Fifteen fabulous GoodGymmers ran 6km to post flyers and promote Stephen's House. They are a brilliant local charity who have a great looking set of summer events for children in their gardens this summer so it's always a pleasure to help them out.

Meeting at the Phoenix, we welcomed Gail for her first ever GG run and Euclides for his first in GGB - great to have you along guys.

We set off with armfuls of flyers to Cherry Tree Wood for a quick warm up before hitting the residential streets of East Finchley. Dividing into two teams of 7, one led by Rupesh and one led by Katie, we set about rapidly posting our flyers. We sped up and down the lovely leafy streets posting using our trusty relay system.

In what seemed like no time at all we had posted all the flyers and set off for our fitness session! Everyone in GGB has been hit by race fever recently, with a big team heading to the Sofia running festival most recently, so attention has turned to Summer races (hello Maverick Trail) and GETTING FASTER.

So, to that end: we ran together to Highgate Woods for a lap of undulating trails before stopping off for some strides. GPS was a little wonky, but we think our flat section of path was about 225 metres. So: the team divided into comfortable speed groups and set off for a fast run out (70% effort) and a chilled run back. We did this twice and it was very noticable how much conversation seemed to dip from there...

After that, it was a nice relaxed run back to the Phoenix, with a sprint finish for those with a bit of energy left, and some stretches.

Great work everyone - looking forward to next week already. See you then!

Eighteen excellent GoodGymmers ran 6km to help the gardener maintain lovely Stephen's House and Gardens.

Meeting at the Phoenix, we welcomed Ed for his first GoodGym run: welcome! We also saw Rachel and Beattie for their first run with us in a year. Good to see you again!

We set off with Abi backmarking. It's about 3km so we took it at an easy pace to start with and we scooped up Fay on the way.

On arrival, we met with Peter who explained our tasks for the evening: picking up the branches and leaves lining the path after cutting earlier today and, of course, litter picking! Abi, Charlotte and Rob volunteered for litter picking while the rest of the team got stuck into grabbing branches and leaves. They had all been cut back from the pathway earlier in the day so picking them up tidied the place up and saved the gardener loads of time.

Using gloves, grabbers and sequiters the branches were chopped, grabbed and squashed into bags and into the tractors trailer. After half an hour we had cleared all the leaves and branches and dragged the bags back to the depot. We said our goodbyes to Peter and set off.

It was time for a fitness session. We did a quick abs circuit: mountain climbers, bicycle crunches, then burpees. Tiring work but a great effort. Then it was the finisher: a plank! Everyone did well managing between 30 seconds and 2 minutes.

From there it was a nice relaxed run back to the Phoenix for stretches. Great work everyone - looking forward to next week already. Wishing luck to our runners heading to Sofia: have fun!! 🔥

Ps finally an excuse for a Simpsons clip 🤜

Fifteen fabulous GoodGymmers ran 3km to help maintain beautiful Longlane Pasture 🌲

Meeting at the Phoenix, we welcomed Karnika for her first GoodGym run: welcome! We also celebrated Task Force Jodie's 100th good deed!! 🔥 Well worth a cheer for both I'd say.

We set off with Jodie backmarking. It's about 1.5k so we took it at an easy pace with plenty of chatting.

On arrival, we met with Wayne and Donald who explained our tasks for the evening: raking, clearing brambles, and shifting big piles of weeds/brambles. We split into three teams and got to work.

Team Pitchfork, led by Abi, got stuck into a huge pile of brambles and set about moving them to a central pile for burning. Team Sequitur, (Jodie, Fiona and Mumtaz) did a loop with the wheelbarrow and their cutting implements chopping back brambles and weeding. Team Rake, made up of everyone else, set about raking up he leftovers from some recent mowing and building it into a big pile. There were not quite enough gloves to go around so most of us settled for one each - a little touch of MJ style influence perhaps.

We had about half an hour and used it all up completing these tasks. There were a few scratches - shorts are not the the ideal clothing choice for cutting brambles perhaps - but we got it done. The final task was to consolidate our big pile into the central pile so it was all hands on deck to get it all moved. It was brilliant, occasionally thorny, work and much appreciated by the regular volunteers. It saves them loads of time and helps the space stay looking it's best.

We teamed up for a team photo 📸: using our MJ inspiration once more for the thriller album cover, this time with 14 single gloved volunteers in some green pasture.... Quite the effort I'm sure you'll agree.

From there it was a nice relaxed run back to the Phoenix for stretches.

Great work everyone - looking forward to next week already.

D