A generous shout out to everyone for bringing food to take to the Food bank

A dead impressed shout out to Will and Jackie for going back out and getting even more food to take.

A warm lovely shout out to last night’s new runners – Emma, Louise, Daniel and Stephen.. WELCOME!!! Please come back next week.

A doughy shout out to Emma for producing the magnificent cake bread… indeed it did taste of Christmas. God I love Christmas.

An exhausted shout out to Judy for clocking some serious miles this week. Standard Reid practise. The woman is a machine.

A magnifique shout out to Marie for bringing order to the food sorting by getting on the case of labels. I’m rubbish at the detail.

A dead theatrical shout out to John for bringing details of the elderly people who need partners for coach visits.. If you are interested in visiting Cockney June or Delores then get in touch.

Speedy shout out to Tom for leading all of us to and from the food bank. No one got lost or run over. SUCCESS.

Ouchy shout out to Rosie for running despite falling during her half marathon at the weekend and sporting a bandaged arm.

Phew, OK, I'm done, time for Tom's report.

Food bank report by Tom Benson.

"Last night around 30 goodgymers descended to oval to deliver a wide range of tinned good to the Vauxhall food bank. With the nights growing ever dimmer I must admit I was starting to think whether or not to bust a jumper out to take the chill off. However that thought was well and truly dispelled as by the end of the 2 mile run we were all well and truly sweating out. A special mention needs to go out to Rebecca, as we had started the run well before she had locked up, by the time we had got to Oval station she had overtaken the leading pack. And to make a special point of proving nothing was going to stand in her way she extended this to on coming cyclists whilst crossing the road, not a lady to be messed with I can tell you.

Once we arrived the ever lovely Faith gave us a warm welcome and was delighted with all the goods we had lugged over from Brixton. We also had to unload and load into categories loads of food that had already been collected. Overall we managed to sort a whopping 320 Kg of food, that’s the equivalent of roughly one female Giant eland, from that total we brought a mighty 80 kg (a quarter of a female Giant eland). Therefore we shifted and sorted a load of boxes that would have taken the folks at the food banks hours to do, so well done everyone involved, a great bit of team work.

So with our ruck sacs lighter we cruised all the way back to HQ with to await what bake off goodie we had in store this week. Now in the past few week the bar has been set well and truly high, we had some scrumptious cheesecake ,some great and inventive ginger bread and other fantastic delectable baked goods, so we were all waited with bated breath what Bake off contested Emma could rustle up.

She did not disappoint this week taking a slightly different tangent with her homemade fruit bread. Now I must confess this would not normally be my choice of baked goods as I’m not really one for fruit cake but I have to say it was flipping cracking. I managed to get myself a second slice which was lucky as it all went in record time, which speaks volumes for the bread. I can confirm there was no soggy bottom (I have never watched the show but I hear that is a phrase that’s used) and was baked well enough that no butter was needed to enhance the taste. Certainly one of my favourites, cracking work Emma. I’m just starting to get a bit worried when my guy Ian bows out, I don’t think my flap jacks are going to cut it.

Another cracking night Lambeth, excellent stuff."

26 - the number of runners that turned put last night despite the heavy downfall at 6.30pm. That’s impressive. GoodGym Lambeth is nothing if not ALWAYS impressive.

25 - the number of runners who now required some kind of post traumatic shock treatment after Alex tuned up in the smallest shorts I HAVE EVER SEEN.

3 - the number of brand spanking new lovely runners that came out last night. Welcome Simon, Elly and Bruce. It was lovely to see your lovely faces and your lovely legs doing excellent running around lovely Lambeth. We hop you though GoodGym was also lovely and will be lovely enough to come back again. Lovely.

2 - the number of tasks we had on for us last night. Like any good comedy duos, one was short and one was a bit far out.

6 – The number of runners who felt brave enough to take on the big run to help clear out a churchyard in Balham

5 - miles is the distance they covered. Nice. That will help get rid of some of the debauched stuff you did over the bank holiday. Just some though.

20 - The number of runners that were packed into a toilet in The Baytree Centre. Intimate I think is the word. And who doesn’t like getting intimate in a toilet?

6.5 - The amount of minutes it took for Judy to completely cover herself in paint, breaking her previous personal best by 3 minutes. Bravo Judy. BRAVO!

4 - the amount of minutes everyone had to Burpee, Press up, squat and plank for. If you’re not aching today then I personally invite you to my house tonight and I’ll finish the job off.

8 - the time the sun went in. That’s it folks, It’s winter. Therefore IT’S CHRISTMAS!! From now on I will become a walking advent calendar as I count down to the big day in a frenzy of excitement.

1- the number of cheesecakes we devoured.. and man was it good. Sarah came up with the goods for the Bake Off sweepstake with a fizzy pop cheese cake complete with chocolate ganache.

7– the amount of times I sniggered at the word ganache. I’m sorry but IT’S RUDE.

6 – The number of sleeps until next week’s task taking food to Vauxhall Food Bank https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/taking-food-to-vauxhall-food-bank-3af47131-366c-466d-9dec-dbbda1bb704b

8 – The time I predict we’ll all be twatted by at the drinks tomorrow night. https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/heroes-of-august-arise-and-the-rest-of-you

Bye x

I often wonder if we ever take stock of the amount of good we have actually done.

Due to some Last minute rescheduling 11 wonderful awesome amazing individuals took to the streets for a GoodGym tour of Hackney.

It's not every week we get an opportunity to check in on how projects are doing nor is it every week we get an opportunity to run a 9k loop letting our legs loose on the roads.

We had 4 newbies on this muggy wet evening, all of which were amazed at what had been done.

Visits to sites where trees had been planted, planters had been built, fences had been painted, manure shifted, sheds built, benches constructed, weeds dragged out, flowers watered, grass cut, estates reclaimed and more importantly communities reunited.

When you come for a run with GoodGym just remember that it's more than just a run, you're making the world a better place for those that reside in it.

Join us next week for more awesomeness.

20 Runners ran to dig up roots for a community garden in Hackney. 2 went to clear an older persons garden.

"some mid road planking"

Well, well, well. Firstly, the taskmaster enforced some mid road planking. With 22 men and women strong, we moved at breakneck speed weaving through the backstreets of Hackney towards the idyllic Wilton Estate. Greeted by the lovely Debbie, she dished out a multitude of tools as there was lots to be done. The plants were gasping from the summer sun, so a group of good gym'ers carried endless watering cans to relieve them of their thirst.

"count to 3 whilst sprinkling"

The correct way to water plants is to count to 3 whilst sprinkling. Whoever knew?!

Witness the fitness, the root digging system, one hope, one quest. Meanwhile, there was a small army of strong armed gents swinging their pic axes, spades and sharp implements to remove the toughest of all roots.

"ripped"

Miraculously no one was damaged during this challenging task, aside from the roots, clearly, which were ripped from the ground successfully. Whoops and high fives followed, victorious. There were however, other troublesome weeds and ivy lurking in the gardens, attempting to rule. But, not for long. We were on hand to tear them from the ground. We piled them high into a bag large enough to fit at least 6 good gym'ers.
Witness the fitness, the root digging system, one hope, one quest.

"casual hustling"

After our quest was done, we summoned up the power to run to Hackney Downs for some casual hustling, relay style. We hustled so hard you could hear the beats of our feet on the ground. Then, basking in the glory of our achievements we ran back to our start point, E5 Bakery. Excellent work team, until next time. Witness the fitness, the root digging system, one hope, one quest.

Mission report

Antonia and I (Paul Bown) both volunteered for the mission to help Catherine in Clapton clear an overgrown bush in her front garden. So we headed north on Mare Street, were directed around a Police cornered off area and weaved around the busy streets of Hackney. After 3.3km we'd arrived and were mission ready.

The situation was that ivy, vines and bushes had become overgrown in Catherine's front garden so the council had requested her to cut it back off the street and take the routes out. However due to the fact Catherine had a stroke a few years ago she is reasonably immobile and unable to do this.

"good tempo pace"

Armed with shears and black sacks we were able to cut back around 1/4 of the ivy growing into the street (at least 1.5 metres deep) before we had to set off. We got rid of the bin bags and then said our goodbyes to Catherine. Our return run was at a good tempo pace as we needed to make sure Anthonia got on her train home.

Yesterday I was tired and I didn't have a great amount of energy. Yesterday was my Everest. Then I turned up to GoodGym and all sorts of wondrous things happened that turned the whole day around.

39 people showed up. Mega effort. That’s only one less than 40 you know.

There were brand new runners to GoodGym; Josiah, David and Emma…. Make sure you’re all extra lovely to them all next week. They are lovely people. I’d like to keep them.

It rained. We all got a bit wet. But that was cool.

Judy got covered in paint and there was cake thanks to super baker Beth to celebrate my first anniversary at GoodGym Lambeth… hooray.

Here are the reports from what you all got up to. The challenge was four lines, eight words per line, preferably rhyming… here’s what we’ve got.

Brockwell Park Greenhouses By George

At Brockwell's greenhouses we met Tom, who meant For us to shovel compost until we're spent Spreading, tossing and raking Until arms were aching And rewarded with fresh veg, what a gent!

Loughborough Junction by Jitendra

Gardening at Loughborough Junction farm's on the menu.

So a group of us went, almost flew.

They grow black tomatoes and loads there y'know?

Now in place of beans, chard will grow!

Papa’s Park by Alex

In need to some speed work, I was put through my paces doing 5 x 1 mile reps in between sanding the Papa's Park Railings. Although they didn't get easier, by the 3rd the route was known and could start to get an idea on a consistent pace. By the 5th rep the smokers out side The Duke had got used to my screw face. Loosing 21 seconds between the first and last rep, I was gifted delicious cake. Cake more than suitable to celebrate a year of Rebecca at GG!

Holland Estate -