading the wonderful GoodGym Hammersmith and Fulham last night and they didn't let me down.

Seventeen wonderful runners joined me on a warm and sunny last evening of July. This week we were helping Acknowledging Youth (AY) a charity that works to help disadvantaged young people attaining employment by providing support and also formal clothes for interviews to younger people.

Tonight the task was to deliver leaflets for AY. We had two sets of leaflets - one for shops that would hopefully donate clothes to the scheme and one for local residents to donate their time to scheme. We split into two groups with Jason (team One) leading one and myself and Will (team Two) leading the other - to add a bit of fun to the proceedings we also had a scavenger hunt, which proved a good plan as we found that we delivered all the leaflets in no time!

Shoo the chickens

After a quick intro outside the leisure centre, and after the advice of some of the regulars a warm up around the corner, featuring some of Polly's favourites (shoo those chickens!) we split up and were on our way!

GG-ers in a phonebox

Jason's group headed doing King Street and then worked their way up (the orange area on the map) and myself and Will headed up Shepherd's Bush Road before splitting up and taking on some of the more residential roads (in the green area). As alluded to before both teams were very quickly out of leaflets and so it was all about the scavenger hunt.

Yellow car

We worked our way around the streets looking for the elusive yellow car in team Two but we managed to tick everything off the lists and as we were making our way back to base we converged on team One and ran back together.

We cooled down and did our stretches outside the fitness centre, said adjö to Anders whose last run it was before heading back to Sweden and chatted socials (H+F is next Tues, GG-wide is next Thurs).

And the winner is... Team One!

Jason and team One won by one point by fitting one extra person into that phonebox! Well done.

As always a pleasure leading you guys, Beth is back next week, sign up to the run here.

Cheers, Pritesh

There was a nervous atmosphere as we assembled for our weekly group run. England’s match had clashed with our group run time slot. To keep the football lovers informed, Tom had the highlights showing on his phone through the see-through window in his arm band and Bex had notifications on her phone.

After that hubbub was calmed, we celebrated the highlights of H&F’s achievements at the Goodgym Olympics. Firstly, H&F came 3rd overall out of 18 in our category (Hunter-Sidhu Shield). Which is an amazing achievement as we only had 7 people entered.

• Catriona came 2nd in the 100m Women's race - 14:09 secs
• Andrew and Alice came 2nd in the three-legged race
• We won the 4x100m relay and Goodgym Relay!

What a result!

The other bit of news was we’re going for dinner at Wagamama after my last run next week. If you fancy joining us for some grub, RSVP here.

So our task for the evening was to put up posters in shops near Hammersmith tube. This was to promote Fulham Good Neighbours’s Parson’s Green Fair on 7th July. We also, used the opportunity to hand out flyers about Acknowledging Youths - a social enterprise recruitment agency for disadvantaged youths and adults.

Tom lead the poster team down Hammersmith high street and managed to have better success that last week. Justine and Catriona each lead a group handing out flyers at Hammersmith shopping centre. I think it was a relief to the flyering teams when 7.35pm came around as they’d found it pretty hard work trying to give away the flyers.

By 7.40pm all the teams gathered at St Peter’s Church to warm up and go for a nice run. From here we came out passed the Apollo and down to Hammersmith Bridge. From the bridge we turned left down the towpath. After 1.5km we stopped for an out and back exercise.

Splitting the group into two, both groups had to run our and back for a set amount of time. The time went down and up. We did this as a pyramid:

• 30 seconds in 3rd gear (brisk jogging out) and then 30 secs in 4th gear (running now, hard to talk) back.
• 20 seconds - out in 4th gear, back in 5th (sprinting)
• 10 seconds - Same
• 20 second - same
• 30 seconds - out in 3rd, back in 4th

Once everyone had got their breath back after this exercise, we stopped a passer by to take a nice group photo by the river. It was from here that the football manic kicked back in as we ran back to base. We could hear the cheers from people in pubs over the river - cue frantically looking at phones. England had scored. Then again on the bridge cheers erupted once again and vans were honking.

After we arrived back at the gym we went through a cool down stretches and then the runners scattered to watch the last of the match. It’s clear from our WhatsApp group we had a lots of our runners watching the match.

Until next week, happy running.