Wow, a whopping 12 first timers this evening! Take a deep breath... welcome to Ryan, Cherith, Rhys, Ranald, Liv, Ben, Eva, Kirsty, Pauline, Isabelle, Ksenia and Amel

They joined another 22 of us for a trip up to Whittington Park Community Association where there were loads of little jobs to do. We cleaned windows, we weeded in front of and behind the nursery, we weeded around the main entrance, we had a bit of a clean up in reception, we removed old plants and bulbs from a planter and we planted a new plant!

But all that doing good didn't tire us out too much. Oh no! On the way back to the pool we did our amazing "monthly" Emirates time trial. 641 metres around the stadium.

Fastest lady tonight was Lies with a 2:44 and fastest gent was Hugh with a 2:10. Well done to everybody. Some top efforts.

And a rather popular debate question tonight: who is the most attractive person in the world? Forget personality and character and intelligence and all that other rubbish. We wanna know who's the sauciest celebrity!

The winner with two votes is Ryan Reynolds

Other mentions:

• Clare Grogan (Steve insists that it is the Claire from about 1981)
• Jensen Ackles (the correct answer! He has saved the world several times for crying out loud!)
• Bruce Willis
• Cillian Murphy
• Monkey Bones
• Zooey Deschanel
• Ryan Gosling
• Rachel Riley
• Lily Cole
• Levi Roots
• Sean Bean
• Louis Theroux
• Bananaman (Thanks, Caroline)
• Las Ketchup (I had to watch Patrick and Claire do the dance)
• Heinz Binz (Kike met a real bloke calle Heinz Binz!)
• Lloyd Grossman (ok)

Started feeling rather ugly reading that list, but things picked up again near the end.

Great deeding all. We will see you next week for some FROGGY goodness.

Until then,
Simon

On Monday night 17 runners headed down to Stepney City Farm from the Town Hall Hotel. A nice mix of first with GoodGym runners, first time Tower Hamlets runners and familiar faces made the 2km run down to the farm where we met Simon and a collection of goats, pigs and ducks.

We split into two teams, one to start on the huge pile of compost that had built up since our last visit, the other to empty a pond. With loads to do we stayed on site for early 50 minutes, slightly curtailing our run home, but with the satisfied knowledge of a task well done.

We then split into 3 groups to head back to base with the help of Bryon, Andrew and Alison via different routes, at different paces.

Until next time!

Welcome

Welcome this evening to Olivia, Charlie and Amanda. Great to have you along helping out.

Graham

Massive news! Graham did his 100th good deed last night. Give that man a cheer! Graham's a member of our taskforce in Islington and also en route to becoming a run leader. A specialist in scenic routes, he's led plenty of groups and often writes mini reports and supplies us with photos. Despite going against GG Islington's wishes and shaving his 'tache off we still love him. Hero!

So, three tasks tonight! Caxton House, Single Homeless Project and Barnsbury Community Centre.

Barnsbury

The Barnsbury contingent's main task was to assemble two hose carriers. We thought we'd have this wrapped up in no time, but forgot that instructions for self-assembly kits are usually written by drunk people. Richard F. decided it should be girls versus boys and we split into two teams.

As if dodgy instructions didn't make it difficult enough, about 5 minutes into the task we started getting bitten by little flying gits. So itchy today. Soooo itchy! Nobody's ever been this itchy in the history of GoodGym. Those wearing tights looked on smugly.

We declared it a draw when neither team quite finished thanks to some very stubborn wheel fittings. We got very close though and somebody will be along today to steal our glory by giving them a good smack with a hammer. Those hoses will definitely be appreciated. We know from personal experience how long it takes to water the garden with cans.

Before heading back we did a bit of speed-weeding before we were just too bitten-up and itchy to carry on and had to escape. On the way home we stretched our legs out with a game of secret surges and had a couple of sprints. Speedy!

Caxton

Another group headed up to Caxton House. Aidan explains:

Lots of GoodGymmers took the Caxton House run this week, so many that we could split into two groups!

Patrick took a group doing a medium pace and Graham led a faster paced group. Graham's group started with a lap of Highbury Fields onto a trip up Holloway Road with Lucy and Graham racing the finish to Caxton House, whilst Patrick blasted the tunes taking the steady incline up to Caxton House. Rose was ready for us with some much appreciated water.

We've been doing some great work at Caxton House over the last few weeks and today was no different. The benches needed a final coat of paint and the battle against the weeds continued. The benches were looking fresh and pristine by the end and we are sooooo close with the weeding. One more week and we'll be ready to fill in the gaps with sand. The end product will be awesome.

Patrick's group set off first leaving the others to brush and tidying up. After a quick goodbye we were following them into the sunset to Highbury Fields and a well deserved biscuit. Great work as always everyone!

Aidan

SHP

Yet another group went over to SHP. Caroline tells us what went down:

5 of us had a nice jog up to Single Homeless Project. We have been there a few times recently and it was really nice to help there again.

The team did full mission weeding in the garden and collected leaves from the front (Autumn is coming early this year!). On the way back we got nicely distracted by cute kitties but we did an extra lap of Highbury Fields. Well done team!

Caroline

Boring Biccies

We had our cheapest ever biscuits: 34p from the corner shop that's closing down. They were also the most boring ever biscuits: Morning Coffee. Won't be getting them again. Can anybody find a cheaper biscuit?

Muppets

Our big debate question was about the biggest muppet in athletics (track and field). So many people voted for Ryan Lochte that we made him an honorary track and field athlete. But let's not forget Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad who, when not beating up 14-year-old mascots, can be found stealing bronze medals. There were a couple of other votes, but these guys are too nice to put down in a run report.

We'll see you next week for more cheap biccies, red-hot debate, fitness fun and glorious goodness,
Simon

First of all a big big welcome to our first timers this evening: Pip, Will, Christina, Amanda and Laura. Great to have you all along.

New Barnet trainer Pennie was on the scene tonight leading proceedings in preparation for the GoodGym Barnet launch tonight.

Following the briefing and the look of amazement on Pennie's face as the group pointed out that she had a whistle attached to her rucksack, we set off on our two tasks. Aidan and Patrick were in charge of taking a team up to Caxton House to carry on with what we started last week. Aidan describes what went down:

5 Goodgymers took the challenge of a longer and faster run. We set off just after Patrick's group but immediately detoured to do a lap of Highbury fields, with the noise of a Corbyn rally in the background. We started as we meant to go on, at a nice fast pace. Taking the usual route past Emirates where we enjoyed the late night sun and of course the gentle incline all the way to Caxton!

We made it there with a great pace, but sweaty and out of breath, and Rose put us to work. Today's jobs were a second coat on the benches we painted last week and continuing to de-weed the brick path. With Patrick's group close behind us (we had beat them there of course!) we soon had a sea of red painting the benches a duck egg blue and plenty of weeds flying in the air.

Still plenty to do at Caxton House, so I'm sure we will be back next week to see the lovely Rose again. For the run back we gained Dan who wanted to join and also suggested a sneaky detour to Emirates. Everyone had the option: 1/3 lap run or 2/3 spartlek and of course everyone chose the harder 2/3 option!

Great group run guys!

Aidan

And Pennie led the rest of us to Barnsbury Community Centre.

We spent a good 25 minutes on a variety of tasks: adding compost to hanging planters, watering the plants, getting rid of some nasty weeds and painting pallets.

Post-task Pennie took everybody through their paces with a variety of drills and exercises: high-knees, planks and a gruesome squat/tuck jump combination was on offer. Barnet are gonna get pretty fit!

We (almost) broke tradition and had a cheesecake instead of biscuits tonight (but cheesecake does have a biscuit base). It tasted pretty good post-run. We also debated whether cheesecake is cheese or a cake (thank you, Caroline). A few voted for cheese, Steve abstained, some said pudding/dessert, but the majority reckoned it was a cake. Yum

Pennie will see you tonight and we'll see you back in Islington next week.

Simon

HAPPY MONDAYS All round when a dozen Goodgymers ran 5k, to Kilburn Grange Park for a dose of gardening and an even bigger dose of upper body strength work.

(and yes this is a musical, Happy Mondays band themed run report, in case you get confused LOL)

Despite feeling a little under the weather myself, there were no PILL SPILLS AND BELLY ACHES that could keep me away from my beautiful GG Brent. To kick off the night, I was delighted to see, as well as the familiars, lots of new faces at base camp too! Tanya, Jarshee, Dharmistha and Shanta four lovely ladies ready to push down pavements and give back some goodness to their local community.

Back with our new friends - Kilburn Grange Park, to finish the gardening we started last week, after a warm and fun fuelled housekeeping we set off into the night. With Dan at the helm and me leading from the back, we set off on the first leg of the journey down to the high road, minding not to STEP ON the many cracked pavements and tree roots springing up attempting to hinder our fast pace.

In no time at all we had arrived and BOBS YOUR UNCLE were greeted by the gorgeous AJ with all the tools needed to get cracking straight away YAY

With the last of the SUNSHINE and plenty of LOVE we got to work digging, pulling weeds and raking up the dead leaves to reveal beautiful new soil ready for new planting.

About half way through, there was a HALLELUJA Moment, when AJ brought out 2 trays of deliciously prepared watermelon for the team!!! Amazing!! Stepping away from our Manchester themed music night for one moment of madness it was WHAM BAM THANK YOU MAM When I accompanied the moment with a dose of Club Tropicana on the spotify mix.... (Clairey-Bells request!!)

So joyful our volunteering must have seemed from the outside, that we were suddenly surrounded by a gaggle of local kids questioning and quizzing what we were up to and then.... oh wait - No they were just here for the melon!!!! Of course.

With tummys full and the final countdown upon us we rushed to fill the last of the refuse sacks before said our goodbyes and hot footing it over to the playground for some more fitness fun!! No monkeying around as I guided the team into a series of hanging body holds and pull-ups on the bars and a team challenge of perfect technique press-ups on the grass.

Can we accept the Elle Energy challenge for this week I proclaimed.... 7 press ups every single day until next Monday??? YES WE CAN!!

After the upper-body annihilation, the lower body was back in business, as our legs did the work carrying us back the last 1.5miles back to base camp - The Queensbury. Hills were the last challenge of the night and with hips high and knees driving upwards, the team demo'd perfect skills to battle the last tree roots home and make it back in time for stretches bang on 8.30pm!! WOOP WOOP.

A night of fun fuelled, fruity goodness and fitness fury in the second week of the summer, that's another week rocked in Brent.

Until next time 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

Two tasks on this lovely summer evening in Islington.

One group popped up to Whittington Park. Aidan describes:

We arrived at Whittington Park after our longer run down Holloway Road. Our fortnightly task awaited us with Martin ready with bin bags and gloves.

The majority of us tackled the 1 o'clock club's garden as we need to keep up our good work of maintaining a weed and nettle free garden for the kids who use the club.

There was also the task of de-weeding the entrance of the main building, keeping it looking great for everyone!

After working hard for twenty minutes what better way to treat ourselves than with some circuits. Everyone got a chance to pick an exercise for everyone else to do whilst they went on a short lap of the field. Although some of the ladies did get a bit lost along the way! We had all the classics; press ups, sit-ups, planking and two types of squatting for good measure. All before rejoining Holloway Road for our run back.

Aidan

The other group travelled to Barnsbury Community Centre. We've spent a lot of time over the last year helping create a wonderful garden in the disused space behind the centre and we're now just putting the finishing touches to the project for their grand launch on 25th August.

First job was to get gloves out the storage cabinet. Simple, right? Nope. A combination of stupid rain and then stupid heat meant the combination lock for the cabinet had seized up completely. Despite the best efforts of Caroline, Patrick and a pair of pliers it remained stuck. Not to worry: we'd just have to be extra careful.

We spent 25 minutes carrying old pallets and broken bits of wood round to the estate's waste disposal site, having a thoroughly good weed and watering plants. Nice work.

Following the task we played "Dice of Doom" with Simon's new giant foam dice: everybody had a chance to throw the dice and determine the activity that had to be performed for 15 seconds. There were alternate squat thrusts, running high knees, start jumps (LOTS of start jumps), sprints, dreaded burpees (boo) and the elusive jogging on the spot. We then played a game that Caroline made up. Nobody was quite sure what it was.

Back at the pool we had a free stretch, a biscuit and voted on the proper way to eat scones: jam then cream, cream then jam, or Claire's suggestion, butter, jam then cream (which is apparently the traditional Cornish way of doing things)? Jam then cream won by quite a large margin. Some people were disgusted at this - especially Steve - but the people have spoken.

If anybody wants to make scones for next week maybe we could put it to the test.

xxx,
Simon

On a scorching summer evening in Islington thirty-six wonderful runners (including 10 brand-new!) said NO to the temptation of an evening pub session or BBQ and said YES to an evening of firsts, meeting at Highbury Pool to get fit, spruce up local gardens, catch some rays and play games! And then went to the pub

While Simon was away on a well-deserved break Patrick had a chance to lead his first group run.

Mel arrived nice and early and then followed a flurry of new faces coming for their first run, returners and some travellers from down the road, John and Jackie from Camden. Patrick delivered his welcome speech and was delighted to see TEN new runners. There was a special mention (and a reminder to regular runners) about:

• Coach runs
• Missions
• Races: 4 x 1 mile relay and Regent's Park 10k - both on Sunday 7th August and it's possible to do both! There's even a 5k ParkRun on Saturday 6th.

In keeping with Islington tradition there was a debate (favourite childhood party game which would also set the scene for the fitness session) and the first Vietnamese biscuit: peanut, malt and sesame biscuit (bánh đậu phộng) brought home from Vietnam.

We then divided into three roughly equal groups:

• Patrick led a mercifully short 1km run down to Barnsbury Square Gardens,
• Graham and Steve took a group on a slightly longer 2km run starting with a lap of Highbury Fields
• Aidan and Kike took a group for a 1.5km run to the brand-new task down at Wilton Square Gardens

Here's a report from Aidan:

11 Goodgymers arrived at our new task at Wilton Square. Ready and waiting was the lovely Merje with her son Oskar.

All 13 of us got stuck in with some weeding, raking, chopping and brushing of the garden, we had plenty to being doing!

With Oskar helping with the weeding the stone paths were looking pristine quickly. Soon piles and piles of grass and leaves were appearing from the rakers hard work. On the other side of the fence the bushes were taking a beating thanks to some tough work with some secateurs.

Piles of chopped bushes, grass and leaves meant only one thing...lots of clean up work to do, but after that the job was done!

A beautiful garden nestled between the houses and plenty to do, one we'll be back to again! Until next time :)

Here's a report from Barnsbury Square Gardens:

We arrived in two waves at the very tranquil Barnsbury Square Gardens and were warmly greeted by Lucy and Carmela. As usual, our wonderful hosts were super-organised and had plenty of tasks and tools for us and refreshments for those in need of a break.

As we had only run a short distance we had lots of time to get loads done to include Rich and Vanessa tackling the rose beds, Nigel confidently separating the weeds from the flowers and Nicole on broom patrol. The rest of the group swept up and raked leaves (John did ask if the trees thought it was autumn!), loosened soil and did some edging.

After forty minutes we had really cleared up the gardens and bagged up the green waste. We packed up, received thanks from Lucy and headed back to Highbury Fields for our fitness session.

The new game

The groups from two tasks met back at Highbury Fields with great precision and managed to find space in the busy field to play adult Musical Chairs (Cones) for the first time. Does it need an explanation?! Patrick and Kike traced out the running perimeter and scattered the cones in the middle. Then Patrick put his DJ skills to good use and whittled down the group over successive rounds until there were two: traveller, Jackie and newcomer, Nicole.

After a long final round, Patrick stopped the music and Jackie heroically found the final cone and crowned herself champion! Well done Jackie.

After the stretch and cool down there was no clear winner of childhood party game though some mentions were: eating chocolate wearing gloves, scarf and hat; British bulldog; I have never and the cereal box game. Noone said musical chairs!

The last thing to do on a warm evening was to quench our thirst so we went to the pub!

That's me done for now. Simon will be back next week: sign up here

30 GoodGymmers and two tasks this evening.

Woodchips On The Old Block

Ten gallant goodgymers ran the 3.5 kilometers up to Girdlestone Gardening Club to continue our gardening tasks but arrived to find our host, Jan, stuck in the mulch in her wheelchair totally unable to move!

Like superheroes in a cheap American comic book from the 1940s we set to work freeing the damsel in distress and saving the day, or at least her evening. Heroics completed our real work for the evening began, weeding, tidying and most importantly the reduction of the level of the wood-chips to stop the wheelchair sticking problem reoccurring.

Job done, we raced down Archway road to arrive back at the baths exactly on time for a good stretch and a well deserved biscuit. Unfortunately the biscuit giver (name supplied on request) showed none of the loyalty expected from his heroic team and gave the entire other group their biscuits first. This was a blot on an otherwise excellent but standard Monday evening in Islington. Up, up and away.

Steve

The rest of us were over to Barnsbury Community Centre for a mix of jobs:

Sofa So Good

A few of us had to construct a sofa. The group grabbed the box with all the parts in and found the cushions easily enough, but couldn't find anything else. After much searching around and failed phonecalls they finally discovered the missing parts stashed away within the cushions themselves!

As a bonus a display stand was also made. Amazing what you find in a sofa these days.

Living In A Box

Alex also found something else in the box

Tile And Error

Another team had the job of laying white floor tiles out in reception. It took a little while to figure out exactly where the tiles had to go, but they did a terrific job.

Paint The Toilets Red

Caroline and Vicki put a second coat of GoodGym red paint on the cubicle doors in the ladies. Much less clearing up this week thanks to throwing the brushes away afterwards. It's looking very red in there.

Vinyl Messi

First timers to GoodGym Bella, Xun and Bryony were joined by Lizzie and had the easiest job of all: sticking a large sheet of yellow vinyl to the reception desk. OK, I lied, it was the most fidgety job ever. But they persevered and broke the back of it.

The Vinyl Countdown

While the vinyl team - now with a few additions - struggled for the last five minutes, the rest of us went into the main hall and did a circle of circuits: we stood in a ring and took turns to pick an exercise, alternating "easy" and hard ones. Burpees, plank, lunges, sit ups and squat jumps were just a few of the delights on offer this evening.

Nicely worked-out we grabbed the vinylers and headed back to the pool in two groups where the Girdlestone gang were waiting for us.

The Grass Is Always Greener

While munching biccies we voted on the best running surface: grass, running track, road, mud or woodchip. Grass won it, so everybody has to go out for a nice run on some cool wet grass this week.

Patrick is leading the group next week. Be there
Simon