We had a great contingent of GoodGymers, including some new faces to Tower Hamlets GG at the Mile End Parkrun this morning volunteering to get involved with#GGSuperSaturday!

Everybody turned up and got their roles, Marshalling, Timing, Barcode Scanning or Tailwalking, with our high vis jackets and got in place ready for the runner’s to set off on their Saturday morning Parkrun. The sun was shining gloriously and there was a good amount of cheering happening as the first loop was completed for many runners.

It was a quick Parkrun this morning, as our very own Leeanne got back in under an hour as the tail walker!

We all posed together for a team photo with another TH GoodGymer - Sarah - who completed and celebrated her 100th Parkrun today, well done Sarah!

After saying goodbye to a few of our team who had to shoot off the rest of us did a little litter pick in Mile End Park.

We needed to do some deeds for celebrating GoodGym’s 10th birthday, and we did so with volunteering at the Parkrun and a quick clean up in the park. The stunning late September sun was an added bonus and we had an absolute blast, it’s always great to hang out and do some good with our GoodGym community.

We’re even getting a shout out in the Mile End Parkrun email this week, and hopefully will be back soon to help with some pacing for them... watch this space!

Happy 10th Birthday GoodGym! We all love you and all you are to and for us!

#GGSuperSaturday

10 runners, three kilometers, one epic battle of GG V The Root.

We kicked off yesterday evening by welcoming Emily to her very first GoodGym run - give her a cheer, Hounslow! Great to have you with us Emily.

We also congratulated Rufus who smashed the Hackney Half on Sunday with a time of which to be very proud, and to Andy and the other supporters who handed out a whopping 50 000 jelly babies to the runners!

There was a quick reminder about the upcoming GoodGym Olympics, which will see all the GG areas nationwide go head to head in a day of competition, fun and ultimate victory. The events page is now live but the deadline is the 3rd June - so get signing up quick here! There are a variety of events on offer, including egg and spoon, a pancake race, 100m, 400m, 5k on the track, elimination races and relays. The entry page has full list of the events and descriptions of some of the lessor know races (including the GoodGym relay, this year's theme is no one gets left behind...think human caterpillar race). 30th June, Parliament Hill track. See you there, team.

Our task last night was a short run away, so after a quick warm up (or as Adam puts it, ritual humiliation session) and a discussion about our fav holiday activities (local food, local sunning, fell walking, climbing but sadly no running) we set off for a very overgrown green space on Sutton Court Rd.

Just under a mile later we found Cheryl and Steve waiting for us with tarps, spades, forks and instructions on which plants were to escape our wrath. The local residents have got funding for some plants to make the area more beautiful, but first it needed a good sorting out.

We got straight in, whacking out weeds and litter and wondering why there were so many babybel wrappers in Chiswick. Meanwhile, Adam had launched into a battle with a huge tree root that needed to come out. It was a dirty fight, but one that ultimately saw the root defeated. After 40 minutes the pile of weeds was immense, so we decided to call it a night, and after a quick sweep, headed back to Turnham Green for our fitness.

Tonight was speed work, so we started thinking about cadence- the number of times your foot strikes the ground. This is important in fast running because efficient forward movement happens when your feet strikes the ground for the littlest period of time possible and without 'braking' by overstriding. We tested out this idea with a series of short intervals, before stretching out on the grass.

Next week we've got a verrry short run over to Turnham Green to do some planting, before hitting up a massive (but fun!) fitness session. For more doing good and getting fit, sign up here.

We kicked off our Wednesday GoodGym last night with a historic moment - the first Hounslow 100 milestone! Ladies and gents of GoodGym, please put your many hands together for the red flash himself, Andy Cowan who has become a good deed centurion. Such commitment to doing good and getting fit is to be celebrated. So we did, with more doing good, more getting fit, and pub-cake. Way to go, Andy.

Not content with just one celebration, we also welcomed the lovely Hannah to her very first group run - go on, give her a cheer! - and had some great GoodGym tourism from Chi who was visiting us all the way from Haringey. Good to see you guys!

Our task last night was a new one, so after a warm up which featured a poll to find out our greatest sporting heroes (Nadal, Charlotte DuJardin, any woman rugby player, MO, Zatopek, Cathy Freeman and Tasha's Mr Bradley all featured) we excitedly set off on the short run to Cultivate London. After a happy half mile of running we got held up by a pesky train, which meant a little rest for some, and an intense few minutes of squats for others. That's the way the cookie crumbles, gang!

We soon arrived, and enjoyed a little talk from Rosie about Cultivate London - an innovative urban farm and social enterprise based across multiple derelict sites in West London. They train unemployed young people in landscaping and horticulture, and work to engage our community in food growing. They have a long term impact on the lives of young people and change the way Londoners think about their fresh produce and where it comes from.

We split into three groups - pallet breakers, nail removers, and woodchip baggers and set to work on these jobs, which looked a little easier than they actually were. That didn't stop the GG crew, and half an hour later, Michelle won her long fought battle against that last nail, there were several dozen bags filled to the brim with woodchip, and a woody pile of former pallet. Fantastic work.

After a speedy run back to base, it was time for a fitness session that was short but intense. It featured a slightly pedestrian game of ZipZapZop, before we got into the hard stuff. Six round of HIT later, we finished off with a fitness test designed to really work the core and upper body, and get that heart pumping. A few much-needed stretches later and we were done! It was great to see you pushing yourselves, that's the kind of effort that really ups fitness levels.

If you just can't get enough of GoodGym - and let's face it, who can? - then sign yourself up for tomorrow's social at the fabulous Waterman's. Every time we go to do a task at this independent arts charity we get tempted by the delicious aromas coming from their in-house Indian restaurant. This time we're going to skip the task, and head straight for the curry! Everybody welcome. Then, Saturday morning, several of the group will be doing Gunnersbury parkrun, joining Luis for his first ever parkrun. Good luck everyone!

Next week we're back to Ealing Baptist Church, where we have helped out before with their homeless shelter and foodbank, to sand down a lot of railings. Here's where you sign up for your Wednesday dose of fitness and goodness.

ps shout out to Adam for this week's punspiration!

After 2 solid days of rain, there was a rare moment of sunshine over Hounslow for tonight's group run. That possibly had something to do with the fact that celebration was in order - Remy reaching the fantastic milestone of doing her 50th good deed!

We had a quick chat about our upcoming races - for any keen (or wannabe) parkrunners, a load of GoodGym Hounslow runners are planning on attending Gunnersbury Parkrun on May 12th. Hopefully see you there!

Our planned task had been postponed (due to some sneaky Ofsted inspectors taking all the school's attention), so we turned our green fingers to the wild flower meadow on Turnham Green. This is an area organised by Jan, who set us to work last year pulling up thistles to allow room for the flowers to grow. Now they were starting to come back, and GoodGym Hounslow were needed to put them back in their place!

As Turnham Green is so close to our start point, we elected to leave our normal warmup until after the task, to leave us ready for what Ana promised to be a tough (but fun) fitness session! With that, we headed to meet Jan with her wheelbarrow brimming with tools and thick gloves.

Wearing double gloves, working in teams to loosen then pull out thistles, we were soon powering through the task. Thanks to all the recent rain (silver lining!), we had them flying out the ground easily and quickly built a small wall of uprooted prickly leaves. Jan was delighted with our progress, and announced that we'd done a much better job that the workers she had tried employing to do it previously; result!

Before we had a chance to complain of any thistle injuries, we moved swiftly onto our warm up which kept us moving, stretching, and jumping in the air every time Ana said 'Remy' (did she ever say that rule had finished...?). A quick poll round the group revealed the most popular capital city as London (obviously as it's the home of GoodGym), and we set off for a lap of Turnham Green in Indian File.

The start of the fitness session was a tough one, with a round of Sally Squats - an aching 3m30s of squats, squat holds, and wondering what we'd done do annoy this mysterious Sally so much! Eager to get moving and run around the green, we began what probably counts as Ana's most imaginative fitness game, based on two teams competing to turn an assortment of shot glasses scattered across the field a certain way up. It turns out trying to spot clear shot glasses amongst long grass is enough of a challenge in itself - but including the tidy up as a bonus second round saw victory go to the right-way-up team. Good job everyone!

We concluded our fitness session with some technical training, in the way of pyramid interval training. This consists of alternating slow and fast segments, with a focus on technique and increasing then tapering distances. After some excellent sprinting from the whole group, we had the gentle jog back to the Town Hall, followed by the all-important sharing of Remy's 50th celebration cake in the pub. With our masterchef hats on, we decided chocolate and marmalade was Ana's best creation yet - look forward to seeing the recipe!

Don't forget to sign up for more GoodGym run next week!