Barnet’s do-gooding, get-fitting biscuiteers were in fine fettle last night after smashing a brilliant task in record time.

After a slightly delayed start (sorry team!), we said congratulations to those that had done Park Runs that week, and to our Barnet heroes. Well done to Hazel, Damian, and Madeleine for topping the distance, good deeds and cheers league tables. Give ‘em a high five, Barnet!

Before we set off for the run, we did a headcount, and discussed one of the capital’s most pressing issues. Apparently there are some definitive rankings of Londoners’ favourite tube lines. According to the statisticians, the most popular line is the DLR, followed by Jubilee, then Victoria. But Barnet disagrees, and had some good reasons to back up their faves. The winning tube line, by a long way was….drum roll please…the oldest of the deep-level lines, the incomparable Northern line! Of course it was. Reasons included, ‘because I’m Northern’, and ‘because we can see it from here’. Fair enough.

With that decided, we set off for Northway Gardens. It was a lovely run there, covering part of the Bishop’s Avenue and having a good snoop at the giant (empty) houses as we went. Damian knew the route like the back of his hand, and after no time at all, we arrived to see Brian the gardener waving at us from his car. Which, when we got closer, we could see was filled to the brim with bags of compost (and a couple of bits of wood). The GoodGym fates were smiling upon us last night, because would you believe there were exactly as many bags as there were runners? Crazy stuff. Taking one bag each (and a wheelbarrow), we emptied the car and set off for the gardens a few minutes away. Compost unloaded, there were a few other jobs to do, such as de-bulbing daffodils, emptying compost bins, filling pens with leaves and shifting pots. All of which was done quickly, much to Brian’s approval – and we even got a few gardening tips and a bit of history on the garden itself, which is run entirely by volunteers and is beautiful.

We took advantage of the lovely surroundings to do our fitness session next to the garden. After a quick core blast and sprint session, we finished off with a game of British Bulldog. Apparently this was banned in some schools, but in Barnet we laugh in the face of rules, and launched into a very speedy game that saw some super-fast sprinting and tricksy footwork. On the run back, we took advantage of the red lights to have a squat challenge, seeing who could hold it the longest. The team obviously has glutes of steel, and outlasted the traffic lights, before finishing off the run with some stretches. Baking Queen Hazel treated the group with some delicious cookies and brownies wrapped in their very own little sweetshop bags – so cute! Next week trainer Pennie is back to lead you through the streets of Barnet to do even more good for the community. Be there or be square:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/gg-barnet-helps-archer-academy-create-a-cool-space

Tonight we ran between just between 6 and 7kmto promote the Clocktower Community Market in South Norwood by delivering over 200 leaflets!

After a sunny day the evening proved a little chilly although the run to Woodside Green where we met Jasmine certainly warmed us up. Tonight’s task was to help promote a local community market held monthly in South Norwood by leafleting the streets in the local area.

We spilt into 4 groups and up and down the streets of Woodside – we’ve still got some leaflets left so the local libraries and cafes will find themselves with some leaflets over the next few days. until we’d run out of leaflets.

We met back up at the war memorial on the green and although we didn’t have much time before we needed to head back we did fit in som fun Suicide Sprints which everybody loved! We did lose 3 runners who headed home as we were close by and then another 2 as we got closer to our finish point. Luckily they all told me they were leaving so we didn’t spend the rest of the evening looking for them!

We also had a new member today Andy - so a big welcome to him and hope to see you in your red t-shirt very soon.

Don’t forget we’ve got the London-wide social on Thursday 4th of May in our very own Croydon at the Bedford Arms close to Solutions. This will be going on the website very soon so you can sign up but in the mean time “save the date”.

Next week we will be heading back to the lovely Grangewood Park in Thornton Heath to work with the Friends Group. Here is the link to sign up.

If group runs were meals - stay with me here - then last night's in Barnet would have been a picnic. We had a lovely summer evening, we had the famous Barnet biscuit, and we had a task sandwich...

It all began at the beautiful Pheonix Cinema where we said hello to some ace new faces. Give a cheer to Tim, Laura, and Bethany, runners of Barnet! While you're there, why don't you also give a virtual pat on the back to Heather who, perhaps unsurprisingly, is topping the distance leader boards after running the Paris marathon last weekend. What a star! Hat tip to Hazel who is leading the cheers and the good deeds - way to go Hazel.

With Penny away on her hols, we did a head count and at the same time named our favourite biscuit in honour of the erstwhile biscuity trainer - chocolate definitely came out at the top of the rankings. Our task was only a very short run away, so off we set, looking forward to getting stuck in with the lovely Paul and Kim back marking for us. Ah, such hope, such optimism. It was only when we arrived at the Archer Academy ready to start digging a lovely big pond, did we find the building was locked. Tumbleweed skittered across the tarmac. It didn't look good. A quick call confirmed that the Easter hols meant that the school was closed. What were we to do? Luckily Barnet has a crack team of a task force, and after a moment of Damian and Hazel putting their heads together we came up with a plan. Paul still had some leaflets at home from a charity GoodGym had worked for previously - a brilliant sounding organisation called Barnet Furniture Centre that helps low-income families by providing them with affordable furniture. Phew!

We didn't want to waste the lovely quiet spot we found ourselves in and decided to do our fitness session first. It was circuits night, with five stations featuring burpees, sprints, squat holds, planks and press ups. 45 seconds of work, and 15 seconds rest between each circuit was a tough work out but Barnet meant business. There were some high energy burpees, some lovely straight-backed planks, and, well, there was some lying facedown on the tarmac too, but that was proof of a good work out. After a couple of games (Fish! Chips! Chicken??) we set off to deliver those flyers, dividing up into teams to get the job done quick smart. Which we did - in record time. Which meant that we had time for the last part of our fitness sandwich. Off we jogged with Damien leading us to a newly-mowed patch of lawn to bust out some core exercises. They were toughies, and ten minutes later our abs were well and truly worked. With that our fitness/task/fitness sandwich was done, and we had an easy run back to our start location. While we were stretching Paul and Kim told us about the chicken connoisseur - he searches for the pengest munch in London. We had some pretty peng munches with the dark chocolate post-run Barnet biscuits - thank you so much. You guys are some peng runners, Barnet! Thanks for a great night. Next week you'll be helping to spread the word about your lovely start location, you can sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/helping-out-the-phoenix

ps did you enjoy running along the streets of East Finchley with a soundtrack of your favourite tunes? I bet you did. Barnet cleverly has a spotify list YOU can add to. Just whack your choices on the list and Hazel will upload them to make a playlist for your next run:

https://open.spotify.com/user/hayzec/playlist/103nlP4rUGeecGerbkW51y

This week saw the return of Team GG Barnet to the BFC to help Jade sand and paint more furniture. We were joined by GG newbie Freya, who has been meaning to join us for AGES and finally managed to come along. Be sure to give her a cheer!

This was our speediest week yet, with the speedy and less speedy groups both breaking records on our return to the Barnet Furniture Centre! Damian lead the speedy lot the 3.7km to the BFC, while (TF) Freya lead the less speedy group. I was our trusty back-marker this week. Hazel treated us to a soundtrack with her brand new portable speaker, playing TONNES of great tunes.

The speedy group beat their very impressive time last week by about a minute or two, while the less speedy group managed to run the 3.7km in just 22.51 minutes – only a minute slower than the speedy group's record last week. I think this means we are getting faster!

Jade and her project managed had a tonne of furniture ready and waiting for us to sand and paint, with the main rule being: leave no drips. Damian, Paul, Joanna and Jody did a fab job sanding outside, making the most of the longer days. Everyone else got to work painting drawers inside. (New) Freya and I bonded over a love for burpees, which I'm sure everyone can relate to.

Once everything was done, it was time to say our goodbyes. With such a speedy time under our belts, and in honour of our new runner, we did some burpees before the run back.

Damian, TF Freya, Paul and Nicola made up the speedy group, while I lead the rest of the team back to base. Chris was my trusty back-marker.

Very impressive 7.4km this week, combined with beautiful upcycling and improved burpees. Good job, team!

Barnet Biscuit of the Week: Chocolate muffins and chocolate crunchy balls courtesy of Hazel!

There's a big mission on Saturday that needs ALL HANDS ON DECK. We're joining forces with GG Haringey to help Grow The World In London and Go Grow get there site near the A10 up and running. Sign up here

Jobs that need doing: Strim and dig for planting plot 1&3; Plant potatoes, onions, broad beans; Build raised beds; Dig and fill 6 exciting raised beds with manure; Clear the greenhouse and re hang the door

Mission starts at 11am.

Next week I'll be in Cyprus with my gran learning how to make halloumi from scratch; but you'll all be running back to Archer Academy to continue work on the pond. Be sure to sign up! It's 500m each way. Great space to play (do fitness) before running back. Anastasia will be leading you in my place.

See you all when I get back!

PS Don't forget about the social this Thursday. Details here

Amazing! 9 runners ran 6.5km, cleaned the heck out of some garden furniture AND did burpee/mountain climber TABATA! And now an awesome run report from the awesome Kerry!

Last night's run started at Bodyline Fitness Studios, with a great crew of 9. We gently jogged to Haven Green across the road for some bright and cheery warm ups to get us ready for the 3km run to Impact Theatre in Perivale.

We ran over what felt like many hills, but of course what goes up must come down! The classic running mantra! And the steady pace saw us all there in one piece so we got straight into cleaning some furniture in the back garden of the theatre. Mel was on it with the hose and everyone else scrubbed and tidied and it was looking shiny and nice. The theatre is a lovely facility for adults with disability to learn through theatre performance and creation.

Many hands make light work and we were finished quickly. Onto a quick HIIT session of burpees and mountain climbers before heading back to base in Ealing. TABATA training is a great way to do high intensity exercise in a short period of time and exercises like burpees and mountain climbers with strengthen your whole body and help your running too!

After a tough but satisfying journey back, we did some lovely stretches.

Great run team, looking forward to next week!

8 GoodGymers met in Friary Park, Barnet to help shift some pesky, slippery leaves. We welcomed two new runners - Preety and Maya - and Goodgym tourist Patrick into the usual motley crew.

After meeting volunteers from the park’s community centre, we set off for a 1km lap of the sweeping open green space. Damian and Dori led the pack enthusiastically, Amanda kept us motivated in the middle, and Hazel did some champion back-marking, chatting to our new runners even up the park’s steep slopes.

Lap over, we began the gruelling fitness challenges. The straight leg runs had us looking like a regiment of silly soldiers, while the knee-up bum kicks got us into a hot mess. And that’s without mentioning the sprints. I joke, but actually everyone aced it and gave 100%. We followed up with some strength exercises – bench press ups, squat walks, and frog jumps. And then on to the main event!

Volunteers at the park’s community centre had a lot of slippery leaves clogging up the paths, and we had lots of willing hands and arms = a perfect match! With heaps of enthusiasm, Pennie had us scooping, sweeping, and lifting thousands of leaves into green bags – 15 green bags to be precise. We swept so hard that we exhausted the community centre’s supply of green bags!

Content in the knowledge that we’d made a dent in the park’s leaf overload, we headed back to the start point. To round off the sunny afternoon in true Barnet style, we finished the session devouring Hazel’s specially baked biscuits – chunky choc chip cookies!

Thanks to all that came, and see you on Tuesday for some more doing good and getting fit.

Freya