Despite being a bit warmer during the day it was absolutely freezing come evening time and what better way to celebrate this stubbornly ever present winter weather than a task on Clapham Common? WHAT BETTER WAY?

Lucy J did a lovely warm up and then off we went in two groups as there were loads of us! John H led one group round the houses and Katie W took the more sensible option up Clapham High Street. On arrival at Clapham Common we collected our spades and wheelbarrows and carried on the sterling work of two weeks ago, neatly removing the topsoil from a strip of ground that will be turned into a wildflower meadow.

As half the group did that, the others went off and did some fitness, working those arms and core like noone's business. After swapping over, the work was done and so we ran back to base for stretches.

Then we were off for our monthly social and this month we thought we would do something a little different by visiting nearby Brazilian eatery Cabanas. Once we sat down, the exuberant manager told us all our bags were in the way and we felt the curse of attempting to find food and drinks on a Tuesday night in Brixton without coming across grumpy service staff falling on us once again. But never fear! After taking our orders in a some might say confusing fashion, Alberto did what he clearly does best and started papping the table with wild abandon. Not happy with Tom's shoddy iPhone, he began demanding a Samsung so that he could get the group in all their glory. The photos below are testament to the great man himself. Once fed and happy, we all went home to warm up and hope for sunnier climes soon.

31 runners ran 3.5km or 11km to help clearing at Myatt's Fields and to shift compost at Lambeth GP Food Coop

We split into two groups to complete our tasks. One went on a longer run to Lambeth GP Food Coop and the other shorter to old favourite Myatt's Fields...

4 tons and a lot of runs

On a lovely Tuesday evening a band of GoodGym runners fancying a longer stroll took up the challenge and ventured 5.4km into the depth of West Norwood where we were welcomed to the food co-op to do some lifting and shifting.

The task in hand was we had 4 ton bags of soil, and three empty planter's, we needed to make the planter's full and the ton bags empty. So as we had many hands we created a slick plan of giving folks individual roles of diggers, wheelbarrowers and lifters. When the bags were half way done, we carried them over and manually emptied them.

All in all 20 mins later it was operation complete and we all could give ourselves a good pat on the back. I even managed to get in some Leyton Orient facts and chants, a cracking Tuesday night. All that was left was a 5.4 km run home for so stretches to finish. 4 tons and lots of runs, nice one Lambeth.

Tom Benson

We've run out of hoes!

The rest of the group went over to Myatt's Fields where we split into four groups - two groups hoe-ing weeds from flower beds and paths, one cutting back ivy and a fourth clearing leaves. We set to work with the helpful instruction of Taye who had kindly stayed to show us what needed doing.

Super efficient as ever, we filled many large bags of leaves, ivy and weeds to add to Myatt's Fields impressive leaf pile. After 40 minutes it was tools down time, we tidied up and said our thank yous to Taye. We gathered for a team photo and a (rather poor quality) selfie. Task finished, we set off around the park to explore our three running gears - easy, medium and hard. After a bit of running in our 'hard' zone, we recovered using belly breathing to a point where were ready to head home.

A good run home and some cool down stretches we realised we'd beat team Food Coop back to base. When they arrived back, they'd clearly had a good run!

2018's first ever Shit Prize of the Month winner was Tom Hunter for hitting an amazing 150 good deeds last night and topping Lambeth's distance leaderboard with 195.2km. Give him a cheer!

That's all folks, keep running happy!

Lucy J

This week 16 GG-ers ran 6km to deliver flyers for Grange Big Local's community fair on 8 October.

We were joined by a couple of GG newbies: Samantha and Ben. Also recent newbies who started while I was in Spain: Kani and Alice – give 'em all a cheer!

We were also treated to a visit by Gary from Bristol who is starting a 3,000km cycle adventure on Sunday!!

We headed to Cherry Tree Wood for a quick warm up (there'll be a boomerang up on Twitter!) before heading off on our run. Paul helped me lead while Damian was our trusty back-marker, giving his legs a rest after his epic Sunday run.

We soon reached a deadend, which seemed the perfect time to split into our flyering leap frog formation. One team with me, one with Damian. We covered roads we've not often run down, which is always a treat, and took on some mighty hills.

After a quick circuit in a car park hitting the glutes, hammies, core, pecs and shoulders, it was time to head home. We just had to get up the steep car park exit first. Nicola helped me navigate back to the Phoenix at lightning speed.

This week's Barnet Biscuit: The MIGHTY Oreo

Next week we'll be running to help Muswell Hill Food Bank. Sign up here If you have gardening gloves, bring them. And probably a head torch.

On SUNDAY, Jody is organising an ultimate frisbee game and everyone is invited. Sunday 1st October, meeting 11am at the Regents Bar and Kitchen in Regent's Park. The more the merrier!

Apologies for the lack of photos - all the ones I took on the task were rubbish and I forgot to take a group photo! iPhones weren't built for nighttime photography!

Be sure to sign up for the Halloween Run on 24 Sept. We'll be setting up a haunted house. It's all hands on deck with this one, as it's quite far and will need all the help we can get to make sure we finish. 4km each way. Tell your friends.

Wandsworth smashed its own record for runners last night, and smashed it good. With no less than 46 of us, we just needed was Roy Castle and his trumpet confirming that al we needed was a bit of dedication. With the equivalent of over three rugby teams running to help out community organisations we are able to make a huge difference in our borough.

We couldn’t have made it without our amazing new runners, so here’s to Andrew, Paula, Georgie, Jessica, Larraine and Foster. Give them a cheer, Wandsworth, they’ve earned it!

A huge well done too to Alex who absolutely nailed his first ever 10k race this weekend in Regent Park. If you’re keen to get a race in the diary but don’t know where to start come and let me know and we can find you the perfect challenge. Don’t forget about park runs across London – and beyond – every single Saturday. Why don’t you have a look at the GG leaders board and while you’re there give Sophie a cheer, for she has sprinted to the top of the distance rankings. Way to go. Same goes for Berit who has been smashing out the good deeds along with Alex who also tops the cheer board. Well one Matthew for sustaining us with all that cheering!

All that running is thirsty work, so don’t forget about our monthly social which happens to be this Thursday near Russell Square, more details and sign up found here.

This week’s CoRUNdrum comes courtesy of Jordan  who asked us where the longest street in Britain can be found. Good one! With that in mind, we set off down the Wandsworth Road – which felt pretty never ending – and headed to Food For All. This amazing organisation provides a completely free food market for those who need it most, supports community self-help and is committed to tackling homelessness and social exclusion. We hope to work with them a lot in the future, and our next trip will be supporting them by distributing food to those that need it.

This time though we were there to see what it was all about, meet the lovely people and do a few jobs. This started with emptying the huge pile of rubbish, and never one to miss out on the chance to make a human chain we got cracking. Excitement peaked at the head of the line when Jessie spotted a mouse (new GG mascot?) but thankfully there was nothing bigger lurking in there. Our next task was to peel off the vinyl stickers on the soon to be repurposed Food For All van, which proved to be a very satisfying job, and the team had to be persuaded to step away from the vehicle to complete our third mission, which was to distribute posters to all the businesses along the Wandsworth Rd on our run back. Sinead took an early lead as the first to persuade a local shop to put it up, the rest of the team could be found weaving in and out of places all the way to Larkhall Park, where we stopped for a quick abs blast at the top of a hill. We worked our core hard with a combination of Russian twists, planks, crunches, scorpions and mountain climbers. A strong core is key to an injury-free and efficient running style as it helps reduce twisting and keeps us stable when we get tired. And to take our mind of the pain, we discussed our dinner plans – with pasta and burgers coming out on top, with cold sausages a less popular option. Whatever you went for, team, you earned it.

We pushed it harder for the last mile of the run, bossing that final deceptive hill on the way back to the BAC with ease. While we stretched we crowned this week’s CoRUNdrum winner - clever Holly that knew Streatham High Rd is the longest in the country. Well done Streatham and Holly. Next week we’re going to have fun delivering some flyers for a local community centre who need help spreading the word about their Easter festival. It’s a shortish run so we’ll be off to Battersea park to do a cracking fitness session. Don’t miss out, you lovely people. Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/spreading-the-word-for-our-local-community-centre