With so many of our lovely runners recovering from a colossal weekend of racing - in York, Shoreditch, the Royal Parks, Tough Mudder and the Surrey Leagues - we were a little smaller group than usual, but no less mighty!

First things first, we gave a huge cheer to our racing heroes - congratulations to Helen, Emily, John, Emma B, Ros and Beth, plus all the others that got out there and hit the roads this weekend.

Don't forget our Tooting Parkrun takeover on the 17th November, sign up here to get involved!

Treesy does it

It was our last week (for now) at Christchurch primary school. We've been going down there to help out with their new amazing learning garden, a project which has been brought to life by Sue and her volunteers who have raised money and worked hard to make a community and learning space for the children. It's going to be incredible, with hives, activity areas, growing spaces and much more. Next week they are having the area levelled so needed everything cleared before then.

So, after a nice speedy run down there, we were met by ever-cheerful Barry who had stayed late to let us in, and help us with the jobs. Thanks Barry! With a series of helpful instructions set out around the garden, we divided up into groups of three and took a tree each. While some came out easy as apple pie, others took a little more persuasion and proved to be a very good upper body work out! We wrapped them up in their winter blankets, tied them up with skipping ropes and moved them over to the exotically-named perfume garden.

We then moved on to the next big challenge of the evening - dismantling the polytunnel in the middle of the garden. Armed with screwdrivers, spanners and some sheer grit, the team got the structure down amid cheers from the others. Nice work! Meanwhile, other jobs included sweeping leaves, clearing tyres and tidying up.

With that, with didn't have much time left for our fitness session, but after waving goodbye to Barry we nipped round the corner for a quick sprint session focussing on pacing, and then our weekly plank minute. After that there was just the last run home and that hill.

New task alert! Next week we're off to an estate in Battersea to help them plant loads of new bulbs to cheer up the area for Spring. Sign up here to help make a difference in the community!

Lovely to see you all last night, GoodGym!

Wandsworth, please give a big cheer for our new runners last night. Hello to Alex, Laura and Caitlin - and welcome to the group!

News

It's BACK! The great GoodGym Tooting Common takeover. It's going to be massive (we hope), it's on 17th November and you can choose your role. Sign up here to get involved.

It's a sad goodbye to Tessa who is off for new adventures. Thanks for all your hard work Tessa, we'll miss you in Wandsworth!

In happier news, it's Tom's birthday today - why not give him a birthday cheer! Many happy returns Tom.

While you're there, wish the best of luck to Emily and to Helen and to everybody else racing in York this weekend. We're behind you every step of the way!

Weed did good

Last night we were back at a local school, but not in the garden we had been working in last week - instead, we had a series of jobs to do in a secret garden the children use to grow their own fruit and veg. This is an amazing space that gives the children the opportunity to learn about plants, and as research has shown the benefits on our health of spending time outside, the school believes that by giving them the chance to learn outside they will be healthy and happy.

So after a nippy jog down there, stopping for a few reverse lunges on the way, we arrived and split up into groups to tackle all the different stations. They included watering, weeding, composting and clearing and we cracked right on accompanied by music provided by Chi (thanks!). Half an hour of work later, we downed tools and made our way out of the lovely space, and after stopping for a quick photo, headed for Battersea Park for our fitness session.

Fast fit fun

We had a tough session last night in the park, starting with a pacing exercise that saw us pair up and vary between 50-90% work. We then divided up into groups and took on various conditioning and strengthening drills while one group acted as our running 'clock' . After that, we just had time for our weekly minute plank, before heading back to the BAC to stretch it out.

Next week we're just waiting on confirmation for our task, so keep an eye out here for all the details. See you then gang!

36 amazing runners, two huge tasks, one great Monday evening.

We started our run last night with a bumper week's worth of news. A big well done to Emma who smashed a hilly and warm Richmond 10k on Sunday, Frances, who ran the Rutland half, and to Helen who racked up a new 10k PB at the Richmond duathlon. What a great weekend of running.

A huge welcome to our lovely new faces, Liv, Kate, Alexandria, Eleanor and Ros. It's great to have you running with us - give 'em a cheer GoodGym!

As mentioned in the intro last night, we have a special buddy-up run happening on Thursday in conjunction within Ideal Flatmate. If you're looking for a new flatshare or the perfect flatmate, then come along to this run to meet others in the same position, and even to get a good deed in at the same time!

We also have a community mission coming up - you don't have to be DBS checked for this one, so if you fancy helping out the lovely Balham and Tooting Community Association put on their Fun Day, helping with jobs like serving tea and coffee and welcoming people, then sign up here - all proceeds from the day go to St George's Hospital, so you'll be doing some real good.

Double the Task, Double the Fun

It was a two tasker last night, and a special night as we celebrated newly qualified Chi leading his first run. Go Chi! So after a warm up, where we got our heart rates up and discussed our favourite sandwich fillings (cheese winning by a massive margin), we split ourselves up into two groups.

The first group was running down to Paul's Cancer Support Centre, a charity which offers support through alternative therapies, counselling and other services to people living with cancer. After a 2k run, we arrived to find two rooms that needed emptying to make room for more services. We got cracking, only to find that it was slightly more complicated than first anticipated. Not to be put off, while a few people played car tetris trying to get all the furniture in, others started dismantling a couple of massive tables that were two big to get through the door. We managed to sweet talk a lovely local bike superstore to take the furniture, saving the charity a trip to the dump, while Clare and Hanna got the tough job of putting the tables back together in their new home. Nice one team!

Meanwhile, Chi was leading the second group on a longer run down to Balham, where Kate, the secretary of the Tooting and Balham Community Association was waiting with 500 (!) leaflets ready for distribution ahead of the Fun Day this weekend. In a huge push, the group managed to cover 8 kms and got rid of all of the flyers. Was it the pumping music? Was it the challenge of getting rid of so many leaflets? Was it because it was Chi's first run as leader? Absolutely amazing work guys.

While group one finished off their shorter run with some gruelling hill sprints and the burpee challenge, group two polished off 8k and we arrived back at the BAC almost simultaneously. GoodGym win! Next week it's another two tasker (fingers crossed), so we need as many of you lovely people as possible - sign up here.