Goodgym Barnet ran on a search and destroy mission in Highgate woods for the ranger Cindy. We gathered at the Phoenix cinema to greet each other and number up. A quick survey of favourite colours produced three purples in a row! Welcome to Niall on his first run and tourist Pete from Stockport. Give them a shout out! We set off for Cherry tree woods for a warm up, and then on to Highgate woods a short run away, doing some paired exercises on the way. Cindy met us at the Pavillion Cafe and explained our task which was to remove some of the dens created by the public. They are a fire risk and also removing the wood from the ground destroys the micro habitats for some of the woodland organisms. After completing our mission Cindy generously gave us a tour of the woods including taking us into a conservation zone. Highlights included hearing Britons smallest bird the Goldcrest and pointing out a couple of lightning strikes on the trees. We then had a little time to pair up to do a running frisbee drill before running back to the Phoenix.

Thanks for coming running and destroying …makes a change!

Fifteen fabulous GoodGymmers ran 3km to the cafe in Highgate Woods to pick up litter.

Meeting at the Phoenix, we were joined by Charlotte for her first ever GG run - go give her a cheer! Welcome. We were also joined by GG tourist Alex who has also been in the lake district with team GG over the weekend. My legs are still a bit sore.

After a quick chat we slowly made our way to the park for a warm up. It was gloriously sunny we want to take advantage of it as much as we can! From there, it's a short run over to Highgate Woods and the cafe by the park.

We met the keeper, Cindy, who equipped us with grabbers and bin bags and pointed out the areas that needed attention. Dividing in to teams of two, the team set off around the park collecting litter. Cindy explained that the park area in particular is very popular with dogwalkers, sunbathers and kids parties so there is plenty of potential for litter.

Half an hour later, we had loads of litter and piled it all up ready for the compactor. Cindy explained a bit of the woods history - mentioned in the Doomsday Book, it's an ancient area of woodland owned and managed by the City of London Corporation since 1886 for the benefit of Londoners. Worth a visit we think.

After that we had a quick fitness session: tempo runs, core exercises, a sprint and a lap of the field. Suitably tired, we headed back to base for biscuits and stretching.

Thanks for coming everyone - I'll see you next week for our gardening task at Northway Gardens.

This week's Barnet Biscuit was: Double Chocolate Digestives.