26 of us GoodGymers came out to run on another Wednesday night in Camden.

We had one lovely newbie tonight - Jodie - it was great to have you with us. Looking forward to seeing you on another run with us soon next week's link is here if you fancy! Tonight was also a milestone for Meredith and Hayley, as tonight's run marked their 100th good deeds! Well done both of you, and what an achievement. Here's to the next 100.

After our part crowdsourced intro - thank you CJ, Frances and Meredith for firing off the ways you can get fit and do good with GoodGym - we stretched and then headed off on our task just over 3 kilometers away to the Ashdown Court Sheltered Housing in Kentish Town.

After what seemed to be some of the longest waits until the green man flashed at crossings - or was it just me?! - we finally arrived in Kentish Town, met Cathi and got stuck in. There was lots to do:

• Clearing out, sweeping and reorganising the tool shed

• Sweeping and de-leafing the terrace and paths

• Bulb-planting in the garden

• Moss-scraping the patio stones

• Moving some furniture from upstairs

Beth and Frances even helped tidy up one of the residents' balconies (see photos!).

With the bulbs planted, the paths swept and the moss scraped, our job was done. We had a quick team photo and said goodbye to Cathi before running another 3km back towards the Living Centre. After nearly 7km (!), we made sure to stretch out properly when we got back to base. From there it was on to the pub for some - there was an amazing cake baked by Hayley to celebrate 100 good deeds - and others headed homewards.

Next week and other news

COMMUNITY MISSION: Some of us will be heading back to Story Garden on Thursday evening to carry on our work there from 5pm. Sign up here if you want to help out!

NEXT WEEK: Join us on Wednesday for the an October run up to Kentish Town City Farm to help Mel and the team put up their marquees for the annual Apple Day celebrations! It's going to be a big one, so come along - and bring friends - as there'll be lots to do.

SOCIAL: Oh it's a biggie - the last social to be organised by Pritesh - and an unofficial GoodGym 10 year party, coming up on the 8th November. The record attendance to beat is 83, I think we can smash that! Put your name down here if you're coming along.

Have a great week and see you next time.

Happy running,

Ben

30 amazing people joined me in Camden as we headed to Antrim Grove allotments for the last time this year and ran over 7km too!

We welcomed first time runners Niamh and Rosie Y and talked GoodGym's 10th birthday plans as well as the usual health and safety and general intro!

With that done and much bug spray sprayed we split into two groups with Rosie A leading the more keen runners and myself taking the more sedate group. We took different routes but ended up at Antrim not too far apart. We were split out into various task from weeding, to digging, to chopping and the remainder joined Kat outside to do some conditioning exercises!

With the light fading fast we swapped people over to do the fitness work and before we knew it it was 8pm and time to head back. We posed for a group photo in the dark (turns out my camera's night mode is terrible) and then we said our goodbyes. We split the group again but both took the same route, Rosie A leading a primrose hill posse and me taking the rest around the hill. Once back to base we stretched and then some headed to the pub and others home.

Next week we are celebrating 10 years of goodgym - there will be cake!

Cheers,
Pritesh

21 incredible people joined me in Camden to run 8km and help at Antrim Allotments!

As GG HQ work hard to find you the right replacement for Paul, little old me will be looking after you and trying to bring some balance to the force over the next few weeks.

The king is dead, long live the... interim king

It was a week of new things with me in charge, meeting Helen the new chair at Antrim and the following runners joining GG for the first time: a big GGC welcome to Anna and Paul!

After confusing everyone by turning right out of the Crick we did the usual briefing, warmed up and went through the news:

• Congrats to all that took part in the penultimate GG Big Six race of the year at Bath Two Tunnels. Don't forget the final race is in September in Edinburgh. Details here!

• GG is turning TEN! Come to the party at City Hall and tell us what GG means to you here!

• Finally get the 5th September in the diary, it's the date of the next GG social. Also get the 8th November saved as I hear its going to be a special social!

On to the night at hand, with one task tonight we ran in a big group with Louise middle-marking and Abi and Rosie back marking (thanks!). Its a decent route to Antrim but hills are unavoidable! We worked hard and everyone put loads of effort in. Once we arrived at Antrim we met Helen the new chair of the allotments and she showed everyone the tasks! The allotments were looking particularly lush but there were still patches that needed work. The order of play today was mainly weeding and clearing with a healthy dose of digging too!

We had a strong 20 mins of hard work sadly the insects were hard at work too and sadly not many escaped with out bites. Must remember that citronella spray next time! Before we knew it the time had passed and so we returned our tools, said goodbye and posed for a group photo!

We took a different route home and split into a Rosie group and an Other group. The other group took a more leisurely pace but also conquered Primrose Hill (sorry Abi) whilst the Rosie group hurried home at pace.

After a stretch outside the Crick we siad our goodbyes and headed home, as ever a trusty, or should that be thirsty group headed for 'impromptu' drinks at the Somers Town Coffeehouse.

Thanks and see you all next week - task is being confirmed but you can sign up here!

Pritesh

57 GoodGymers ran 6km to help Kentish Town City Farm, broke the Camden Attendance Record and I said farewell to you wonderful people!

On my first Wednesday living in London back in May 2014 I enjoyed GoodGym Camden, I found a welcoming community of runners who were like minded people. I was honoured to become your trainer in January 2016, something that's always been more than a job to me. It's a passion; to bring people together, learn about our bodies, help the communities we live/work in and then go to the pub afterwards. You guys are the best!

Thank you so much for last night, the amazing group of you that came in the rain to say goodbye (and hug the goats) and for such wonderful presents.

Okay back to the normal report... welcome along to the newbies Lisa and Xanthy - lovely to have you along!

In the news this week:

1. A huge well done to GG sisters Kat Kelly and Liz Pang for hitting 100 good deeds, I am privileged to call them my friends and proud of what they've achieved at GoodGym Camden over the last 3+ years.
2. Go along to CREOS Community Mission in Islington this Sunday - it's a great one that ends with a free picnic!
3. So I have two races planned that I'd love for you to be apart of - Rother Valley Running Festival (near Sheffield) on 16th November. Also we'll be going to Kiev in May 2020 for the next #GGxEuro Trip! More details about both coming soon.

Corrr blimey there was so many of you! Such a big group, in fact such a big group that we broke the Camden Group Run Attendance Record and were just a few people short of breaking the GG World Record. Next time.

For the run up there we formed two groups of 25-30 people, with brilliant Run Leaders and Taskforce Peeps leading, middlemarking (cheers Steve) and backmarking each one - thanks to Abi, Kat, Chris, Aidan, Patrick, Steve C, Frances, Rosie and James for all there help leading groups through the wet streets of Camden. Meanwhile Mr Lee and I formed good-cycle again and helped direct at various points along the 3k route.

Ciao now Bown cow

Upon our arrival at Kentish Town City Farm Mel told us the brilliant news about the mean old trustee board had been removed, new guys had come in place and £100,000 being donated by a very kind donor. The farm has been saved, a hollywood ending! Then she set us to work with four tasks:

• Three people collected up debris in the goat area
• Twenty-Five people removed old decking from around the pond, and then chain ganged it all the way down to the bin at the bottom of the farm.
• Fifteen people shovelled muck, bagging it up and re-piled it
• Finally thirteen people racked and evened out the ground up at the Arena

The farm was full of activity for 30 minutes, we got so much done and Mel was really pleased! Thanks for working so hard in the rain, muck and more. Next it was GOAT TIME - we hugged them, said hey to little Rosie and fed them - all the fun! After a special group photo we headed back to base for stretches and then onto to pizza + beer! Thanks for Kat, Rosie etc for organising that!

Bown-ding into the future

What a special evening to end a special time for me personally at GoodGym ( both Camden and Islington). As I said last night I started without a beard and not really knowing what was up, the community that is GoodGym has enabled me to grow into who I am today. Thank you so much for the fantastic presents, the messages, the individual farewells and for just being you. You guys are my family, I love you and I'm going to miss you so much!

See you at a GoodGym Event sometime soon!

PB over and out for the final time.