15 Runners headed out from the Town Hall Hotel (this week using their spa and swimming pool as a base!) for the short jog over to Hollybush Estate. Afer a series of active stretches and warm up drills we met up with Michael and Margaret who led us into the dark of the estate garden where we spent 30 minutes shifting composted, raking leaves and creating a new flower bed under the bright lights of two head torches and one iphone (other brands also have torches).

After the task we headed off on a 1.5km run to London Fields via a short sprint along Broadway Market. When in the park Tom set us off on a series of short 'pyramid intervals' - 2 minutes fast, 1 minute faster, 30 seconds very fast with minimal lung recovery time in between.

After we have hammered around the park several times we headed back to base for a stretch and to retrieve our bags from our luxurious temporary home.

Tonight we welcomed first-timers Andy and Amy and said hi to first-timers at Islington David and Mel.

The theme for the evening was the film "Magnolia", chosen by Ben. And there was a competition happening, with a Magnolia quiz and a Magnolia prize to be claimed, so the most important thing was to get ourselves into teams. GoodGymmers were assigned thusly:

Team Donnie Smith "I'm sick and I'm in love."

Bridget (Captain), Amy, Andy, Annie and Gina

Team Mackey "Seduce and Destroy"

Ben (Captain), Beth, Kate, Emma, Lucy and Mel

Team Partridge "&%@!@"! You &@£$ !!^%%$%. Who the %$@! do you think you are?"

David, (Captain), Mark, Steve, Ryan and Emma

Now, Magnolia's a good film,but there is very little in the way of exercise in it. However, there is one scene where a nurse drops some pills and is trying to quickly pick them up before dogs eat them. If you stretch your imagination you could imagine that cones were pills and that possibly some of the dogs that happened to be on Highbury Fields that evening might try to eat them. Maybe?

Anyway, the cones (I mean, pills) were thrown out by Simon and each team in turn had to scramble to pick them up as quickly as possible. Team Donnie Smith were fastest with about 20 seconds, so they started the evening with a bonus point. Lovely.

Warmed up our next stop was the leaflet distribution hub where the teams split up and sped off to deliver the leaflets for The Stress Project (with Beth, chief photographer for the evening, running around trying to find and snap everybody). The Stress Project provide various therapies and activities for people experiencing stress related illnesses or with mental health problems who live locally. Our job was to get the word out while getting to know the area and avoiding dogs nipping at our fingers through letterboxes.

Goodness done, it was back to the distribution hub for biscuit (Chocolate Rich Tea this week) and to complete the quiz: "What Do GoodGym Know?". Questions were of course Magnolia-related. We had to name scientologists, Julianne Moore films, test out the new "scratch 'n' sound" technology and name the French botanist that the Mangolia flower was named after (Pierre Magnol).

Team Partridge and Team Donnie Smith were close with seven points, but Team Mackey took the lead with a whopping eight points!

Their prize: a Ferrero Rocher each and a carefully constructed sugarpate "Magnolia" to share out. Well, a petal-less Magnolia. Simon did try.

After a quick nom and covering of our hands in green food dye we jogged over to Emirates where we were shocked to see that those selfish footballers had taken over the place by releasing a new strip.

Steve reckoned we could knock-up a reserve time trial course on Highbury Fields so we headed that way and jumped into the field to get well warmed up. We swung our arms about, did some high knee drills, hill flicks, fast feet, side stepping, a 3-person relay and some strides and were ready for action.

With Simon timekeeping and results recording everybody else zoomed off round the circuit and a couple of minutes later Mark and Ryan were battling for the line. It was very close, but Ryan just managed to put in an extra kick to finish in a new Reserve Course Record of 2:28. Mark's time was 2:29 and they were closely followed by new member Andy in 2:32.

Other times are available on request. Just email simon@goodgym.org and I'll send them over.

Word on the street is that the reserve course is 690 metres compared to 641 metres at our usual spot at Emirates. So with an Emirates course record of 2:20 there could be some interesting battles taking place next month!

Rather out of breath we jogged down the hill home and had a quick vote on the debate of the evening: should films be 90 minutes long or three hours long like Magnolia? Perhaps a couple more were fans of the shorter type, but the general consensus was that it was that it all depends.

Next week we're off up to Whittington Park to help with various bits and pieces, including shifting a rather heavy planter from A to B, so bring your muscles.

See you there, Simon

It was cold, it was windy, it was wet…… But that didn't stop us…… at GoodGym Brent!!! We showed up and showed out, with plenty of good vibes and motivations to go round, as per usual.

Welcoming only one newbie this week (the new warrior woman tattooed on Ellie’s back) The group headed out to the bi-monthly partners Harlesden Town Gardens, the fabulous community project in the heart of Harlesden, Brent, where Bob was waiting for us with not just one but ….. 2 awesome tasks.

Into the cold, heads down, the swift journey to the gardens began. With talks turning to May’s achievements, Sadhana’s British 10k PB time and Dan’s successes at the Adreneline Rush Obstacle race buzzing in the air, the crew thought they may be in for an easy ride, this week……… hummmmmmm, maybe not. As Ellie explained the Plyometrics challenge awaiting them at the end of the session, they thought again.

Plyometrics on hold for the time being we arrived, on time and were greeted by the brilliant Bob, who laid out the challenges this week:

• Number 1: Painting the Wall – Continue the task and complete 3 more panels
• Number 2: The building of a fantastic Bee Habitat with recycled & reused litter!! Bee-rilliant….. We set to work.

Setting up 2 stations we split the group and maximised the time ahead. With Collins in charge of the tunes and some very dubious choices to begin with, we finally found our smooth as honey, evening grooves and set to work.

The Bee & Bee got under way, with Superwoman Coralie leading the boys in the sawing of the bottles, my goodness, this woman can certainly handle her tools!!!!

Sawing and chopping, stuffing and twisting, the new Bee home began to take shape, but to ensure the GoodGymers didn’t freeze to death, interval sprints weaved their way into the mix.

Meanwhile, Claire and Sadhana cracked on with the painting and….. shock horror Ellie did too, even with fingers that were turning luminous white in the chill.

After a solid first half and a completed Bee & Bee, the whole team clubbed together to finish the painting, like a team of ninjas in Red.

With time to spare, Plyometrics, made their way in, jumping squats, box jumps, jump lunges and clapping press-ups. Despite the raised eyebrows at the beginning, this little gang are stronger than they think and certainly had some Plyome-tricks up their sleeves as well.

With a chilled jog back to base & a giggle filled, hand-holding stretch to finish, the little family that is GoodGym Brent were finished for another week.

Awesome people, brilliant chats and a community task worth braving the cold for.

Until next time!!!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE