With only four more groups runs to Christmas (well, three now!) we gathered last night to do as much good as we could possibly manage in the few weeks that are left. Undaunted by the old there were 22 of us, thermalled up and headtorches at the ready!

News roundup

Hello and welcome to all the runners coming to Wandsworth from other GG areas tonight. Lovely to have you join us!

Don't forget the Christmas party this Saturday- we have discussed our idea for the theme and the following link courtesy of Paul might help! Sign up and details here

We've been approached by FareShare, and amazing food charity, to participate in a massive food collection mission. It's soon to be listed on the website, so keep an eye out, but you can find out more here

Icy you baby, nailing that task

After a warm up (much needed) where we got our hearts pumping, we went round the group and found out the name of our first pet. There were Not one but two Goldys, along with several other very creative names, and a few non-pet owners.

Our task tonight was at the Kambala estate in Battersea, where we had been a few weeks earlier to start planting loads of bulbs in the raised beds there ready for Spring. The volunteers there have founded an organisation called Kambala Cares, which aims to bring residents together and to make the estate a lovely place to live. They have recently got funding for the project, but can't do such a massive job alone and so asked us along to lend a hand!

After a nice steady run down the hill we arrived to find Donna waiting for us with a load of tools and even more bulbs. Taking on one bed per group we got stuck straight in. It was hard going, and a great upper body work out, but half an hour later the job was pretty much done with just one guest appearance by the police -who took our photo! So it was off to the park to do some fitness.

Alpah-bet on Red

Tonight's fitness session focussed on our ABCs - agility, balance and coordination - which are vital for every runner and something we should be getting into our regular schedule. These drills strengthen muscles, help activate our fast-twitch muscles, work on our balance which ultimately improves our form and running economy. So over a given distance we worked on these crucial points with some grapevines, high skips, toe taps, reverse lunges and hopping. Passers by must have loved watching our sumo walks! To finish off the night we did our weekly minute's plank. You guys make it look easy!

After a steady run back to base, we had time for a stretch and a chat about next week's run. In a first for us we have an absolutely huge task on Clapham Common, shifting literally tonnes of compost ready for an incredible wildflower initiative. Sign up here for Monday fun and fitness.

It takes extra special effort to lace up your trainers and get out the door when it's freezing and raining, so well done for making out tonight lovely Wandsworth gang!

There was a huge amount to celebrate tonight, but first let's a give a massive to cheer to our first time group runners:

Nick

Emma

and Anwen - who is the new trainer for Oxford.

Give them all a big welcome!

There was so much good stuff happening this weekend - a huge well done to everybody that took part in a very successful parkrun takeover on Saturday - it couldn't have happened without you. Yesterday was the Fulham 10k where so many GoodGymers put in great performances, cheered on by an amazing squad of supporters. Well done especially to Sian and Morag who both got brillient PBs!

It was also a big congratulations to Jessie for reaching that magic milestone - 100 good deeds!

Our job tonight was at Doddington & Rollo Rooftop Garden - a formally disused carpark roof which has been transformed into a beautiful community garden for local people to grow their fruit and veg. They rely on volunteers to keep the garden going, so when they got a giant 75 litre bag of compost delivered to the street below the garden, they knew who to call! Cue an increasingly damp GoodGym team turning up tonight, primed and ready to shift that soil.

Meeting Hadas, a regular volunteer, we grabbed tools from the shed, and headed downstairs to start the process of ferrying bags of soil up to the garden. If you've ever wondered how ong it takes 31 people to shift 75 litres of soil up two floors and across a garden - and of course who hasn't - then the answer is (drum roll) 20 minutes. Great work, team - a job that we got down so quickly would have taken the volunteers the whole day to do, so it was definitely an evening well spent.

The job was perfectly/terribly (delete as appropriate) timed, as just as we waved our goodbyes and started our fitness session, the heavens opened. So we took an almost unanimous decision to abandone of glute-based session and keep warm with a run back to the BAC. By the time we had stormed up the hill, there had been a short reprieve which we seized upon, furiously bashing out sumo squats, before conceding our defeat. Rain 1 - Wandsworth GG 0.

Not to worry, we'll have another crack at it next week when we'll be back to finish off planting bulbs at an estate in Battersea. Get your thermals ready, and let's get planting!