24 runners; 3 task owners, many different tasks…

A good sized group of us made our way to the Haggerston Orchard this evening to help task owners Camilla, Benoit and Sophie tackle some stubborn tree stumps head on.

On arrival at the task, we were speedily briefed and divided into three teams: a large group headed over to the tree stump area, where tree expert Benoit explained to the crew how they were needed to help whittle and prise some tough old trees out of the ground, route network an’ all, to make way for some new beginnings.

Groups of 3-4 worked on each trunk which was tough work. But unbelievably rewarding when the trees finally broke loose, and the area was free to be filled in with new compost. This ended up being quite the plant production line.

Meanwhile, Sophie and Camilla juggled some fine runner distribution, speedily shuttling runners between different areas of the large garden, juggling task overlaps such as nettle-plucking with soil-turning in the vegetable bed; rubble-clearing with watering…It was an industrious remaining two teams who shuttled themselves (and piles of stones, compost, nettles…you name it) from one end of the garden to another.

Glutes ‘n’ roots

And before we knew it (I say that every week, but honestly, the time flies) it was 8pm and the ‘all hands on deck’ moment arrived to start the clearing away effort. A small crew of 5 opted to remain on Project Tree Stump, filling in remaining holes with compost, while the remainder of the group obediently made their way to a clearing in the garden for our Glutes ‘n’ Abs session, tonight’s content chosen by my fitness panel, Jo, Andrea and Lucy.

Wicked work here tonight. I swear you’re all getting lots stronger, with improved balance. We enjoyed quadruped hip extensions, single leg deadlifts, cycling crunches to name a few.

…And then it was time to say cheerio and head back to base for our final stretches of the night. Another amazing night, everyone, it really was.

We enjoyed very much having our new runners with us, Anthony, Emma and Charlotte – thank you for your brilliant input, and humour!

And thanks to Si and Bryon for navigating, and to Jo and Lieke for backmarking.

What a team! You’re all amazing – everyone says so.

And before I sign off, I just want to give a big shout-out this week, to our two runners who ran yesterday's London Marathon, Becky G and Leanne. A massive congratulations to you both. And another shout-out to members of the team who volunteered, including Becky J and Sarah M who did a cracking job manning a bag truck.

Now, next week, we’re heading back to the Parkview Estate to check on those fruit trees and visit the residents. This is not one to miss, so get involved now.

10 runners met on the hotel steps for the briefest of warm-ups this evening.

What perfect weather for tonight’s Easter Monday run! We enjoyed just a handful of mobility exercises at our base before heading just half a mile around the corner to meet task owner Catherine, plus family Des and Liam, to plant trees, shuttle shrubs, and load planters.

Plant Stop Loving You

It was all hands on deck, as the runners divided into two teams: one small crew headed off with Des to plant trees outside, while another team worked tirelessly inside the community centre with Catherine, filling the balcony planters first with compost and then geraniums and lavender, having had a full upper body workout trying to prise newly painted windows open.

What a production line! Compost was shuttled at great speed from the garden downstairs before being emptied into the planters and the flowers and herbs settled into their new home, which were then watered – a lot.

Meanwhile, Des’s team finished the tree-planting early (GoodGymers – always working ahead of time) and came on board, enabling us to fill every planter before our workout. Busy little bees or what. Talking of which, our big question to Catherine tonight was, “What constitutes a bee-friendly plant?”, to which the answer is, those that are rich in nectar and pollen.

We’re so privileged to have been invited to help kickstart this fabulous new Parkview community food growing project. Let’s give a huge shout out to the power house that is Catherine and her family. How lucky is our community.

You’ve never AB it so good

And then we were lucky enough to get to use the hall for tonight’s fitness session – a last minute change of direction saw us hit the floor for an ab attack supreme. The runners sped through some seated core moves, before moving onto the lying bicycle crunch and leg drop, before finishing with a push-up with a leg-raise. They did amazingly well, but there was a lot of moaning, I have to say.

And so we sped back to base, finishing almost on time this evening. Yay. Go, us.

Monday mentions

Welcome to tonight’s new runners, Pauline and Andrea, who came all the way from Hyde Park to run with us! Thank you for all your hard work, and for the smiles and the teamwork. We really hope to see you again soon.

And it’s Many Happy Returns to our very own birthday girl Katherine, who we’re thrilled chose to spend her birthday with us, while regular runner Tracey, celebrated her 100th good deed tonight. Wow. Tracey’s been running with us since 2016, is a keen coach runner and an active, very supportive Tower Hamlets GoodGymer. Well done, Tracey, and on behalf of GG Tower Hamlets, and GG - thank you.

Next week, it’s new task time…

Yep, next week we’re headed back to another new task as we make our way to Ion Square Gardens, for a full on evening of gardening, including weeding and pulling up tree stumps, so whether you’re a bit weary post-Marathon, or raring to go after a leisurely weekend, there will be activities catering to all energy levels! See you there?

…while on Sunday it’s MARATHON DAY

Whether you’re running on Sunday, or planning to cheer fellow GoodGymers on and join the fun, unbelievably appreciated cheer squad on the Embankment, don’t forget to sign up. And wishing all our GoodGym runners all the luck in the world. Enjoy!

Have a wonderful week in the meantime - see you soon.

20 runners set out to plant trees and clear ivy on a damp April evening.

Team Tree-Plant

It was a decent sized team that divided into two this evening. Task force member Bryon was heading up Team Tree-Plant who were due at the lovely local Parkview Estate Gardens to get a delivery of apple trees planted under the watchful eye of task owners Catherine and Des, and young Liam, who turned out to be an enormous task asset this evening.

The team of 8 headed around the corner to the Parkview estate, a beautiful estate and community centre which sits on the edge of Victoria Park, and which has just received a new delivery of fruit trees, as Catherine and the Parkview Residents team attempt to kickstart an exciting new community food-growing project.

It was all hands on deck as the runners got stuck in to this demanding and complex task. Trees planted, garden tidied, the runners headed back to base and were led through a gruelling – but much appreciated – fitness session by Chi.

What an achievement – your work was so much appreciated this evening.

Operation Ivy

Meanwhile, I was leading a second crew of 12 runners to the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park for Operation Ivy. This was a longer run than we’ve undertaken for a while, and brilliantly led by Sarah and Steve, who took us via parks and gardens, via the quickest, most scenic route. And they ensured we all stayed together, stopping regularly to run back for some of us! Anyone reading this, who’s toying with the idea of joining a GoodGym run, let me emphasise now, you never run alone – our runners proved that more than ever tonight. We don’t run fast – we run together. Thank you team.

And so on arrival at the cemetery, we made our way around to The Glades area to start clearing ivy in earnest. Before running bundles of it in our arms around to a larger clearing. It was a workout and a half, with runners removing rotten logs in their path, as well as mounds and mounds of ivy.

And then we were headed back to base, a beautiful route via Meath Gardens, even as the heavens opened.

Phew. What a night. It really felt like we went full Tolkien, full fellowship.

Very big thank you’s and hello’s tonight…

Thank you to task force member Bryon who stepped in so readily over the weekend to lead the second task, so that we were able to plan our unscheduled second task to Catherine and co. And thanks to task force member Sarah for stepping in, too, and taking some lovely pics.

Thanks to Sarah and Steve for wonderful navigation, and team spirit when it came to our running, and to Jo for brilliant, consistent, very reassuring backmarking. And thanks to Chi for giving everyone a mighty fine fitness finish to the evening too. You’re brilliant.

Welcome to Leila and Philippine – what a night for you to join our Group Run! Thanks for all your hard work, and for being such a wonderful addition to our two crews tonight. And we very much hope to see you again soon.

Next week, it’s Vibrant Vinyasa…

…Yep, next week we’re back to our favourite community arts centre, Oxford House, where terrific task owner Sarah has all manner of decorating fun for you, followed by an indoor yoga session led by our runner, New Jersey-based yoga teacher Christina. What. A. Treat. See you there?

Until then, have a wonderful week.

Three wonderful tasks

It was an ambitious one. We were torn. Three wonderful task owners, three wonderful tasks but how many pairs of hands could we count on tonight? 28 was the answer. TWENTY EIGHT GoodGymers braved what’s still a chilly Monday experience to come and roll up their sleeves in our beloved borough for the very best causes.

The pic…

We assembled in our lovely, spacious hotel room, courtesy of the wonderful Town Hall Hotel (whose staff always ensure our evening gets off to a great start, greeting us with smiles, endless help, and fulfilling our increasing number of requests, from letting leaflets be left by task owners, to taking our pic on the staircase. Thank you all so much).

And then we reassembled on the splendid staircase to take our pic for the 50th area launch – Tower Hamlets was Area Number One. You’d think this was an easy shape to make, but it was surprisingly hard. So much so that the runners toughest challenge tonight was possibly exercising a great deal of patience and tolerance as I made endless grimaces and position changes. And we hadn’t even warmed up yet.

Three teams, three tasks…

And so to the steps for 3 speedy mobility exercises before team 1, led by Leanne, were dispatched to to Rocky Park at the Hollybush Estate, where they sped around moving from task to task, filling planters, moving mulch and digging and weeding.

And then Team 2 were dispatched to a brand new task, the new Suffragette Kitchen Garden, part of the Edible Bow network, on Old Ford Road where task owner Hester met Redbridge Task Force member Dharmesh and his team, with 3 tonnes of newly delivered soil to be shovelled into planters. The team sped through the heavy lifting work, finishing in record time. Three tonnes was no match for 11 enthusiastic GoodGymers who were then the first team to arrive at the fitness session!

And I was lucky enough to head out onto the streets of Bethnal Green with an all-girl crew, to leaflet businesses and Bethnal Greeners for the wonderful Acknowledging Youths charity. We had a pretty good reception, with everyone from commuters to comedy store managers all coming on board to accept bundles of leaflets to help spread the word. Thank you Bethnal Green businesses – we witnessed a community spirit that’s alive and well on our streets tonight. Your help and receptivity is so much appreciated.

Multi-tasking moves and metabolism-boosting at Meath

And then we all ran to Meath and met by The Fitness Tree (a fallen tree who doubles up as a great base for Bulgarian split squats). We planked, we pivoted, we ran laps at various Parkrun paces, and we tempo-ed and we tackled our tums. And then we ran home. What. A. Night.

BIG thank you’s tonight

On behalf of the group, we have some pretty hefty thank you’s tonight: Thanks to our wonderful task force, who were busy planning with me behind the scenes throughout Monday. And a special thank you to Dharmesh, a Redbridge task force member on loan to us this evening, who readily agreed to lead the new task to the Suffragette Garden, did a splendid job of running the task, and then leading the first part of the fitness session for his group in Meath Gardens. And then led the cooldown stretching back at base. Amazing stuff.

Thanks to Leanne, for leading the big crew to Hollybush, and back to Meath, for taking some great pics and for saving the day with her fabulous pun tonight, AND for planning and executing our group figure-of-1 shot (and putting up with me and my endless changes).

And let’s not forget a massive warm GG welcome to Molly whose first run it was this evening. Really lovely to have you join us – thanks for being such a fabulous flier-er, it was really fun to be out and about on the streets of Bethnal Green with you!

Next week we’re back at The Glasshouse Community Centre for Earth Hour!

Now next week, we’re putting the ‘earth’ into Earth Hour and planting fruit trees and seeds at the wonderful Glasshouse Community Centre. Join us, why don’t you? We’d love you to come along. More detail, and sign up, are here.

Until then, make sure you have a wonderful week!

25 runners met and mingled over a McVities this evening, before we all headed out to the Town Hall steps for a very quick warm up.

Regular runner Luke led the route to our task, leading a steady-but-manageable pace along one of our busiest routes, which was appreciated by several of our runners who had been racing over the weekend (we were just impressed you were out tonight).

Decorating decorum

Task owner Sarah was ready and well prepped for tonight’s leg of the big decorating task in this beautiful, big community arts centre: we were briefly briefed in decorating decorum (don’t start an area you can’t finish; beware the paint slosh; mind your clothes…) before two teams speedily formed in the office and corridor area. Door frames were taped, surfaces sugar-soaped – and rollers loaded. It was an industrious crew who blitzed both areas in super speedy time. And the precision! Scissors were requested (to cut tape tidily), screwdrivers summonsed (to ease nails out neatly) - no slapdash style for GoodGymers. And so after 45 minutes of solid work, it was time to dunk decorating gear into buckets to soak overnight and gather in the large theatre for tonight’s fitness session, our Glutecamp.

He glutes, he sCORES

Runners motored through 5 of my toughest balance challenges. Although the biggest challenge was probably putting up with my endless glute-activation narrative (“Push through heel, push through heel: strengthening and activating are two different things you know.”) And just when they thought it couldn’t get any worse, our fave guest fitness presenter, Chi, popped up to lead them through the Advanced part of the workout. Partner exercises and plyometric squats were just a couple of the glute goodies he presented to the now weary team. But they rose to the challenge as always, not only delivering beautifully executed reps of these tough compound exercises, they did it with cheeky smiles and cheers.

And then it was a wrap.

What a night. What another glorious, gutsy Monday run.

And so to our shout-out’s…

It was an absolute joy to have first time runners Shervin and Helen with us, both of whom wasted no time in picking up the running pace (and the rollers at the tasks), and joining the group with a real spring in their step.

Thanks from the group to Becky for backmarking both ways, and Luke for navigating and leading us to our task tonight. And to Chi for picking up the glute pace, and offering a fabulous, fun finish to the evening.

Thanks from us all for great report contributions to: Dave for getting some great pics, and for being creative with the angles, and to Chris for tonight's fun pun.

And a great big GG shout out to all the runners who participated in yesterday’s Big Half. Well done for getting involved with such a great race. Well done for all those weeks of training, and for battling through injury and twinges – and for being a regular GoodGymer during those tough weeks of training!

We have MORE fun events for you to get involved with this week…

We have a great indoor, midweek task this Wednesday, from 6.45-8.15pm, decorating the windows for Artizan Street Library, while next week, we have THREE TASKS for you to choose from - check that out here.

Until then, have a thoroughly good week!