First up, a massive hello and welcome to Asa and Sinead. Give them a cheer, because tonight they came to their very first group run. Hooray!

News Round Up

Our GoodGym Tooting parkrun takeover happens this Saturday! We still need a few roles filled, such as token collector, run report writer and pre event set up, plus pacers for sub 20 and 30+. Please sign up here if you can make it and let's turn Tooting parkrun GoodGym red!

To finish off a lovely weekend of running volunteering, why not sign up to help out at the City Runs Fulham 10k this Sunday. As well as basking in a satisfied glow after spending your weekend helping other runners, you will also benefit from a medal, Adidas top and 50% off future City Runs events for your trouble! The only catch is that you have to sign up by Wednesday. Here’s the link to follow

Bus' a move

Tonight's task was at Leonard Chesire Disability centre - an organisation in Battersea which support individuals to live, learn and work as independently as they choose, whatever their ability. Led by people with experience of disability, they have a focus on community life here in Wandsworth.

But before we set off, we headed outside the BAC to warm up. It's particularly important at this time of year because starting to run without properly warming up cold muscles can easily lead to injury. It's just as important as the stretch afterwards -no excuses team!

After some dynamic moves to get our hearts pumping, we did our weekly poll. Tonight's burning question - with only six group runs left before Christmas what do you hope to find in your stocking (or other seasonal celebration)? You better be good boys and girls for the next few weeks if you want to find puppies, gin, a winning lottery ticket or Spice Girls tickets there!

It was a short run down to the charity, and we got there in no time at all to find tools, bags a washing equipment there ready and waiting for us to get stuck in. So, dividing up into teams, we took on three jobs:

Raking up the masses and masses of leaves around the building

Pulling up the weeds in the pathways and giving it a good spray with weedkiller

Washing the mobility buses (brrr!)

After 40 minutes of hard work, the place looked a lot tidier. Frank, who manages the centre, is always really grateful for the work we do here, and sends lovely emails to say thank you for our time and energy. This week he even left us a sweet treat int he shape of biscuits and water to "keep our energy levels up"!

With a sugar high imminent, it was a good time for us to run over to Battersea Park to knock out a tough fitness session. We started off with shuttle runs, which test both our endurance and pacing, before playing a quick game of 'What did you do this weekend?' - with either squats of sprints depending on our answers. It sounds like some of you had some very interesting Saturday nights!

After all that there was just time for our weekly plank minute before running back to the BAC to stretch it out. Brilliant work everybody, you all kicked off your week with some great running and a dose of do gooding too! Next week we have more of the same, so sign up here for more Monday fun.

With a backdrop of pretty colours in the sky and the smell of bonfires in the air, it was a cracking good group run in Wandsworth last night.

News, lovely news

So much good stuff to report on before our run! Here's a little roundup:

It was our very own Mr Christopher O'Driscoll's 50th good deed last night. That is a massive lot of gardening for elderly people, painting, shifting and lifting for community projects, and who knows how many miles covered! Give him a cheer next time you see him in his spanking new black tshirt for he is a GoodGym star.

Don't forget our Tooting parkrun takeover on the 17th November. We need as many eager beaver helpers as possible! There are a range of jobs to do and I'll be putting out the spreadsheet soon - sign up using the link above in the meantime.

Alyx told us about a great run she is leading soon from King's College. This women only run will be to the Fawcett Society, the UK’s leading charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights, to sort and pack sanitary products, to be distributed to women via a charity that tackles period poverty. Sign up here

Don't forget it is the monthly social on Thursday - sign up here for more fun, puns and all things GoodGym!

Please give Peter, Alex and Andy a huge cheer - they came for their first group run last night! A huge welcome to the group.

After that bumper crop of news we headed outside to do our warm up, before running the 3k to our amazing task for the evening. But first, we did a poll on all things Bonfire Night - top of the pops came fireworks in our list of fav things about the night, then came bonfires (handily), all the goof food and hot alcohol, sparklers, hot baths and friends. Aaah.

After a nice steady run over to our task, accompanied by the whistle and pops of Wandsworth fireworks, we arrived at the Oasis Adventure playground charity. This is an amazing organisation that supports local kids, many of whom have disabilities. Oasis Play provides innovative and inclusive outdoor play and learning opportunities that enable disabled and non-disabled children and young people to lead happy, fulfilled lives and play positive roles in the community. It also has one of the areas most bonkers and brilliant play areas, and we had to stop ourselves getting stuck in for a good old clamber over all the fun stuff there.

We were met by David, who gave us a little background on the organisation and its history (and is well placed to do so after over 20 years at the charity!), and who had prepared tools ready for our big job that evening. Our task was to dig out a big area ready for swings and other play equipment. It was hard work - and a great upper body workout - but after just 40 minutes of work, the difference was huge. Check out the photos to see the massive hole we dug!

After all that digging we didn't have a huge amount of time left, but just enough to stop for a few minutes on the way home and knock out a quick but verrry intense tabata session. Nice frogging everyone.

Sweaty but happy we arrived back at the BAC for stretching - next week we're back to Leonard Cheshire disability charity to give them a hand with various jobs (including a wash down of those mobility buses, so wrap up warm!) . Sign up here for more Monday fun, good deeds and fitness.

Some excellent news to start off our Monday evening yesterday - give yourself a big round of applause GoodGym Wandsworth for raising a huge £77 from our cake sale after the run a couple of weeks ago for Paul's Cancer Support Centre. Amazing job!

There was also some great running this weekend, from parkruns all around the country and some great PBs. A special mention to Steph for running her first ever 10k - way to go!

Don't forget we're doing the Tooting Common parkrun takeover on 17th November - loads of roles up for grabs, including marshalls, pacing, token collector, tail walker and more. Sign up here to let us know you're coming!

Light bulb moments

After our warm up last night, we did a quick survey to find out which one tip we'd give a tourist visiting London for the first time - getting on a boat, seeing the Shard, doing the parks, and coming on a GoodGym run - before heading to our task.

Our job last night was for the amazing Kambala Cares project. This award winning residents' association improve life for local people of the Kambala Estate, creating strong links in the community, supporting local businesses, charitable organisations and community projects and taking isolated residents on trips. They are a non-profit organisation, run solely by volunteers who are committed to supporting the local community, and we were happy to lend a hand to clear raised beds and plant bulbs for spring.

After a short run down there we met with Donna, the chairperson of the organisation, and other local residents waiting with tools, gloves, and a whole trolley full of bulbs! Straight away we got into teams, and while one group swept and cleared leaves, the other groups got on with the digging and planting. Half an hour passed and we were still working on our first lot of beds so after a nearly unanimous vote to forego the fitness session (I won't take it personally, honest!) we carried on with the task and realised that the digging in itself was enough of a workout! Even after the extra time, we realised we were not going to get it all done, so agreed with the lovely Donna that we'd come back next week to finish the job!

After a quick run back to base with Andrew and John leading, there was just time for a few stretches. Next week I'm on my hols so excellent Lambeth trainer Katie will be leading you guys back to the estate to plant some more bulbs. You can sign up here for another night of GoodGym fun - and for those of you worrying (and I know you are) - I will let Katie know you had to do without a fitness session last night and see if she'll put a special double lot on for you next Monday!

There's a chill in the air, the leaves are turning and it's almost time to dig out those running gloves. Yet still 34 eager GoodGym runners turned up to tackle two tasks for the local community.

We started off with a bumper week of news.

Next week we are putting on a post-run cake evening on October 1st in Wandsworth to raise money for a local cancer support charity that we've done some tasks for - the amazing Paul's Cancer Support Centre. Feel free to contribute a cake or sweet treat and simply donate a few quid and tuck in! Thanks to Jordan for this fantastic idea.

On the 6th October Herne Hill Harriers running club are putting on a cross country race for a bargainous £13 if you book ahead. Click here for all the details.

Fancy doing a spot of volunteering in return for a snazzy Adidas top, plus a 50% discount code for a future Adidas City Run (where you’ll get another top which you run it in)? Well then sign up here to help out at the Shoreditch 10k on Sunday October 14th 2018.

A huge welcome to Jen and to Jess who came for their first runs - lovely to meet you!

Twice the fun

It was a two task night in Wandsworth, so after we did a quick warm up and decided collectively which was the best London Park (Battersea came out top, natch), we split ourselves into two teams. Team one was coming with me down to the Venue community centre where we had a range of jobs to do after a recent flooding, while team two was going on a slightly longer run to a local primary school with recently qualified run leader, Danny - congratulations to you!

Waving goodbye for now, team one set off on a shortish clip down to the Venue, where we got stuck in to emptying a food storage room, used for keeping the food which is then handed out to the local community, following a flood at another storage facility the charity uses. Using our failsafe human chain method, we soon got the space cleared and ready, and even managed to give the place a tidy as well. This amazing place is a lifeline for local people who are struggling, and relies on support to keep it running. With that done, we popped over to Battersea Park for our fitness session, while meanwhile....

Team two was at Allfarthing School to paint a huge wall. This is what Danny said about the task:

"So the school task went great, they had everything set-up ready to go when we got there, even with the paint in the trays. The task owners were super nice! The task was to paint over the mural with the blue, which is now due to have literacy / numeracy stuff painted on it. People got more done than they had set-up for, so then did the large end wall also (the one with the cow on). Some people dutifully washed-up brushes and poured the paint back into the cans from the trays. The task owners even had biscuits there for people!"

Amazing work everybody!

Next week we have a really great new task at a school we've been to before. This local primary school is creating a dream garden for its students. To create a bespoke, beautiful learning space that can be used by the school and local community, including a new building that will enable volunteers and groups to use the space all the time, the school is raising the money for this itself and needs volunteers to help clear the ground ready for the garden to be built. It's going to be a big job, so sign up here for a an upper body work out and a really great community good deed.

Special thanks to Danny for taking a Wandsworth group on his first session leading! Great to have you with us.

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.