On another scorcher of a Tuesday evening in H&F a fantastic ‘two little ducks’ 22 GoodGym-ers turned up to run and help out at tonight’s painting task at Gibbs Green Tenant Hall. A big welcome to the 5 lovely new runners Fiona, Summer, Lucy, Claire and Luke on their first GoodGym run, it was brilliant having you along! It was great to also see Grant along on his second group run fresh from his strong fork break last week, to have Remy from GG Hounslow & Nurjehan from GG Haringey doing some GoodGym tourism; and from a personal perspective it was fab to see so many friendly and familiar faces back from last week’s group run.

Before we headed outside we had a brief introduction and round-up of the news from the week…

1. 85 GoodGymers attended the annual GoodGym Shindig in Stratford-upon-Avon at the weekend. Big well done to Catriona who got a parkrun PB!
2. The monthly GoodGym Long Run for August will be led by the ace Dom Tooze, it will be on the 25th August and will be a 21km route from Hampton Court to Battersea Arts Centre – sign up here.
3. The final three big GoodGym races of the year will be the White Star Running - East Farm Races down in Dorset on the August Bank Holiday, the Rutland Marathon & Half Marathon in September and the Yorkshire Marathon and 10 Mile race in October.
4. AND...despite trying to keep it on the down-low, Johnny completed his first coach visit at the beginning of the week.

No heat strokes in H&F

Following a pulse-raising warm-up which again included my favourite ‘numbers game’ and Polly’s favourite ‘shooing the chickens’ stretch we did a quick name and number count along with everyone’s favourite holiday destinations –– Thailand was popular with a few, along with mentions for Italy, Ireland, Ecuador, India and other exotic locations - though I'm not sure many of them beat Costa del Hammersmith and Fulham at the moment!

Nicely warmed-up the team set off on the short 1.3km run down to Gibbs Green Tenants Hall with Jason as always being the trusty backmarker. Along the way there was group wall sit to enable everyone to re-group as we headed down off the main road. In a complete déjà vu of last week the ‘very short’ 1.3km run down to the task ended up being a slightly longer exploratory 2km run around the West Kensington area due to some postcode confusion...the morale of the story being never rely on Google maps and always listen to and follow Jason!!

Navigational con-artist

Once the correct postcode was acquired and with Jason now expertly leading the way the group arrived at Gibbs Green Tenants Hall and were welcomed at the entrance by Peggie and Sara. Peggie and Sara had kindly provided water for the group which was gratefully welcomed, as the group rehydrated they briefly explained the vast range of activities and opportunities that occur at Gibbs Green Tenants Hall for the community – this ranged from yoga to providing meals from surplus food.

It's all white now, it's all white now

The task brief tonight was to paint the bathrooms, kitchen and hallway of Gibbs Green Tenants Hall, a nice 'Changing Rooms' style green to a white/cream colour makeover in all the rooms. While some of the team began the prep work on the walls, Jesse resourcefully found a tool from outside that was ideal to stir the paint before he began filling up all the paint trays.

Increasing self-es-steam in the Gibbs Green Tenants Hall sauna, je l'aime chaud!

The group split into the four rooms that needed painiting: the bathroom, toilet, kitchen and hallway and everyone armed themselves with either a roller or paint brush. The group made quick work of painting all the walls and it wasn't long before there was a marked improvement. However, 22 GoodGymers in a small enclosed space quickly resulted in a sauna-esk environment with many sweat beads appearing….a free sauna for all! Despite the space constrictions the group worked like a well oil-machine talking as they painted both the walls and themselves - Will's & Luke's red shirt were no longer predominantly red and Johnny achieved a nice circular roller branding from Claire!

Monet can't buy you love, just Rembrandt that

As always the half an hour quickly passed and not wanting to leave the job unfinished the group pushed on for a few additional minutes until the walls were all completed! With all the painting completed and everyone rehydrated the group posed for a quick post-task group photo outside Gibbs Green Tenants Hall, with Peggie and Sara, before we both said our thank yous and goodbyes, and the group began the short (actually short this time!) 1.7km run back to base for a quick sprint technique session.

ALPS! Snow joke

The group split into two teams and were worked on their sprint technique over 20m focusing on the ALPS!..... A - Arms L - Legs P - Posture and S - Surprise!

There was some perfect sprinting techniques displayed and the surprise element was that both groups were running to a bag of Maoam for a small sugary treat to focus the minds on the sprinting and boost energy levels following all their hard work in the heat! Of course, one or two bended the rules (naming no names Jason) and stole the entire bag!

With the quick sprint session completed, Maoam consumed – turns out one way to keep a group quiet when asking questions is Maoam! - a cool down and stretch completed we all said our goodbyes for another week and gave Ellie and Anders a last round of applause on their last H&F group runs...for now - it's been wonderful having you along, all the best guys!

Thanks for having me again and for all your hard work at the task. All of you were totally ace! Again, apologies for the lack of navigational expertise, I shall crack it next time! (fingers crossed!). Have a fantastic week and hopefully see you in a couple of weeks.

Next week’s task is leafletting for Acknowledging Youth and will be led by the 'well great' Brent Trainer, Pritesh – sign-up here!

On a beautiful Tuesday evening in H&F a fantastic 19 GoodGym-ers turned up to help out at tonight’s task at Age UK. A big welcome to new runners Missie, Grant and Marie on their first GoodGym run, it was great to have you along!

Before we headed outside we had a quick round-up of the news from the week…

1. Well done to those that volunteered at the British 10K at the GoodGym Electrolyte/Water Aid Station on a scorcher of a Sunday, all your efforts and cheers were much appreciated by all the runners!
2. It’s the monthly GoodGym Long Run this Sunday which will be starting at Finsbury Park Station, the brilliant GoodGym Barnet Trainer, Damian is leading the run – sign up here.
3. Finally, a big well done to the lovely Ellie on completing her 50th good deed and earning her black t-shirt, well earned!

Poaching an extra few metres of running

Following a quick warm-up which included Polly’s favourite ‘shooing the chickens’ stretch, a quick name and number count along with everyone’s favourite drinks – the British classic of tea seemed to be a favourite with many – the team set off on the short 1.3km run down to Age UK. Although the 1.3km run down ended up being a slightly longer 2km run due to me taking the group a slightly more ‘scenic’ route down around Charing Cross Hospital...sorry gang!

It wasn’t long before we arrived at the Age UK Activity Centre and we were welcomed at the entrance by Fiona, one of the Age UK H&F Volunteer Coordinators and Dawn, the Chief Executive. Fiona briefly explained the range of activities and opportunities offered at the Centre that aim to tackle issues such as loneliness and social isolation in older adults.

All the necessary tools and equipment were then gathered and the group were led outside by Fiona who explained the tasks that needed to be completed in the garden. In order to complete all the tasks efficiently, the group split into 4 teams:

1. Team Sweeping – Missie, Alice, Catherine - tasked with sweeping up all the leaves on the patio
2. Team Cutting – Anil, Tom, Rachael, Josh and Grant - tasked with cutting the bush branches down to the roots
3. Team Washing – Miteki, Catriona, Ellie, Anna and Marie - tasked with cleaning the once white plastic tables and chairs
4. Team Roots & Watering – Jason, Will, Andrew and Jesse - tasked with digging up the roots in the plant bed

Forked up

Everyone quickly got stuck in and maximum effort was exerted, there were many sweat beads appearing, aching arms and Grant even managed to break the fork in two! Definitely one way to make your first group run memorable!

As always half an hour quickly passed and there was a marked difference from when the group had started; the tables were now gleaming white again, the roots were removed, the bush was cut back and the leaves were all swept up. Apart from one stubborn root that Andrew despite his determination couldn’t quite remove, all tasks were completed and the group posed for a quick post-task group photo with Fiona and Dawn.

Another task chalked up

With the tools and gloves tidies away, “GoodGym woz ‘ere” chalked onto the chalkboard by Catriona we all said our thank yous and goodbyes, and the group headed on a short 1km run led by Catriona up to Normand Park for a quick fitness session.

Plank you very much

First up was the plank relay, the group split into two teams and assumed the plank position. The runner at the back then sprinted down to the front and shouted “Go” to the next person once they were down in the plank position. “We miss Polly already!” was exclaimed by Jesse much to mine and everyone’s amusement..next week punishable by squats I reckon!

Squatshots

Next up was a three minute game of ‘squatshot’. Team Up v Team Down. 50 red plastic shot glasses in honour of Ellie’s 50th good deed. Some interesting tactics and battles occurred with shot glasses quickly being up then down or vice versa (and one squashed shot glass casualty), a competitive game in which Team Down were victorious with a narrow winning margin of 4!

With the quick fitness session completed we headed off on the 1.5km run back to base for a quick cool down and stretch, and cake-based 50th good deed celebration – a delicious Japanese cheesecake made by Jason, within minutes all that was left were crumbs! A great end to a fun night.

Thank you for making me feel so welcome and for all your hard work at the task. Big thank you to Catriona and Ellie for their navigation help, to Johnny for taking a register while there and to Jason for back-marking and ensuring that I didn’t lose anyone, success! Have a fantastic week all and hopefully see you next week - the task is painting at Gibbs Green Tenants Hall – sign-up here!.