It was a beautiful night in Wandsworth last night, and with a huge 42 runners and a massive job to do we were pumped and ready to do some good!

We had some great new runners join the GG Wandsworth fam, which always gets the evening off to a happy start! Hello and a very big welcome to Rachel, Olivia and Olivia.

Before we set off we had a quick chat about the Endure 24 race that had happened over the last weekend and that a number of GoodGym runners had smashed - if you're inspired why not check out the next race trip to East Farm on the August bank holiday. There are a number of race distances to choose for, so there's something for everybody. All the details are here so why not check it out.

No Pain(t) No gain

Our Monday job was down at the amazing Caius House, a youth centre in Wandsworth. We've been helping to set up a community café, The Grub Club, an organisation that helps provide food and nutrition advice to local disadvantaged young kids. It was a quick mile run away, so we kicked off with a little warm up that featured progressive squats, fast feet and jumps. We also discussed who we would choose to take on a road trip, if we could choose anybody. Looks like David Attenborough is going to be very busy over the next few months, but the Obamas (and Trump!), the new Royal Couple (on separate trips!) and a few of us in the group will also need to pack a bag....

With Andrew back marking we made it down to Caius House in no time at all, stopping for a few toe taps and squats along the way, and found Aisling waiting for us with paint pots, rollers and a list of jobs. We split up into groups to tackle furniture sanding and treating, and lot of different paint jobs around the room. With colour now being added and the final touches really coming together, it is clear that this place is going to look fantastic. If you want to find out more about the sort of amazing things the Grub Club are doing, have a look here. After half an hour we had made some real progress, but there are still some jobs to be done, so we'll be back! If only there were more hours in the day...

We said our goodbyes, and headed over for a local park where we got stuck into our fitness session, which was circuits with a difference. The idea was that we could choose between three different levels of difficulty with each station, while a control group knocked out 40 jumping jacks and a sprint before each group could move on. It was a tough one last night, but you guys worked hard and really nailed it. Way to go, GoodGym!

There was just a short run and a little (!) hill ahead of us before we could call it a night, so in pairs we set off to really attack that last sprint. A few stretches later and we were done. Nice work, team. If you fancy a good upper body workout shifting bags of compost up the stairs to a rooftop community garden next week (and why wouldn't you?) then sign up here for another night of GoodGym fun!

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!

Things couldn't have been more different from this time last week, when we were wrapped up in hats, scarves and gloves and had the coldest task yet. But last night, 38 of us turned up in shorts and tshirts ready to celebrate the start of spring in the lovely light of early evening.

We had some lovely new runners to welcome to the group - hello Sarah, Anne-Marie, Josefin, Ed and Rob! Why not give them a cheer, GoodGym?

It had been a very busy week of running, well done team. Shout out to Beth who put in a great performance at the Colchester Half (and also provided punspiration this week!), David who smashed the Sri Chimnoy 10k and Paul who had a good run at the Frank Harmer 10k - in between doing a huge 11 good deeds so far this month!

There are loads of races coming up - good luck if you're racing and let us know how you go! There's going to be a great turnout from GoodGymers at the London Marathon this year and we'll have a cheer team out in force. If you fancy joining us, just let me know, and don't forget to wear your GoodGym tshirt!

We were giddy to find that it was still light as we did our warm up, and in celebration, we listed our favourite things about spring. SUN, light evenings, wine in the garden, easter eggs and beer gardens are all the lovely things we have got to look forward to in the next few weeks.

Tonight our task was back at the lovely Paradise Co-Op garden to shovel a big pile off woodchip over the paths, and after a nice 2.5km run there where we made a new friend in the shape of Rob, we arrived happy to see the place in daylight! Organising ourselves with rakes, spades, buckets and other tools we got stuck in, and with 38 of us shifting woodchip, the job was done in no time at all. This community garden was once an overgrown and derelict site next to Wandsworth prison, but the hard work of volunteers has transformed this into a beautiful small-holding including an orchard, poly-tunnels, raised vegetable beds, a fish-pond, bush-craft area and community celebration area with pizza oven and running water.

We then ran over to Wandsworth Common to take on a fitness session that focused on some speed work and at the same time working on our cores - which is important for an efficient running form and to prevent injury. Alternating sprints with ab drills including v crunches, planks, mountain climbers and elbow to knee crunches, we got both a high energy, fat burning workout and a strengthening core blast at the same time.

All that was left was a run back to the BAC and a good stretch out. Don't forget that next week is Easter Monday, but that won't stop us! We have a lovely task helping to plant herbs and other jobs at a much-loved local youth centre, followed by our annual Easter social. Sign up here for a hoppity happity Easter run!