Mon 21st May 2018 at 6:30pm
Wandsworth Report written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
We started off our group run in Wandsworth with even more good things to celebrate than usual, kicking off with a load of lovely new faces joining us for their very first GoodGym run. A massive welcome to Egle, James, Hanna, Letizia and Ozge!
We also gave a huge round of applause for all the many racers who took to the streets of Bucharest last week to represent GoodGym internationally! So many of you put in some great effort on the various courses, and we're all very proud of you. A big well done to all those who raced elsewhere, including the Hackney 5k and half marathon.
There was a could of fantastic achievements to celebrate, as Ella did her 50th good deed last night, earning her black tshirt, and Frances hit her 100th and got her wings. You guys are wonderful, and have shown brilliant commitment and energy to do good in Wandsworth and beyond.
With 36 brilliants runners ready to spread a wave of good across Wandsworth last night, we had two community tasks ready to be tackled. We had been asked by a church in Balham if we could go along and help empty out their huge basement so that it could be used for something that would benefit local residents, while the other group, led by speedy Beth, were also going to head back to the amazing Grub Club to help them set up a community café that would help provide food and nutrition advice to disadvantaged families. But first a warm up!
Heading outside we kicked off with some dynamic stretches, lots of fast feet and knee drives before discussing what were our favourite attributes in our friends. Answers included kindness, a sense of adventure, the ability to drink lots of wine, a sense of humour and being rich!
After the warm up we split the group into two - one to take on the longer run to the church, the other to do a short but nippy run down to Caius House. My group opted for the slightly longer run, and headed off in the direction of Balham (along with a much-derided paper map!), where, two miles later we found Robert, the vicar, waiting for us with a huge skip and a full basement We got straight to it, forming a human chain and tackling the heaviest items first. out came beautiful stained glass doors, parts of benches, panes of the heaviest glass in the world (which are pretty dramatic when they smash!), netball hoops, old chairs and much more. It turned out to be a great upper body work out, and increasingly covered in dust, we worked for half an hour until the skip had reached overflowing point. We were rewarded with fruit and water (thanks St Mary's!) and set off on a speedy run back to the common where Chi had discovered a Strava segment and a few of us split off to race the clock and get GoodGym up the rankings! Great speed work everyone.
There was just a last push back to the BAC to meet up with the other group and hear about all the good they had been doing.
Over to Beth for her take on last night's fun at Caius House and the new Grub Club there:
Half of the group ran a short but brisk mile to help set-up The Glub Club at Caius House Youth Centre. Once we arrived we were met by Aisling who briefly explained the vision of The Glub Club; community is at the core of The Grub Club and it is a wonderful initiative that supports and engages families with nutrition advice and cooking skills. Following on from last week’s prep work this week the task was to paint the sanded down furniture and the walls of the café. There were no 'moaning Lisa's' about the prospect of painting instead in true Changing Rooms fashion, lots of 'Carol Smillie's'. The group efficiently split into three painting teams: Team Furniture, Team Magnolia and Team White; everyone picked-up either a roller or paint brush and enthusiastically got stuck in – possibly a touch too enthusiastically as within minutes Jessie had splashed her black GG t-shirt with white paint, and by the end of the task most had either their hands or clothing covered in paint, or both in Lewis’ case!...but everyone stylishly brushed it off and rolled with it.
After a fun-filled 30 minutes of painting to some classic 90's hits (Backstreet Boys and painting, what's not to love?!) there was a marked difference from when we had arrived, the chairs were now all painted white and the café walls had a nice coat of either magnolia or white – although much to the disappointment of many we didn’t have enough time to finish the tops of the walls. We all downed painting tools and began the tidy-up which was quickly done, quite possibly due to the lure of treats awaiting the group once they had finished – a fruit smoothie, berries, cereal bars and popcorn had all been laid out, what a treat!
We had a brief final chat with Aisling about when The Grub Club was planning to launch before we both said our thank yous and goodbyes (until we return on the 11th June!). Following a quick headcount to ensure no-one had been lost or got too attached to ensuring the walls were completely painted, we all headed off on the short mile run back to base to meet up with the other group.
We beat the other group back so much to everyone’s excitement they were treated to 30 seconds of either wall-sits or step-ups followed by a 30 second rest. Sadly/luckily (delete as appropriate!) within a few minutes the other group appeared and we all began the cool down and stretch together.
As the two groups reunited back at the BAC, all that was left to do was bid a sad farewell to lovely Hannah who will be leaving us in Wandsworth, but hopefully not the GoodGym family - well done for all the time you've put into doing good Hannah, we'll miss you! Theres was also the matter of Matthew's birthday (congratulations Matthew!), and we used what lung capacity we had left to sing him a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, and no doubt startling a few passers-by as we did!
Next week it's the second of our Monday bank holidays, but if you're worried about missing out on your Goodgym fix then good news - we're still running as normal! We'll even have a little social afterwards to celebrate. Sign up here - see you then!
Tuesday 15th May 2018
Kay Willman has done their first good deed with GoodGym.
Kay is a now a fully fledged GoodGym runner. They've just run to do good for the first time. They are out there making amazing things happen and getting fit at the same time.
Tue 15th May 2018 at 10:44am
Great to have you on your first group run Kay!
Mon 14th May 2018 at 6:30pm
Wandsworth Report written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
Another beautiful night in Wandsworth, another massive task for a fantastic new community organisation, another fast and furious fitness session smashed!
A huge welcome to all the lovely runners who joined us for their first group run last night - give a massive cheer for Pablo, Marina, Lou-Ann, Sarah and Kay!
Well done to super speedy Chris who raced on Sunday in Richmond and getting not only a 10k but a 10mile PB for his efforts. Great work Chris!
Another massive congratulations goes to the lovely Judith who reached her 50th good deed last night - that's a huge amount of doing good for Wandsworth. Judith, we salute you!
A little reminder about the GoodGym Olympics. The sign up for events is now live! The deadline is the 3rd June, and there are a variety of events on offer, including egg and spoon, a pancake race, 100m, 400m and relays. The entry page has full list of the events and descriptions of some of the lessor know races (including the GoodGym relay, this year's theme is no one gets left behind...think human caterpillar race). If you haven't been to the GoodGym Olympics before it is a fantastically fun day of competition between the different GoodGym areas followed by a social. C'mon Team Wandsworth!
What item always appears in your picnic hamper?
After a rundown of the week's news we headed outside to warm up ready for the run to last night's task at the amazing Caius House, a youth centre in the middle of Wandsworth. While high knees, lunges, twists and bum-jiggling fast feet got our heart rates up, we debated what is the best thing to take on a picnic. While there was a strong booze contingent (wine, gin, tequila, Karen's mixers and Chi's Boston cocktail shaker), there were healthy options with plenty of fruit, sandwiches and houmous, plus of course Ella's essential cups.
Our task tonight was at the new Grub Club, an organisation which helps disadvantaged families get access to good food, nutrition advice and facilities. It was a short run down to Wandsworth Town, where we were met by the founder, Aisling, who told us a bit about her amazing initiative. It was a super organised start thanks to some great prep by Aisling and her designers, so we immediately split into three groups to tackle sanding, painting and rollering. With so many hands, we made light work and the room was a blur of action. Thankfully we were also treated to snacks, including frozen strawberries, fruit bars and even popcorn - 'best task ever', said Jordan!
40 minutes later, we downed tools - but don't worry, we'll be back again to do some more for this important place. Waving goodbye to Aisling and her team, it was just a short hop across the road to the park, where we embarked on 15 minutes of HIT training, focusing on getting our hearts pumping, working our arms and core. The idea behind HIT is that benefits of getting to cardio peaks continue after you've finished the exercises, and with an active recovery between each peak, it's a total body workout. After a short jog back to base, we only had that last hill to tackle, and by the looks of the power behind everybody's final sprint, you worked super hard tonight, team. You should feel proud of yourselves!
Next week it's DOUBLE TASK NIGHT, with half the group going back to Caius House to do more jobs there, and half the group running to empty a local church basement. Two runs, two different distances, double the fun! See you then, gang.
ps If you'd like to find out more and potentially volunteer for the amazing organisation The Mini Mermaid Running Club that Amy was telling us about last night, then let me know and I'll put you in touch.