The sun was shining down on us for our entire Monday evening run, so everyone in Wandsworth could see all the good we were doing as we ran about 5km and helped at Paradise Gardens by spreading some woodchip on their paths.

Before heading out we welcomed Eilidh for her first ever Group Run - give her a cheer for using her run to do some good in the local community for the first time! We also heard about the GoodGym London Marathon Cheering that's happening this weekend. It looks like we will mainly be based on Embankment outside Somerset House, so come and join us to soak up the amazing atmosphere of this phenomenal race!

It was Ana's birthday today (hence why Alyx led the run instead), so after a quick warm up and introductions (that revealed we're all a happy, but apparently forever hungry, group of people) we filmed a short happy birthday message for her, and then off we set.

Arriving in speedy time, we met Rosie at the Paradise Gardens and she showed us where the woodchip pile and all the tools were. We've been here a couple of times now, so lots of us knew exactly what to do and we got stuck in straight away. One group piled woodchip into wheelbarrows and buckets, with another group ferrying these back and forth to the paths that needed a top up. On the paths there were a couple of teams armed with rakes, ready to spread the woodchip for an even layering. As there were so many of us there were still some hands with no work to do, so we found some bags and litter pickers and managed to do a sweep of the outskirts of the Gardens, collecting litter as we went. In what seemed like no time at all, the task was complete. I think we are getting too good at spreading woodchip and creating paths these days - thus we should set up some king of university for it!

Cracking job Wandsworth crew!

It seemed like all the hardwork was over, but we stopped on Wandsworth Common for a fitness session on the way back, and boy it was a killer one! We split up into pairs, and while one person was practicing their sprints, the other was doing a core based exercise to work on their running posture, and then they swapped. We finished off with a wheelbarrow race with some very speedy times indeed and then headed back to the BAC.

Andrew and Jamie did a fabulous job of back marking for the whole run - so please give them a cheer everybody!

We waved goodbye to Sophie (for now), who is going away on a traveling adventure, but she promises she'll be back.

Join us next week when we are cleaning a building before the rooms are filled with art produced by the local community for an Arts for Mental Health project. Alyx will be leading again, but she promises you'll have Ana back the following week!

We are ONE!

Last night we turned one year old! A huge thanks to all that have been involved with @GGSheff to make it what it is today a really great bunch of people from all sorts of backgrounds and running abilities that have come together to do good in their community and to get fitter. You are all truely a fantastic bunch!

Following a brief inside photo now the clocks have changed we set off to a brand new task in Kelham Island with In2Change a fantastic organisation that work with young offenders to avoid repeat offending and provide users with skills and education at the centre.

On arriving at In2Change we were greeted by MAGIC MARC & BRILLIANT BRIAN who gave us a tour of the building and the project and got us tooled up for the nights task.

As the planned paint job had already taken place we went for plan B which involved some painting of doors and some cleaning of the gym which needed some love to bring it back to sparkling splendor.

Both Brian and Marc were very happy with the efforts of the group and thanked all before we headed off to Craft & Dough for our anniversary celebrations where we were surprised with some generous Prosecco from 'THE KING' Steph Gilmer in his abscence and some fantastic GG cupcakes from chief organiser of the meal Kim Longbon. Thanks to both for your extra efforts and to all that attended for coming together to celebrate @GGSheff becoming one!

Here's to another fantastic year!

WELCOME!

This week we welcomed 2 fantastic new runners to the @GGSHEFF crew. Please put your hands together and welcome

• Elizabeth Townsend AKA BEANY
• Emily Stoker

Give em a cheer!

TASK TIME

This week we set off on a slightly longer run to another site under the supervision of Heeley Development Trust called ASH TREE YARD.

Finishing on a tough hill we met FANTASTIC FRANK who gave us a brief of the evenings task which was to fill 5 tonne sacks full of wood that has been sat in the yard roting away and creating access for a spate of break ins. Heeley Development Trust have secured funding to develop the site and are therefore clearing the space so it can be put to better us in the community.

The @GGSHEFF team got straight to the ROOT of the task, quickly forming a human chain to twist and pass logs from person to person creating a fantastic TRUNK workout! A small team quickly TWIGGED we had a few too many people in our chain and soBRANCHED off from the main group to tackle the big logs using some fantastic teamwork to lift and shift the heavier logs using a wheelbarrow. Did you CEDAR ammount of wood we shifted?

WOOD you BELEAF it, we smashed the task and managed to fill all of Franks sacks in the alloted time! A really strong team effort with no DEADWOOD to be seen.

Oaky kokey SYCAMORE jokes? time to move on from the puns and onto the...

FANTASTIC FITNESS

With a slightly longer run this week we had limited time for group fitness, however we did get some good work in with some on route loop backs with great efforts from SENSATIONAL SAM & DANGEROUS DAN.

Once we got to the light of a park we got paired up and did some JOHN PEEL PAIRED SPRINTS followed by a DEAD ARM HANG CHALLENGE with MAGIC MIKE taking the crown this week alongside his PUN MASTER title!

On return to the Showroom we finished with the HOWARD ST STRAVA SEGMENT SPRINT for those that fancied it, stretched off and headed inside for liquid refreshment and puntastic conversations.

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

We will officially be 1 next Mon! To celebrate we are going to go out for some food after the run so won't be running straight back to the Showroom after the run next week.

You can let us know you are coming to the meal by completing the Doodle Link here

Until next time,

Happy Running!

Namaste, Wandsworth.

Last night we had a super zen session featuring a special one off yoga session.

It started, as it always does, in our well-loved Battersea Arts Centre, where we did one of our favourite things - cheer all the lovely new faces joining us for the first time. So please give a massive Wandsworth welcome once again to the excellent Rachel, Lorien, Charlotte, Anca, Leonie and Phil.

We also tipped our hats to Jack, Helen, (Jo) [https://www.goodgym.org/runners/joanna-aa3da551-638e-4194-823a-cd5d1da2b03a] and Matthew who all represented team GoodGym at Fulham park run on Saturday. A huge well done to Hannah who showed the very hilly Wimbledon half who's boss.

We also did a shout out for anybody who is keen to get involved in the Tooting Park Run TAKEOVER this Saturday - GoodGym is going to be all over Tooting common running the show this weekend and we need you. Sign up here to put yourself down for pacing or volunteering. They'll be a lovely breakfast social picnic afterwards, so join us for pretty much the best way to kick off the weekend.

After all that cheering, we headed outside to crack on with tonight's run, but not before doing some lovely warming up and hearing about what makes people cry. Because it can't all be butterflies and rainbows all the time, you know. The good job is that most people cry happy tears, brought on by puppies, runners getting medals in the Olympics, onions, The Notebook, adverts, goodbyes, and Ryan Gosling.

Our run down to the task tonight was a fairly short (and downhill) one, so we happily made it down there in record time. Our job tonight was to shift a load of furniture for the charity Spacemax - an organisation which helps families living in overcrowded properties maximise the area they have. It was a teensy bit chaotic as we attempted to clear a huge corridor of furniture outside, but in no time at all the area was clear and while we waited for the team to regroup, we knocked out a quick legs blast.

After all that shifting, we were ready to be centred again, so after a quick jog to Battersea Park, qualified yoga teacher Lorien kicked off our serene yoga session. We slipped off our trainers and socks and sat down on the cool grass, while Lorien took us through a series of stretches and moves to help us as runners. We saluted the sun, we downed our dog, and we king pigeoned. After 20 minutes we were truly zenned, and ready to tackle the run back to our starting point. It was amazing what a difference the session made, with many of us feeling bouncier and more limber for the return leg. A huge thanks to Yogi Lorien!

We split into two groups for the run back, with Sophie leading the speedy team on an alternate route that finished off with our favourite hill. All that was left was a few relaxed stretches and a good old pat on the back.

Next week we have another special guest who is going to give us some invaluable pointers about technique - don't miss out on this one-off session.

If that isn't enough good news, we also have a GoodGym social this coming Thursday for the whole of GoodGym - come along to meet lovely GGers, see who won pun of the month, and to have a jolly good knees up.