Yesterday a team of excellent Wandsworth runners made it all the way through Monday, and celebrated by meeting up to go on a lovely run together. It must have been some kind of record last night, with a bonus number of gorgeous new faces. Let’s give a huge GoodGym welcome to Clare, Hannah, Jasmine, James, Abbie, Kate and Helen.

Well done to Matthew and to Jasmine who both crushed Park Runs in Fulham Palace and Exeter respectively, and a big good luck to [David] who is running the Edinburgh marathon in a couple of weeks. We were thinking of our Wandsworth-on-Tour runners who were away in Riga smashing the 10k and half marathon races there, way to go team flying squirrels! Hat tip to Jo who is topping the distance tables and to Alyx and David, who are making their borough better by doing the most good deeds. Lovely bit of business.

Don’t forget we have a Wandsworth Whatsapp group which everybody is welcome to join – just let me know – a Facebook and Twitter page, and a Spotify account which we usually listen to on our runs, except that somebody forgot to switch it on last night (me). There is also a mission this Saturday in Tooting, for which you don’t have to have had your documents checked. It’s for our lovely friends at the Work and Play Scrapstore, and it starts at 9:30 so you could even fit in a Tooting Park Run beforehand! Check it out.

With our welcome done and dusted we took ourselves outside for a spot of warming up. We did a quick head count, and to get to know each other a bit better we drilled down right to the important stuff – our favourite type of crisp. The results were eclectic, to say the least, and there was no outright favourite – but Thai sweet chilli Sensations and Salt n Vinegar were named more than once, with guacamole and salsa getting honourable mentions as crisp companions. There were a few left fielders which set our bellies rumbling, including Space Invaders, Discos, Squares and Monster Munch. No Frazzles, Skips or Salt N Shake though. Interesting.

With this crucial poll taken, we set off to do some good things for our community. Tonight we were going to Eden Community Garden, a beautiful outdoor space for everybody to enjoy that we have helped at before. Eden’s objective is to provide a ‘green, tranquil, inner city space; a pleasant place for all to sit, play or garden. Its aim is to create and maintain a sustainable habitat for wildlife and promote bio-diversity by planting British native species and through organic gardening’, which we are right on board with. We were treated to a light shower (ahem) of rain on the way, which only sped up the pace, and arrived damply at the gorgeous garden to be greeted by Benny, the head gardener, Philippa, who runs the project, and the churchyard cat, who we named Jim (or Gym).

There were plenty of jobs to be getting on with, including moving a big pile of wood to the churchyard for a bonfire, weeding the ancient graveyard (which was full of the final resting places of Roundhead soldiers killed in the Civil War battle for Battersea Marshes), forking beds (sorry David and Daniel, I didn’t really get to grips with what you were doing, but it looked like hard work), clearing areas, and turning over compost. Team Compost did not find anything too alive in their bins, although Philippa did tell us that one year when they had a bumper load of snails that they cooked them and ate them with garlic and butter. True story.

With the jobs done, we said goodbye to Eden Community Garden (we’ll be back soon!) and shot off to the common to do our fitness session. We got our blood pumping with a quick game of Clusters, and then hit the hard stuff. Intervals! Everybody’s favourite. We alternated a minute of hard running with a recovery, making sure that we really made a change in pace. This kind of training is hard work, but brilliant for you, and as well as improving speed and strength, is great for developing aerobic capacity and burning fat. Great work. It was a short jog for recovery back to the BAC, where we cooled down with a few stretches, and as usual, rounded off the evening nicely with a medicinal drink or two. Same again next week? Yes please! You can sign up here.

Ps don’t forget to get me your elements for the Wandsworth flag!

Wandsworth smashed its own record for runners last night, and smashed it good. With no less than 46 of us, we just needed was Roy Castle and his trumpet confirming that al we needed was a bit of dedication. With the equivalent of over three rugby teams running to help out community organisations we are able to make a huge difference in our borough.

We couldn’t have made it without our amazing new runners, so here’s to Andrew, Paula, Georgie, Jessica, Larraine and Foster. Give them a cheer, Wandsworth, they’ve earned it!

A huge well done too to Alex who absolutely nailed his first ever 10k race this weekend in Regent Park. If you’re keen to get a race in the diary but don’t know where to start come and let me know and we can find you the perfect challenge. Don’t forget about park runs across London – and beyond – every single Saturday. Why don’t you have a look at the GG leaders board and while you’re there give Sophie a cheer, for she has sprinted to the top of the distance rankings. Way to go. Same goes for Berit who has been smashing out the good deeds along with Alex who also tops the cheer board. Well one Matthew for sustaining us with all that cheering!

All that running is thirsty work, so don’t forget about our monthly social which happens to be this Thursday near Russell Square, more details and sign up found here.

This week’s CoRUNdrum comes courtesy of Jordan  who asked us where the longest street in Britain can be found. Good one! With that in mind, we set off down the Wandsworth Road – which felt pretty never ending – and headed to Food For All. This amazing organisation provides a completely free food market for those who need it most, supports community self-help and is committed to tackling homelessness and social exclusion. We hope to work with them a lot in the future, and our next trip will be supporting them by distributing food to those that need it.

This time though we were there to see what it was all about, meet the lovely people and do a few jobs. This started with emptying the huge pile of rubbish, and never one to miss out on the chance to make a human chain we got cracking. Excitement peaked at the head of the line when Jessie spotted a mouse (new GG mascot?) but thankfully there was nothing bigger lurking in there. Our next task was to peel off the vinyl stickers on the soon to be repurposed Food For All van, which proved to be a very satisfying job, and the team had to be persuaded to step away from the vehicle to complete our third mission, which was to distribute posters to all the businesses along the Wandsworth Rd on our run back. Sinead took an early lead as the first to persuade a local shop to put it up, the rest of the team could be found weaving in and out of places all the way to Larkhall Park, where we stopped for a quick abs blast at the top of a hill. We worked our core hard with a combination of Russian twists, planks, crunches, scorpions and mountain climbers. A strong core is key to an injury-free and efficient running style as it helps reduce twisting and keeps us stable when we get tired. And to take our mind of the pain, we discussed our dinner plans – with pasta and burgers coming out on top, with cold sausages a less popular option. Whatever you went for, team, you earned it.

We pushed it harder for the last mile of the run, bossing that final deceptive hill on the way back to the BAC with ease. While we stretched we crowned this week’s CoRUNdrum winner - clever Holly that knew Streatham High Rd is the longest in the country. Well done Streatham and Holly. Next week we’re going to have fun delivering some flyers for a local community centre who need help spreading the word about their Easter festival. It’s a shortish run so we’ll be off to Battersea park to do a cracking fitness session. Don’t miss out, you lovely people. Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/spreading-the-word-for-our-local-community-centre

It was the first run of Summer last night for GG Wandsworth, and we sure made the most of it. Not only that, but we are now set to become the stars of the silver screen that we all knew we were destined to become, as we had guests Ben and Holly there to film us throughout the evening. Action!

We had some new athletes to welcome to our merry band tonight- hello Jamie, Holly, Baz and James! Alos, welcome to your first Wandsworth run, [Alex] (https://www.goodgym.org/runners/alex-brown-accbd6d9-5534-4f50-85ad-7dab12ff159c] - give them all a cheer, why don’t you, they’re pretty awesome.

Well done to Jamie and Matthew for doing park runs, you superstars. If you haven’t done a park run yet, then you need to get on that. They are weekly 5k timed runs across London which are free, sociable and brilliant for charting your inevitable progress. The closest ones to us in Wandsworth are Tooting, Fulham Palace (although that is cancelled this week), Brockwell, Wimbledon, Richmond….you have so many to choose from. Why not try a little bit of park run tourism?

HEROES this week. Ooh, you are an amazing lot. Hat tip to Matthew for both giving and receiving the most cheers along with Jack. Running machine Sarah clocked up most miles as she continues to smash her marathon training, while David topped the table for good deeds done.

It was still light when we set off, which we all agreed was pretty marvellous. All the better for the camera to catch our moves on the tarmac – although camera man Ben did show us up by running pretty easily not only with his equipment but in jeans. Someone get that man a red tshirt, quick. With almost two miles under our belt we arrive at Balham Baptist Church where we were met by Pastor Jim, ready with a van to load up with junk from the basement. We pulled our favourite GG Wandsworth move, and formed a HUMAN CHAIN through the community hall from basement to van and off we went. Last time we did this we uncovered some incredible stuff. This time we did not find any mannequins or kitchen sinks, but a few pairs of oars and a radiator did make their way along the chain.

Van loaded, we waved goodbye to Jim with promises that we’ll be back to finish the job soon, and weaved our way to Clapham Common, trying to make friends with the other running groups on their evening run. We got some waves back, but have come to conclusion that GG is the most friendly bunch of runners you’d hope to meet. Keep spreading that GG word! Parking ourselves on the common in the dying light of day, we set about our fitness session. The group split itself into five lots of seven people, each doing either a squat hold, plank, lunges or mountain climbers in the time it took for one group to run across the common and back. It was tough going but as usual team Wandsworth rinsed those drills. Great job everyone.

We divided into two teams to run the last short stretch back to the BAC – speedy and sexy. Of course, we’re all simultaneously both of those things, but for the purposes of the run, we had to choose just one. Team speedy pipped it to the post on this occasion – possibly because team sexy were taken on a slightly longer route. Soz. Stretching it out, there were quite a few of you who solved this week’s CoRUNdrum (courtesy of lovely Vicki) knowing that Europe’s largest Chicken Cottage is indeed in Tooting – but the crown falls to Roshan who cracked it first. If you’ve got a good old head scratcher that you want to put to the group as our weekly CoRUNdrum, just come and let me know!

Next week we’ve (fingers crossed) got a great new project. We’re helping local group Food For All distribute free food to those in Wandsworth who need it most. Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/distributing-food-to-the-isolated

ps as soon as I receive our cinematic debut, I’ll send it over. Maybe we should have a red carpet premiere at the BAC?

Learning from the best I stepped into the role of 'I wannabe a (Ana) model trainer' in wonderful welcoming Wandsworth tonight . After a personal debut welcome chat from me to 26 GG Wandsworth participants that included newcomers Christian ,Nikki, Daniel, Gemma and Caroline ( BIG cheer for all please !) we headed off on a shortish run to Christchurch Primary School where we were met by Head teacher Colette and 'shine the light ' Barry who tasked us with filling 8 beautifully handcrafted oak raised beds with a carefully measured layer of gravel , top soil and compost ready for the children to plant, grow ,pick, sell produce . 30 minutes of solid soil shifting together with grinding gravel and compost carrying to, and in, a variety of vestibules resulted in an astounding feat (peat)of just how much 26 people can achieve in a minimum amount of time with maximum amount of effort. Please do give a huge cheer to Vicki who celebrated her 100th and last task with GG today before she moves to Australia to work. I'm sure all of GG UK will give another massive cheer to Vicki for all the hours and effort she has been as a shining example of a GG member ( Ana - how can I possibly follow that cake ?!! ) As we waved Goodbye to our task/ friendly task masters, we ran to Battersea park (with a dead end included - Whoops sorry guys ) for our fitness session which was ' welcomed' and 'enjoyed ' by all! Finally we ran, in a mingling mashed up fashion back, with a final push up the hill to Battersea Arts Centre followed by stretches and a drink in the bar and Vicki cutting her cake ! Thank you for having me GG Wandsworth! I had a great time . See you soon in Worthing or Wandsworth I hope ! Julia xx