Three teams headed out to get three tasks completed on what was easily one of the most miserable Monday evenings in recent months.

Lots of behind-the-scenes planning from trainer and task force meant that our multiple-task evening went ahead smoothly - runners had options galore as they turned up at Bethnal Green’s Town Hall Hotel, some already soaked by 6.45.

Leafleting for the Lantern Parade

Dave had been working with me and Aldgate Community Events’ (ACE) task owner Laura in planning this evening’s leafleting activity, for the upcoming Aldgate Winter Parade and Lantern Festival (we’ve got a Community Mission organised for the 5th December to get involved with making the lanterns for this – details are here). All the leaflets were distributed: a team of four fast runners sped to the task which allowed bundles of time to blitz the Aldgate and Whitechapel Road area. They distributed the leaflets but got drenched in the process. It wasn’t the easiest of tasks on an evening like tonight, and these runners stepped forward when the rest of us were most definitely plumping for the indoor alternatives, so on behalf of ACE and the group, thank you Joel, Luke, Bryon and Dave. If you’re coming to next week’s task at the farm, you get first choice of task!

Legging it to Look Ahead

Meanwhile, more behind the scenes planning from Becky and Leanne meant another group were able to head to Look Ahead Care & Support on Commercial Road for an evening of decorating and sign-making. Writes Becky, “After dodging a number of buses that seemed intent on showering us with most of Bethnal Green’s standing water, we made it to Look Ahead, drenched but in one piece, to be greeted by the lovely Catriona. Leanne and Gabrielle were soon put to work unleashing their creative juices on drawings and signs reflecting the Five Ways to Wellbeing, while the rest of us were despatched to the kitchen, vestibule and toilet areas to give the walls a fresh lick of paint. Who knew blitzing surfaces covered with finger marks and Blu Tack stains could be so therapeutic. The dash back to base in the rain proved less so, but provided an opportunity for some impromptu fartlek training. Every cloud…(forgive the pun). And Catriona expressed her heartfelt gratitude and seemed keen to have us back again for more, so it really was mission accomplished.”

Pacing to Parkview

And after our third task had been rearranged at the last minute, I took a team of four to the Glasshouse Community Centre at nearby Parkview Estate, where task owner Catherine has been working hard over recent months to give this beautiful venue a supersized makeover (we’re heading here for another fun Community Mission on the 5th December, for carol-singing, catering at the venue’s big Winter Warmer event - all the details are here ). Tonight we were painting the recently de-cluttered office, and no sooner had we arrived than the runners were covering walls in a luscious pale lemon shade and even I joined in (there are only so many pics a trainer can take in an hour on such a small task), learning the ropes for wall-sanding from Catherine and our Jess. The runners worked hard, and covered a lot, and Catherine was overjoyed with what we achieved.

And so we returned to base, in the pouring rain, where a now depleted group ran through a tough resistance training session in the hotel room. What work, what teamwork, what resilience – GG Tower Hamlets, you are warriors.

Special thank you’s and shout outs tonight

Amazing work from everyone tonight. A big warm welcome to Michael, whose first run it was – I hope you enjoyed your first experience of a Group Run, and we really hope to see you again soon.

And congratulations to our very own Si, who joins us nearly every Monday night, and who hit 25 group runs last week, despite only being with us since April.

…especially to our Task Force

And to our task force, to Dave, Becky, and Leanne tonight, who were emailing and helping plan over the weekend, and throughout their busy working day today.

We always thank the task force, and hopefully appreciate them, but I was thinking this evening about how a truly reliable and resourceful task force impacts on the GoodGym community and local community. Here’s what I came up with:

• It means multiple tasks can be created on one evening with much greater ease, offering runners a choice of task, and being able to agree to help desperate task owners who are after some eleventh hour help.

• It means multiple new running routes can be explored, routes planned in advance, and much more local knowledge utilised on the best routes.

• It means all group run plans can always go ahead, however complex, irrespective of any unforeseeable last minute ‘hiccups’ (e.g. a much higher turnout than anticipated, impromptu DBS checks potentially delaying our departure, local medical emergency requiring our runners’ help…).

So there it is, a bit of rationale behind the task force shout outs. Thank you Tower Hamlets Task Force, you always rock.

Moving on. To next week – and to Christmas parties

And so next week, we’re back at the fabulous Stepney City Farm, where no doubt Charlie will have all manner of tasks lined up for us, from compost-turning to pig-watching. Come and join us – to say it’ll be fun is an understatement.

And don’t forget, December 1st is the GoodGym Christmas Party, at The Old Library, in beautiful Burgess Park in South London from 7pm, and for which the fancy dress theme is the first letter of your GoodGym area (we have two, obviously - the best I’ve come up with is Thor. I know, I know…).

Right, that’s it from me. Have a wonderful week, everyone – stay warm, stay running and see you very soon.

Task force to the rescue

It was a feelgood factor like no other tonight as a large group of runners gathered on the steps of our lovely hotel to warm up for the evening’s run. Task force came to the rescue as several of the runners were called away to an impromptu medical emergency from a nearby local resident. Leanne speedily stepped in to lead the 18 runners down to the Royal London, while Bryon was already leading the task to the Cranbrook Community Food Garden. And thankfully Joel was already navigating the Royal London route, having previously responded to my route SOS (“Calling all runners who can show us a Low Traffic Light Route”), so as I remained with the three runners who were providing life-saving assistance to the local resident, the teams were led quickly and competently to our tasks.

Runners fixed the runner beans

Bryon and the team accomplished a lot at the garden, painstakingly taking tomato and runner bean plants out of their soil, and removing plenty of fiddly bamboo sticks and wire ties. Janet the task owner was over the moon, messaging me at 10pm to say, “They worked so hard! They were a delight tonight. Thank you.” And having completed their task very promptly, proceeded to put their additional time to good use, with Bryon taking the team on a detour back to the hotel, squeezing in some additional miles on the cardio clock.

…And accomplished a lot at the hospital

Meanwhile at the Royal London, teams were divided into two main tasks: one large group continued last week’s training with task owner Nancy and Richard heading onto the elderly and dementia wards, while a further two teams were dispatched to deliver Evening Standards, chaplaincy packs and Friends and Family Tests papers to multiple wards, zig-zagging between the two towers of the hospital, navigating the somewhat complex lift system.

And then it was gone 8pm and we were heading back to base, with Chi leading the pack at a respectable speedy pace for those who fancied a fitness boost to end the evening.

Monday mentions

What a night. BIG GROUP RUN SHOUT-OUTS tonight to: our wonderful task force members Leanne, Bryon and Becky for leading the runners to the tasks, and thinking on their feet with marvellous Plan B’s; Joel for jumping in with a brilliant new Royal London route; Chi for our end-of-evening fitness kick, and Stefaniaand Bryonfor lovely pics. And to Lisa, Polly, and Sophia, for your role in helping to save a life this evening. Thank you for putting the ultimate Good into GoodGym.

Coming up: our social on Thursday (and back to Weaver’s next week)

Onwards to the rest of the week, and on Thursday we’re kicking off our trainers and letting our hair down as we head to the GG social, which we’re co-hosting with Hackney at The Star of Bethnal Green! Do come along, even if just for a quick post-work pint – more details can be found here.

And next week we’re back to the adventure playground, where Alex has a variety of the usual fun tasks for us, which will be followed by a challenging Autumnal Abs session. Come and join in the fun!

In the meantime, have a really great week everyone, and hope to see you very soon.

Back to school

It was a task-with-a-difference this evening as 31 of us headed off to the Royal London to undertake some intensive training, under the care of fabulous task owners Nancy and Richard of Barts Volunteers.

Preparing to head onto the wards...

We've enjoyed a few tasks at the hospital over the last few months and so with runners previously expressing a desire to visit patients on the wards, Nancy and her team arranged for us to participate in an evening's training at the hospital's Education Academy. The training covered not only the logistics and health & safety aspects of going onto the wards, it also gave us an insight into what's involved when visiting wards which treat patients suffering with dementia.

No sooner had we arrived at the hospital, were we all seated on benches in the lecture theatre, and learning about what goes on inside the Trust, and watching invaluable and moving footage of a hospital experience through the eyes of a dementia sufferer. The runners became absorbed in the training and engaged well - well done as usual, team!

Nancy also took this opportunity to thank the runners for previous work undertaken at the hospital, explaining that the litter-picking and gardening previously blitzed by Good Gymers in the hospital's John Harrison garden had been really well maintained, and, Nancy felt, had contributed to an improved perception of the hospital's green space, leading to less litter being deposited. What a thing to hear! What a thing to be responsible for! Another well done, team.

Greyhound and hare-ing it back to base

And then a brief hour later, we were heading back to base, playing our favourite greyhound-and-hare game, with Danny leading the greyhounds who caught us up at...the first set of lights, before co-hosting the stretching session with Leanne.

It was a really great night, and we look forward to returning next week to pick up where we left off.

A record number of first time runners!

And what a fabulous number of new runners joined us tonight! A big hello and welcome to our 8 first time GG runners: Hannah, Jess, Pippa, Lynda, Sarah, Sian, Sean, Sophie and Cath (new to TH but not to GG).

Monday night medalists

Tonight's Group Run thank-you's go to: Leanne and Lisa for back-marking; Leanne and Danny for leading our post-run stretching session (great job!); Danny for leading the greyhound runners, and to Joel for this week's perfect pun.

Come and join in next week! (even if you didn't come this evening)

Next week we're returning to the hospital for Week 2 - but if you didn't attend this evening's training - don't worry, there'll be tasks available for you to do that don't require training!

We were a good sized team of 19 this evening, with a total of 7 new runners joining us!

Operation Aldgate

Task force member Dave was leading the flyering operation this evening, taking a small team of 5 on a longer run to Aldgate to meet with Laura, from Aldgate Community Events, to help promote the Aldgate Lantern Parade and Winter Fete on December 7th. The team not only ran a respectable distance, succeeded in distributing all but a handful of the leaflets, they then made it back to Hollybush Gardens in time for tonight’s Pilates sessions. Good going, Operation Aldgate.

A glossy finish

Meanwhile, I led the other runners to Hollybush Gardens for an evening of painting. I say ‘led’ but somehow I managed to get us lost on the 0.2m run to our task, as I hadn’t been to the Hollybush Community Centre before. Thanks to Leanne for saving the day, and getting us to our destination and on time. On arrival at the task, experienced task owner Margaret had thought of everything: runners were dispatched at lightning speed to the hallway to paint doors and skirting boards. Shoe-covers, gloves, disposable brushes, snacks and juice were all ready and waiting and the runners completed the task in record time. Before long, we were gathering as usual for our goodbyes and forming multiple rows in the Community Centre for this evening’s Pilates class.

P is for Pilates. And planks.

Surprisingly refreshed-looking runners whizzed through some standing balance moves, shoulder-tap planks and then some seated abdominal work before racing back to base for some much-needed glute stretches.

Awesome Autumn teamwork

Tonight was a real team effort and a half. Thanks to our brilliant task force, for usual behind-the-scenes Monday planning; to Dave for heading up the flyering task; Leanne for saving the Hollybush route day and helping close up the centre; to Leanne and Dave for leading the routes back.

And tonight’s pun was brought to you by the brilliant Danny (when are you coming to join us again, btw, Danny?). Thank you for an eleventh hour comedy contribution.

A massive, smiley GG welcome to our wonderful new runners tonight: JoJo, Sarah (not new to GG by any means, just to TH), Thaisa, Nikki, Lisa, Juliette, Tim – thank you for being so productive, speedy and welcoming to fellow new runners, on your first run with Team Tower Hamlets, and we hope to see you again very soon.

Next week, we're heading to hospital...

Next week, we’re on an indoor task at the first of a two-week task at the Royal London, where those who are interested in returning for a second week to visit the dementia wards can undertake a training task with the Head of Dementia. Not a task to be missed, IMO, so sign up here. In the meantime, have a brilliant week, and look forward to seeing you very soon.