14 Goodgymers ran 4km to paint vegboxes for Friends of Grenville Gardens aka FROGG

Welcome along to Laura whose first time it was last night - lovely to have you along. We started the evening with a sit down indoor intro, delaying our warm up slightly so Kike could join.

In the news this week:

1. Well done to Graham, Steve, Patrick and all the other York 10 miler and Marathoners on Sunday. Everything got a bit tearful with Sean, from GG York, finishing maybe his last marathon. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer in May and since has aimed to finish the marathon. Read more about this heroic story here.
2. Join James Gilbert and others on Sunday when there is a Community Mission helping Crouch End Open Spaces lay some woodchip paths - sign up here.
3. The October Long Run is this Sunday as well, led by Simon Fitzmaurice - starting in East Finchley and finishing in Hackney Wick - sign up here.

Once we were warmed up we headed north for 2k to reach the wonderful Grenville Gardens, where we met Vince with the tools for the evenings task.

Following on from when 31 of us painted the vegboxes two weeks ago we were tasked with giving it a second coat of the beautiful grey weather resistant paint. With everyone armed with a brush, a pot of paint and some kind of light we got to work to help preserve the wooden veg boxes from the nasty winter weather to come.

During our painting endeavours we came across bugs, spiders, flies and snails - all of which have got excited by the veg in the rain! Alex was the only one with wood preserver to begin with but as people finished their paint they joined him using the more 'milky like' liquid to paint wood that hadn't been coated.

Painty hands!

Over 35 minutes we covered all the vegboxes with either paint or wood preserver, using all of the former up! Nice! After cleaning up we headed home for a stretch.

Next week you will be meeting at the Arc Centre and not Arsenal, Lucy (Southwark Trainer) will be leading the group as I'll be in marathon recovery mode. Sign up here - you'll be preparing Ramsey Flowers Area for Halloween.

PB out

14 Goodgymers ran 4km to help Thornhill Square Gardens with some summer gardening

Welcome along to Kat and Katie whose first group run it was this week :)

In the news this week:

1. Well done to Dom, Steve and the gang for doing August's monthly long run on the weekend. September's monthly long run will be led by Beth and Andy and is on this date.
2. Great work to all the GoodGym crew who took on the races at East Farm over the weekend, we had three podium finishes and lots of fun!
3. The Cross Country League is coming very soon - GoodGym have got male and female teams out and we'd love for you to join. Join the raceteam here and find out more details about the league here.

After our intro and warm up in the local park we headed to Angel, across Upper Street and a right turn up Liverpool Road on our way to Thornhill Square Gardens. Anna and a team of volunteers helps look after several of the plots and general garden area in the public park, every month or so we come and do lots of work very quickly. Making a real impact.

Our tasks this time were as follows:

• A team of five cleared a plot of weeds and dug up any roots. Steve and Aidan then brought in the warm car mulch to spread over the area.
• Molly and Hannah hoed and weeded a rose garden plot - it was a bit of pro-bono hoeing as the it's the council responsibility.
• 99 Good Deeder Ben did some solo work on a plot clearing dead heads and weeds, he was later joined by Steve 'weed man' Coman for some bagging work.
• Finally a team of three weeded and dead-headed a rose plot which we mulched last time we helped out.

Over 30 minutes we got tonnes done, as normal - time for a fitness session!

On the minute for a minute - 5 star jumps, 5 press ups, 10 situps, 5 squats and 2 squat jumps. The idea is that you have one minute to do all the exercises and recover. The longer you take the less time you have time to recover - deal or no deal? 5 mins of fitness and we were done - good work guys :)

After an easy run back home we only took 5 minutes to get the door open of the Arc Centre... no need to panic haha

Sign up here for next week, we'll be off to help the Single Homeless Project and we'll be back meeting at the Arsenal Hub.

PB out

16 GGers ran 5km and helped Freightliners City Farm with various jobs

On a cold but surprisingly beautiful evening we were off to do good and get fit. Welcome along to Sarah, Dan and Freddie whose first time it was last night - welcome along :)

In the news this week:

1. A huge well done to Alex whose 50th Good Deed it was last night! He has been doing good in York, Islington and Harringey and loves the physical ones.
2. GoodGym Newcastle had it's first run last night, tell your geordie friends and get them along :)

Well last night was a bit busier in the Arsenal Hub than normal, the Youth FA Cup Semi-Final was on at the Emirates and there were lots of people around, some flagbearers, others not. Interesting to see it all happening around us. After a quick warm up we headed past the Emirates and over to Highbury Fields for a lap before we headed to Freightliners City Farm.

Muckers!

Upon arrival I for one was surprised and elated that how big the farm was and all the stuff going on! I've only been to the farm in the dark and the depths of winter so haven't seen any of the beautiful gardens, various animals and outdoor areas. Liz explained our tasks for the evening were to pull up some decking, shovel some muck and do some gardening.

Task Muck: A team of five shovelled and forked the muck at the back to the front of the pen, this makes it accessible for use the farm. Despite wearing wellies and gloves several people nearly fell into the rising mountains of POO! Various tag lines for Green Party Candidate and mucker Ernie were discussed... it kept the muck morale high...

Weed Time: Frances, Steve and Alison trimmed the grass, cut back weeds and tackled nettles in the beautiful gardens of the farm. They made a big difference in the lush green of the shrubby.

Decking doers: The rest of the group armed with various tools pulled up an area of old decking which is going to recycled on site or off. Aidan and Graham got the fun job of sawing the bigger pieces down to size!

Fitness Sunset

After a cuddle with the animals we said good bye to Liz and headed into the sunset. Once we arrived at Highbury Fields we got going with our fitness session, using a semi-circle of trees as our route - x3 90 seconds with the final 30 seconds at 5km pace! Everyone did amazingly and got muck coloured bourbons as a reward ;)

Next week we are off to help Thornhill Square Gardens, another place I am looking forward to seeing in the light! Sign up here.

PB out.