With a smaller group than the last time we visited The Ealing Food Bank ( which was a record breaking run back in January! ) last night we had 11 awesome runners come out to lend a hand sorting, shifting and cleaning down at this vital community resource. We also had one new runner Rachel join us so a big welcome to her!

Is it spring yet...

With the chilly weather still lurking around (come on spring, get your act together!) we started with a quick warm up with a few exercises (which made you all look ridiculous!) but I promise they are all legitimate running drills! And then we were off into the night to do some good.

We arrived to meet Hilary who had a list of jobs for us to complete which included a lot of shifting and resorting as well as weighing donations and a clean up too. We quickly sorted ourselves into small teams across each task get everything covered in the time we had. Everyone got straight down to it and stuck in with their assigned missions and it was clear this would be a smooth operation...

Creating a rice breaker...

And then a crash! I knew it had to be Michael... A little mishap with shifting the rice donations resulted in a bit of a breakage but luckily it was just the storage containers and it didn't leave us with a big clean up operation!

Once everyone was settled into their jobs myself and Larissa popped around the corner to help with a secondary task for the evening at the local night shelter to see if they needed a hand with anything for the evening. We've been visiting at this pop up winter night shelter for the last few weeks alongside our other tasks to lend a hand where they need it and next week is their last night for the year so we'll be back one more time!

Light work was made of all the jobs on the list and once we returned from the shelter to regroup we were ready to head for home. The first of us to arrive back made use of the time with some core exercises and squats before welcoming in the last runners for some stretches.

Lastly just a quick thank you to Michael for back marking the run and being second in command on the task. Michael is a vital asset to our GoodGym group and is on the taskforce for Ealing, something lots of you are keen to be involved with which is great to see! If you're wondering how you can be involved just ask me at the next group run!

Happy Running!

Goodbye snow and sleet, hello spring! The nights are getting shorter, and we certainly had a spring in our step yesterday when 10 ace runners met up for a short run to do some good in their local area.

We also had a lovely new runner join us for his very first GoodGym run - welcome Carlos! After some dynamic warm ups featuring jumps and floor touches and some high fives that kinda worked, we did a quick poll on what inspires us to lace up our trainers and get running. To explore new areas, for our mental and physical well being and for the rush of it all topped the list, and with that in mind we set off on our run to St Peter's Church. It was only a mile there, so only a few minutes later we arrived to find more of the GoodGym squad waiting for us ready to get stuck in.

Moira, the church warden, had asked us to come and do a deep clean of the church ready for the Easter festivities being put on for the community in the coming weeks. She had a list of jobs to do, including hoovering, mopping, dusting and sweeping, but she also had the added incentive of a tray of biscuits and water waiting for us at the end of the task. With that in mind, we paired off and got cleaning.

With our inventory of spiders and their webs getting longer, and our dusting arms getting a good workout, before long the church was sparkling, so we hung up our feather dusters and had a restorative biscuit. A job well done guys!

Then it was time to flex those muscles, so we took a little jog round the corner to find a lovely stretch of pedestrianised hill which was perfect for hill sprints. Thinking about a particular technical point with each sprint, we took turns to run up the hill in pairs, finishing off with one final fifth rep where we put everything together. The result was some excellent form and lovely - but tough - running.

It was time to head back to our starting point for some stretches, but not before stopping briefly to smash out a few minutes of core work on the benches at the green. A core triathlon is a really effective way to strengthen those abs, which in turn improves form when running and prevents injury.

Great work tonight everybody, and thank you very much for having me! Next week super marathoner Olivia will be back to lead you to a local night shelter, sign up here for some more GoodGym fun!

A last minute change of plan won't stop us!

Last night's task was a very last minute call around to all the previous places we'd had the pleasure of helping in hope there was something we could do! Unfortunately our task for Cultivate London that was scheduled for last night was curtailed by our contact being very unwell, get well soon Rosie! Luckily we have a few more dates booked in to help her at the DIG site in April ( sign up nice and early here! ) so we'll still get to go and help later on!

With a welcome shift in weather from last weeks Narnia like run we had a HUGE 21 runners out last night with two new members joining us for the first time. A Big welcome to Harriet and Victoria

This week we were back to two tasks as we sent a small sub team off again to help at The Ealing Churches Winter Night Shelter. This week taskforce member Jenni led Michelle, Tony and Clare down, so thank you guys for volunteering to be on the smaller run!

We started off with a quick group huddle to discuss to route and to come clean about the fact I wouldn't in fact be running this evening... I felt incredibly guilty but a few niggles meant I didn't want to risk a run last night so instead I was lead bike for proceedings! A few warm up drills saw us nicely warmed up and we were off!

With Michael C backmarking for us we all arrived safely to Hanwell Community Centre with Shan & Michael K ready in waiting for us to get started. The team at the centre were sure they had some bits we would help with when we were left without a task at the last minute, so thanks to them for accommodating us with short notice last night!

We were working across the site doing a bit of cleaning, sweeping and tidying. There was a good mix of things to do, window cleaning and prop sorting were the key tasks, everyone was particularly excited about the group picture that would come of all the great props in the basement we were helping to organise.

What a PROPosition!

With it being the first Tuesday of the month (our dedicated social night!) minds soon turned to the pub so we wrapped things up and headed back to base and complete the run/cycle back to meet the other team. Finishing up nicely with a little leg busting round of exercises we were finished for the evening. Lovely to see so many in the pub afterwards and Jenni and I were happy to be able to share some biscuits we were gifted from a mission a few weeks ago!

Next week the lovely Ana of GoodGym Hounslow and Wandsworth will be covering while I am taking care of some business in Barcelona... it's a lovely spring cleaning task at a local church and it's a new venue we've not visited before so let's show them what we're made of and get stuck in, sign up here!

See you in a couple of weeks!

It was a blustery evening in Ealing but that didn't put off the 16 fantastic runners from coming out on our second double task week last night!

We met at our usual spot, the wonderful Bodyline Studios who very kindly accommodate us every week, before deciding who would go to each task for the evening. Taskforce member Michael C agreed to take Tim, Alexander & Emily off to The Ealing Winter Night Shelter to be on hand for a few tasks to help their evening run smoothly, while the rest of us were excited to be heading to help A Mile In Her Shoes sort donations.

The two tasks were very close to each other so after a few warm up drills we all headed out on the same route together, swerving down the busy Uxbridge Road, dodging pedestrians for some extra agility practice on our run!

We arrived at our first stop (which just so happened to be the pub!) letting the small group of night shelter helpers head on a bit further down the road to complete their mission for the evening.

We were using the function room at The Grosvenor to sort donations, so a massive thank you to them for hosting us and being so friendly and helpful all night.

Inside we were met by Nicola from the charity who explained a bit more about what we were doing for them, and it was basically Christmas! Unlike previous tasks we'd done before instead of just sorting into sizes/type we were opening up all the packages sent in and donated from members of the public. It was lovely to open things up and see all the lovely messages and notes people had sent in with their donated kit!

There was a lot to get through so the night was just about getting it all open and sorting into three sections, usable by the charity, not usable but good condition so can be resold/redonated elsewhere and finally a no thank you/bin pile.

Sorting the good, the bad and the ugly!

A few brutal decisions were made as unfortunately not everything that's donated can be utilised by Nicola and her team but at the end of the evening we had a HUGE pile of great kit that can be used as part of the process to empower women affected by homelessness to find their feet through running!

We even had a bit of a catwalk show with Tony strutting his stuff in a striking pair of jellyfish(?!) themed lycra tights, it was a strong look!

We were joined back at the pub by the night shelter sub team who had been busy sorting the shower schedule, making tea and walking around the grounds to litter pick and make sure the area was safe. They also helped with all the last bits of clearing up from our task so they really did provide the total package last night!

Amazing work last night, thank you to everyone who was involved! Next week we continue the theme of combating homelessness as we have another double task week at The Night Shelter and The Hestia Refuge, get yourselves signed up nice and early here!