Running to the mission today, I bumped into another GoodGymmer, Jennifer coming back from a different morning mission - GG we're everywhere!

Arriving at the mission I met Rebecca fresh from her amazing marathon training, and we got stuck into clearing the garden for Mr F, who kept us entertained with stories as we worked and talked about our favourite books. The time flew by, and before long the area was clear of weeds, the fox holes were filled in, the whole lot had been raked over and Mr F was happy with a much easier to handle garden.

Ps I forgot to take photos so here is a nice pic of Mo for runspiration....(sorry)

A huge well done to the lovely team that came along last night and gave up their bank holiday evening to make other people's lives a bit better - you excellent lot. Homerun! Welcome to Emily who joined us for her first run tonight, hooray!

We met at a very chilly BAC where we cheered all the great things you've been doing. Pat on the back to Jo, Alyx and Matthew who all did Park Runs this weekend, to Luke who smashed his PB at the Chase the Sun series last week, and to David who raced a half marathon on Sunday and still made it to GG tonight. You total stars.

After a few stretches we used our headcount to find out about everybody's favourite drinks - you are an interesting and eclectic bunch, Wandsworth. Answers ranged from the traditional - several coffees (NO teas?!), water, beer - to the more exotic - Tignanello, ribena and even one pina colada. No wonder our socials are so much fun.

Tonight we were off to the lovely Doddington & Rollo community garden in Battersea. It wasn't a long run, so we set off at a fair lick, and arrived at the rooftop garden after a swift mile. Half the team found spades, hoes and rakes, and set about clearing a big overgrown bed on one side of the garden, while the other half followed community housing champion Hadas to the Venue - a community space a few minutes' walk away on the other side of the estate. Our job was to shift around 60 chairs. Of course Wandsworth loves a human chain, human chain and we weren't going to miss our chance today. The job was done in no time, and we made our way back to the garden where Megan and Hadas kindly invited us to pick some herbs from the blooming kitchen garden to take away with us.

With the Wandsworth playlist turned up high (remember you can add anything you like to the list - its yours, find it on Spotify) we started on a tough arms workout. With 40 seconds each of wide arm press ups, tricep dips, narrow arm press ups, plank, walk outs and step ups plus a quick sprint - TWICE - it was a real upper body blast, an area which runners often neglect.

The run back was a mean little uphiller, but we grit our teeth and got back to the BAC to crack the weekly CoRUNdrum (how many bars and restaurants in the houses of parliament? 14 - well done Ella! Jordan tells us its also super cheap, see you there?) and to do some nice stretching. Next week normal service is resumed with the BAC opening its doors to us again. We're off to the lovely Work & Play scrapstore next week - there is an option to take public transport a little bit of the way back, so do bring along your oyster card just in case. You can sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/tooting-work-and-play-scrap-store-fun

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