In 31 degree heat, 31 hot bodies took to the streets of Lewisham to run between 3 and 4km and scrub and paint the railings at St Mary's Church.

Thanks this week go to Oli for our lovely, topical title pun, great work!

Oh my, it's so hot! Amazingly though, people still come out to run and do good, all 31 of us! Rolling up for the first time this week was Oli, who has run previously with our friends down in Bristol, but is now local to Lewisham. We hope you enjoyed our south east London brand of good and felt all the Lewisham Love Oli!

It's been another amazing week in the world of GG Lew, with Clare popping off to Norway and taking in a bit of parkrun tourism (it looked lush), Rebecca was off up north to ride the coast-to-coast (that's some serious mileage!) and a massive turn out at Hilly Fields parkrun to celebrate Conroy's 100th parkrun - well done everyone! Our biggest news this week was a milestone, with Bradley reaching his 50th good deed on a mission over the weekend. You know he only joined us in February, right?! I first met Bradley at parkrun, where he came along to volunteer, never having run before. The next week the volunteer roster was full, so he thought he'd have a go at running it. The rest, as they say, is history. Really well done Bradley, you've become such a wonderful part of the Lewisham (and Bromley) family, supporting your fellow runners, even when you've not been up to running yourself, thank you.

Don't fence me in!

Last week we ran over to St Mary's Church to make a start on the railings, this week we were running back there to continue the good work. With a top team of back-markers in place (party at the back - thank you Helen, Rianna, Caireen and Anna), we ran through Ladywell Fields, arriving to meet Marion and team at the front of the church. As last week, all the equipment was laid out on tables, ready for everyone to grab a brush and get stuck in. Some took wire brushes and worked away at the loose paint and bits of rust, while others got busy with the sticky black paint. It was great to see so many people joining us, with a great expanse of railing being covered tonight. We often uncover treasure at tasks, but this time Sarah found a crow bar (also known as a jemmy, before anyone writes in to complain), hidden in the bushes. This seems to be a recent theme, with Nykolette uncovering one on a mission at the weekend...

With little pockets of activity all around the space and conversation flowing, time passed in a flash and we were just about ready to enjoy some generous hospitality and indulge in some drinks and sweet treats - thank you!

With Ladywell Fields on our doorstep, we took the opportunity to focus our fitness session on running form, with some good, strong dynamic drills to warm our bodies and embed good posture, followed by a loop of the park to pair up similar-paced runners. Here's where the fun starts! With each pair heading in opposite directions, the aim was to keep a similar pace, arriving back at the start together. There was the added challenge of hills and some trees obscuring the view, but wow, what fantastic work from all of you, with impressive teamwork and some spot on pacing!

Into the wild

As we stretched back at Glass Mill, we looked forward to next Monday and a trip to the delightful Wildcat Wilderness, where we will tackle a number of different tasks. If you have volunteered at the wilderness before, please take a look at this survey, which will help the team develop some research they are doing at the moment (there's a chance to win a prize too!). As we're celebrating so many milestones at the moment, we also thought it might be good to have a social, post-run, at Mamma Dough - let me know if you are coming, so I can keep track of numbers for the booking. In the meantime, I hope to see some of you at parkrun on Saturday and out and about enjoying the sunshine :)

Feeling high on life, 25 runners ran happily through Lewisham, covering 7km and tackling a number of fun tasks at the Wildcat WIlderness.

I'm just going to have a little lie down...

YESTERDAY WAS EPIC!! London was well and truly awash with joy, as tens of thousands of incredible athletes tackled the 26.2 miles of party-central, London Marathon (it was like 2012 all over again). We had a team on the Hilly Fields parkrun baggage trucks in Greenwich Park, helping the Red Start runners by looking after their belongings and giving a last-minute pep-talk, hug, shake, whatever was needed most. We had people cheering around the course, in Deptford, Canary Wharf, Embankment and, most exciting of all, we had runners taking on their first marathon. Representing GoodGym Lewisham were Ali, Andy and Amber (all the As!). Everyone did amazingly, especially when you consider that they had trained in snow and bitter winds, only to find that race day gave them blazing sunshine and 24-degree temperatures. Throughout the day we had updates from Amber in particular, who kept us informed of her progress, giving us the chance to will her on, send her encouragement and remind her of all the hard work she had put into this. We hadn't expected her to turn up this evening then, in her finisher's t-shirt and wearing her lovely medal! Well done Amber, what an achievement!

Stuff!

This wasn't all we were celebrating today. Here at GoodGym, we like to mark our milestones, with 50 good deeds leading to a special black t-shirt and 100 good deeds giving you wings (a red t-shirt with wings on the back). This week we were really pleased to congratulate Emma on this achievement. We met Emma first of all when she came to the monthly social, when it was held in Lewisham, telling us all about how she was running with GG Westminster. By the end of the evening we had convinced her that she needed to join us in SE13. She has continued being a tourist, visiting a few other areas and can often be seen rushing off to a mission to help an older person in their home. My favourite thing about Emma, aside from her incredible enthusiasm to get stuck in, is her awesome laugh, which can be heard from one side of the Wildcat Wilderness to the other :)

What a week to join us for the first time! We had two brand new runners, Kirsty and Patricia and, joining us after having visited GoodGym Greenwich, was Beth - welcome, all of you, here's some Lewisham Love...x

Into the Wild!

Our task this week was over at the (wonderful) Wildcat Wilderness so, after a quick warm up, off we went, towards Ladywell Fields (with expert back-marking by Amber, Conroy and Rosemary) and through the bramble-lined paths, where we met Maria. It's lovely to be back here in the evening light, enjoying the most beautiful sunset as we worked. Since we first started coming here, the wilderness has grown and there are now a number of spaces that need our attention (this means a wider area to cover when gathering everyone up and taking photos!). Across the space, our volunteers tackled:

• weed-bashing (of course, top, number one favourite activity here!), creating new or wider paths

• lopping, cutting back thicker brambles or branches

• gathering, carefully picking up the discarded brambles and transferring them where needed

• turning the soil, putting it into a wheelbarrow and using this to fill a trench (which Maria pointed out must have been the tracks of a vehicle at some point many years ago!)

• picking, uncovering, lifting and removing stubborn and deep bramble roots (evil things!)

• levelling, creating the perfect space for the new polytunnel

• uncovering, pulling up and moving rusted metal, including a very large and heavy tank

• watering, an especially relaxing and restorative task for our marathon runner

All of a sudden it was eight o'clock and we hadn't even started putting the tools away! This is definitely somewhere to come and while away an afternoon or evening (which you can do, on one of the regular volunteer days), but we didn't have the luxury of time, so quickly returned our equipment and gathered for a group photo, whilst hearing about all the amazing plans Maria has for the space. We look forward very much to returning again in two weeks time, ahead of the installation of the outdoor kitchen, sign up!

Our return run was brisk (I'm sorry if we were a little late arriving back!), with the sky darkening slowly and talk turning to what was for dinner (there is always a collective tummy rumble at this point). We also talked, of course, about races and marathons, with the next big marathon being Malcolm's run in Edinburgh in five weeks time. Don't forget, if you fancy trying something a bit shorter or even a bit sillier, we have the GoodGym Olympic Games coming up in June and we really should start planning and working out what we're good at (egg and spoon anyone?). Details are here, sign up and represent!

Next week we will be off to Crofton Books, always a fun task and a nice 5k round trip (with views). Join us, we'd love to see you!

Feeling full of the joys of spring, 33 runners took on 7km of running, cleared rubbish, scrap metal and brambles and levelled the ground at the Wildcat Wilderness.

What a night!

I was already feeling slightly delirious after being exposed to a bit of sunshine, after what feels like forever; it's been a tough old winter. I didn't think it would be possible to top this and the fact that the evenings are getting lighter, then in strolled our very own World Record Breaker, Sean! We haven't seen Sean since last November, when he headed off around the world, his 50 t-shirt tucked under his arm. Updates have been in the form of far-flung parkruns viewed on Strava, so to see him here, wearing the black tee, was a real treat. Welcome back Gingerbread Man!

We also welcomed a visitor from the slightly less distant GoodGym Wansworth - hello Jordan - and an absolute first-timer, Matt, Lewisham Love to you both.

Under starter's orders

It's been an amazing week for missions, with many runners heading out to help an older person in their home, fixing up overgrown gardens, hanging curtains, changing lightbulbs, that kind of thing. It was also a pretty racy weekend, well done to:

• Nykolette at the Colchester Half-Marathon (alongside lots of other GoodGym runners)...thank you also for back-marking this week.

• Sarah at the new Landmarks Half-Marathon (lovely medal!)

• Juliet at a tough 15km race, where she made the podium as third lady, impressive running!

As if all this wasn't enough, we were also celebrating Amber's 50th good deed. Amber has been with us for just over a year and, in that time, she has built up her running, taking on 10k races, half-marathons and is now just four weeks away from her first marathon, in London. At the moment she comes in on a Monday, telling us about her latest 'longest run ever', with her training going really well (whilst also being a Personal Trainer, leading numerous classes each week, she's a machine!). Well done Amber.

To the task!

We might have been a little giddy to be running over to one of our favourite organisations, Wildcat Wilderness, so we whipped ourselves up just a tiny bit more with some warm-up fun, before running through Ladywell Fields and Catford. We were greeted by Maria, who quickly told any newcomers about the wonderful work that goes on here, with a little nod to Vic, who comes along outside our own sessions and, just this weekend, uncovered a tree that she has been bashing her way towards for a while. To mark this, she will be honoured with a path named after her. Really!

Shed-loads of experience!

Once everyone had been briefed on the various tasks, had grabbed gloves and any tools they might need, the different teams set-to before the light started to fall. We had a number of areas being worked on:

• A large team worked steadily along the path between the WIlderness and the entrance, filling wheelbarrows with rubbish, carrying rusted metal and passing this on to Stephen and Chris, who were in charge of putting everything in the skip.

• Another team worked along the edges of this path, to clear away all the dumped waste, using a handy shopping trolley (there's always a shopping trolley) as transport.

• Inside the garden area, another group worked thoughtfully to lift the shed base, so they could continue levelling the surface, ready for the brand new shed to go up (a lot of 'to me, to you' went on here).

• Deep inside the wilderness were Sean and Rosemary, weed-bashers in hand, clearing yet more brambles to create new paths to link the different areas (it took me quite some time to find them!).

When our time was up and everyone stood back to survey the results of their efforts, it was clear that all our energy had make quite a difference. Particularly impressive was the pile of metal that had now disappeared, having filled a substantial area when we arrived, excellent work!

We will return to the Wilderness soon and, now we have light, there will be many opportunities to explore in the coming months. Our run back to Glass Mill was a chatty one, I'm pretty sure people must be drawn to look out of their windows to see what all the noise is about, sorry! As we stretched, we talked about our next run, on Easter Monday (yes, we do run on Bank Holidays!), when we will pop over to Goldsmiths Community Centre - sign up here to join in (there may be treats). Post-run, a few of us enjoyed a pizza-social at the newly-opened Mamma Dough in Ladywell, rounding off the evening with a rousing 'Happy Birthday' to Lucy.

Before I see you next, don't forget to enjoy your hot cross buns, find all the eggs and share the love :)

Defying bitterly cold winds, 23 tough types took to the streets of Lewisham, covering 5km and helping at both GRACE and the Albany Garden.

Excellent title pun work this week from Caireen!

How lovely to welcome three new people into the GoodGym Lewisham family this week! Lewisham Love goes out to Volodymyr, George and Katharine, who deserve ALL THE CHEERS for making this, possibly the coldest night of the year, their first ever run with GoodGym!

You might have noticed by now, that I like to talk about The Weather in these run reports, well it's really important to me. We have battled on through the dark, wet, cold, windy months and were shown a hint of spring on Friday, as the sun shone, daffodils bloomed and flip-flops could be spotted in Lewisham Centre (really). Then came the Mini-Beast from the East II. Gee-whizz. A few of our runners felt under the weather, were recovering from long runs or helping their children with particularly challenging homework projects, but out came the hardy few, determined to do good and not let our task-owners down.

Before we embarked on an attempt at getting warm (knee-tag, shark-attack), we congratulated all our amazing athletes who were out there, in ALL THAT SNOW, racing, volunteering and long running. Massive well dones go to:

• Amber, for running her longest run yet, in training for the London Marathon
• Chris and Mary, for taking on the Hampton Court Half-Marathon (one of the few races that wasn't cancelled)
• Emma, for running not just a half-marathon, but a trail half-marathon, in sideways snow!!! AND she was back-marker tonight!
• Nykolette for popping out on a Thursday morning to smash the Vertical Rush, sprinting up 42 floors - 932 steps - in just over ten minutes!!

I need a little lie down after just typing all that.

To the tasks!

A big thank you this evening to Conroy for leading a smaller group over to GRACE, where they were sorting through donated clothing. Over to Chloe, who has written about their experience in Lee (and also back-marked this group, thank you!).

SORTED!

We braved the b-easterley winds as we ran up past Nandos (yum) and Lidl (yum) and Sainsburys (yum) and round Leegate before we arrived at GRACE. We were met by the friendly GRACE people and some Goodgymers who weren’t able to run there but were still keen to help out. We got our instructions and started sorting the massive mountain of donations from the local community for refugees currently in camps in Syria. Skirts, socks, pants, t-shirts, jumpers, gilets, ties, gloves, hats, shorts, cardigans, scarves, you name it, we sorted it.

Nykolette wins for bizarre finds - first it was a witches hat, then clothing packaged in sandwich bags (for freshness).

TIME TO LEE-VE

After our time was up we posed for a photo and scampered back to the leisure centre where (very impressively) some of us did a time trial around the square while we waited for the rest of the runners to return from the Albany.

HATS OFF TO US!

Meanwhile, over at the Albany Garden, we gathered tools: wheelbarrows, spades, forks and brushes (but we couldn't locate the trug of gardening gloves, sadly, so our poor little hands were fffffffffrrrrreeezing! In the rear garden, a crack team of Bradley, Chris and Volod were demonstrating their immense strength by lifting incredibly heavy logs from a pile at one end of the garden, to the old chicken coop at the other end >insert muscle-arms emoji here< In another area we had teams working with forks, lifting green waste (largely palm leaves - ouch, spiky!) onto wheelbarrows, which were transported around the front and tipped into the newly constructed raised bed. Once the green waste was exhausted, the action moved to the pile of wood-chip, creating another layer in the bed. As you can see from the photos, this was quite a transformation and I think we'll be back to continue the good work when the top-soil arrives.

Four candles

This is for Vic, who showed her impeccable taste in vintage comedy sketches, but was met with some blank stares. Tuck in to this classic Two Ronnies and you'll see what she meant.

TT

As always our run back was spent mostly talking about food and what we were going to have for dinner (it's hungry work, this doing good). When our Albany group arrived back at Glass Mill, little did we know but the GRACE group were outside pushing themselves through a time trial! Yikes, good work you lot! We 'took it easy' with some glute-focused planking and bridging, before having a nice old stretch. Next week sees our first Monday night visit of the year to the wonderful Wildcat Wilderness. Sigh. This means a slightly longer run of 7km, a great task, which involves filling a skip and running up and down a path (and maybe a social to celebrate and 50th good deed and a birthday). Sign up and bring a head-torch if you have one.

See you then!