24 GoodGym'ers ran 3km as they went back to school to help out Flora Gardens Primary

20 GoodGym'ers met at H&F BetterGym on a grey but thankfully dry evening ready to do good for another great cause. Despite a month's worth of rain falling the evening before it seemed we were in luck tonight as despite the grey clouds the outlook was for a nice dry evening - but where is the lovely sunny June weather?! This week we returned to Flora Gardens Primary, a wonderful local school to help out with some painting, weeding and removal of a very well embedded fence!

Before warming up, we began with a round up of the latest GoodGym news, a welcome back from holidays for Johnny and Sarah and happy birthday wishes for Steph! We also welcomed Morning to the group for their first GoodGym run, welcome along, always lovely to have an extra pair of hands join us to help get the job done!

News

Firstly, well done to Tom who completed his 50th parkrun at the weekend! A big thank you to all those that lent a hand at the 'SOS Mission (Im)possible' challenge at WHite City Adventure Playground - the Play Association have again passed on their thanks to you all.

1. Community Missions - tomorrow at Age UK H&F and on Thursday 11th July for Solidarity Sports - Volunteer Award Ceremony.
2. GoodGym Monthly Long Run - Led by Andy and I along the Wandle Trail, 16/10km run options, for all the details click here.
3. GoodGym Olympics - entries are now open! Click here. Lots of event options! Deadline is Thursday 27th June at 23:59. I will create a Google doc and post it in the Whatsapp group later so we cover off lots of the events!

School runnings

Today's warm up was a quick one involving some high knees, lunges and fast feet, and with no rain in sight we all set off on the short run down to this evening's task.

On arrival we met Jeanette who explained how valuable GoodGym are in helping out with the school. Due to constant funding cuts, any money available goes directly into the education of their students, meaning money for maintenance of the school and it's grounds is limited - enter GoodGym! With an additional four runners joining us at the task, we were now a strong team of 24! Tonight we had two jobs...painting and fence removal.

The team split into two groups and set to work!

The group on the Monet...

Group 1: the painting group...the smaller but perfectively formed group headed inside of 'The White House' to apply the final coat of Gilbert Green to the small room at the back. With the final edgings applied and the clearing up complete, we declared the 'White House' completely transformed from slightly drab and uninspiring white walls to a fresh and bright colourful green and blue!

Fence and fencibility

Group 2: the fence group...the majority of the group were given the mighty task of removing a very embedded and stubborn piece of metal fencing. A coordinated team managed to detach the metal fence, rolling it up and away, just leaving the stubborn metal posts which proved quite a challenge! Matt, Eloise and Johnny used their brute strength to snap two of the posts off - amazing stuff! Mo, Jonny, Katie, Lucy, Alice and Georgina displayed incredible detemination as they worked together on one VERY stubborn post, wiggling, tugging, pulling and digging down and around the post...eventually revealing a huge piece of concrete! The team used the spades to try and leverage the post and concrete out but the shear GoodGym strength led to a spade casualty with it snapping completely in two in Jonny's hands! But the broken spade and concrete didn't stop the team who persevered on and eventually the post was lifted out triumphantly! Fantastic teamwork and a great upper-body work out!

Don't take a-fence, but we won't skip the fitness session

This just left time for a short fitness session led by 'Mr Abs on Tour'- Chi! We started off with a lunging walk followed by a sprint back to some squats, then press ups, burpees, and sit ups, all with a sprint across the playground in between. With all of us nicely warmed up again, we set off on the short run back to base. With everyone stretched and cooled down, we headed inside for cake to celebrate Steph's birthday! A well earned treat! It was also our monthly social so many of the group headed off to Wing Wing because as they say...you can never have too much of a good wing right?!

Thanks for a lovely evening all. Next week we're heading up to a new task at the Nubian Life Centre to lend a hand in their Josiah Braithwaite Community Garden, sign up here. Hopefully see you all there. Have a great week!

Holy crêpe! 23 GoodGym'ers forgoed pancakes as they ran 3km back to school to paint 'The White House' blue & green!

Despite the light drizzle in the air and tempting thoughts of freshly cooked pancakes, GoodGym'ers came out in their shroves in H&F to run and do good! It was lovely to welcome along Hon, Alex and Raimonda for their first GoodGym H&F run - hope to see you all again very soon! It was also wonderful to see lots of 2nd and 3rd timers, and of course my regulars, thank you for all coming along.

Stacks of news

1. GoodGym Monthly Social - In Walthamstow, this Thursday - join Pritesh & other GG'mers for heroes of the month, February's IPOTM (International Pun of the Month) and lots of other fun. Sign up here.
2. GoodGym Shindig 2019 - weekend of 19th July, in Ironbridge. Register your interest by 21st March.
3. Community Missions - Up for a weekend community mission? No DBS check is required for a community mission.

• Sat 9th March from 10.30am - help finish sort clothes donations for St Mungo's Reconnection Post in Hammersmith, sign up here.
• Sat 6th April from 12pm - help sort food donations for City Harvest in Acton, sign up here.

And a big well done to Tom who smashed the Victoria Park Half Marathon on Sunday!

We all flipping love GoodGym on a Tuesday evening

With the name and number count and short pulse raising warm-up completed we headed off on our short 1.5km run to our task tonight at Flora Gardens Primary School. With one quick wall sit completed en route, it wasn't long before we arrived at the school gates and were buzzed inside by the school's Business Manager, Jeanette who was waiting for us inside 'The White House'.....thankfully, not the White House!

In 'The White House', Flora Gardens Primary School run a before- and after-school club where meals and snacks are provided so that no child goes hungry. Unfortunately like most schools, they were facing tough financial pressures so did not have the Monet to pay for full price paint and professional redecoration of their school buildings. Thanks to Community Repaint, a brilliant scheme that redistributes leftover paint into their communities at around a third of the price, Jeanette had managed to source around 60 litres for under £150 and for the second time, the many helping hands of GoodGym runners to help revamp some white rooms. What a steal!

Well colour me surprised, more painting?!

Tonight's task was to apply the second coat of the bright 'Gilbert Green' and 'Heavenly Horizon' colour to the once white and dull walls of the main downstairs room. In 60 minute makeover style, half of the group quickly armed themselves with paint brushes and covered up their valuable GoodGym tees and sportswear with the free oversized L'Oreal t-shirts that had been sent to the school - normally used for when the children do arts and crafts so as to protect their school clothes, genius!

Time to get stacked

While half of the group were painting away the other half made use of the playground area outside for this week's fitness session. Following eight laps of the playground area where the group did some excellent short sprints and indian runs it was time for some 'child's play'. First up was the classic, stuck in the mud, I was just as baffled as last week when many admittedly they had not played this classic game when they were younger - obviously they were brushing up on their painting skills! With the rules explained and the 'tagger' selected everyone sprinted off in different directions, in order to free someone who was stuck five squats were required by both runners. After a couple of rounds everyone had very sweaty foreheads and blushed cheeks, an all-round fun and effective sprint workout!

One final push...don't worry be hoppy!

With the lower body workout complete it was time for an upper body blast. In a take on 'rock, paper, scissors' the group paired up and battled it out in the plank position, some very amusing battles were had, with Tom and Katherine for one seemingly choosing the same each time! Next up was some press-up pyramid work, first up the pyramid, 30 seconds of press-ups and rest, 20 seconds of press-ups and rest and finally 10 seconds of press-ups and rest, and then the small matter of back down the pyramid....tough work but fantastically executed. For some, there was also the bonus exercise of either frog jumps or supermans. Great effort on the fitness work all, pancakes definitely earnt!

We'll get our coats...

With the rotation of the groups seemless, the walls had had their second coat of paint efficiently and skillfully applied and were now looking a lot fresher and brighter than a couple of weeks ago. With the painting completed and nut bars kindly provided by Jeanette either consumed or squirrelled away for later, all that was left to do was to help Jeanette clean-up and capture a brilliant team school-like photo in front of the Flora Gardens School sign outside. We said our goodbyes to Jeanette and headed out of the school. With the rain starting to come down heavily we unaminously decided against the longer run along the towpath and instead headed off, expertly guided by Sapphire, on the shorter and more direct run back to base for our cool down and stretch.

Next week we're heading up to White City Adventure Playground to help them clean up some graffiti, sign up for next week's run here. Hope you enjoyed some pancakes, have a fab week and good luck to all those running the Big Half on Sunday - hopefully see you either during the race or afterwards! And if you see her, Jeanette is marshalling down by Tower Bridge so give her a big cheer or wave! And good luck to Sapphire in the Thames Meander too!

A run that wasn't for the paint hearted...24 GoodGym'ers ran 3km as they went back to school to tackle a big painting challenge

Another Tuesday evening where there was no rain and snow, what a treat! Despite it being a great deal fresher than it was last Tuesday we were not complaining, plus we had the bonus of an indoor task where the team would be doing some cathartic painting!

A big welcome to Becky, Hannah, Jonathan, Katie and Lily who all joined us for either their first EVER GoodGym run or first GoodGym H&F run - hope to see you all again very soon! It was lovely to have so many new faces tonight amongst the ever wonderful regulars, thank you all for coming along.

Tonight my voice was pretty much MIA so Catriona kindly helped out with the intro and round-up of this week's news as we formed a unformidable double act, Ant and Dec be very afraid! (or not!)

You snooze you news...

1. February Long Run - This Sunday, starting at 9.30am or 10.30am depending on the pace you would like to run from Brixton Station. For all the details and to sign up, click here.
2. Morden Hall Park - Trust10 Trail Run - Also on Sunday, meet at 8.30am near the White Bridge in Morden Hall Park. Sign up here. It is FREE - there are no admission charges at Morden Hall Park.
3. Community Missions - One this Sunday, from 12pm, help finish the painting at the sea scouts HQ in Putney, sign up here and another on Saturday 9th March, from 10.30am - help finish sort clothes donations for St Mungo's Reconnection Post in Hammersmith, sign up here. No DBS check is required for a community mission.
4. Mission Changes - Make sure you read this week's 'Goodweek' email about how they are changing and also check your settings to make sure you're ready for the call-up! If you'd like to get involved with missions you need to be DBS checked - please sign up for a doc check and bring along your documents for checking.

As we went to start the name and number count, Sarah and Catriona put a hold on proceedings as they completely surprised me with their own announcement and the reappearance of the wings from last week. Wings successfully attached and first aid kit now with Sarah after the humourous comment of "Ooo you're quite small, Beth" - yes, it's hidden well...!

School runnings

With the name and number count and short pulse raising warm-up completed we headed off on our very short 1km run down to our task tonight at Flora Gardens Primary School. It wasn't long before we arrived at the school gates and were buzzed inside by the school's Business Manager, Jeanette who was waiting for us inside. As a group we all walked through the outside area of her school, admiring the massive outdoor area that was kitted out with ping pong tables, basketball hoops, a bandstand, amongst other fun kid's activities everywhere, it was huge, what a fab place to go to school!

The breakfast grub!

We were warmly greeted in by Jeanette who briefly explained the age range of the school, the meals they provide for breakfast so that no child goes hungry and how unfortunately like most schools they were facing tough financial pressures so did not have the Monet to pay for full price paint and professional redecoration. Thanks to Community Repaint, a brilliant scheme that redistributes leftover paint into their communities at around a third of the price, Jeanette had managed to source around 60 litres for under £150 and the many helping hands of GoodGym runners. What a steal!

We had it covered...

Tonight's task was to make a start on painting the walls of a room used for the children's breakfast and after school club and Jeanette's office upstairs in a bright 'Gilbert Green' or 'Heavenly Horizon' colour. As space and paint brushes were limited Sarah had kindly planned a circuits session outdoors in the playground so the group split into two groups which rotated after 20 minutes.

Jeanette had been really organised and had all the paint cans and paint brushes at the ready for the team, she even kindly provided some cereal bars as a thank you and some large L'Oreal t-shirts that had been donated to the school for when the children do arts and crafts - tonight they proved very valuable in covering everyone's GoodGym tees and sportswear. T-shirts on, all the prep that was left was some masking of the fire alarm and the covering of the floors with some recycling bags. As Sophie and I headed upstairs to scout out the size of Jeanette's office room they stumbled across another secret stash of cereal bars, which they decided to keep quiet from Will and Johnny!

Abs fab!

With half the group efficiently painting away in the warmth of the indoors, the other half of the group were being put through a tough circuit session that consisted of lunges, supermans, burpees and other beneficial core exercises to improve fitness and ultimately aid our running, rumour was that Sarah had based this on one of the fitness sessions run by GoodGym Trainer, Ana...thankfully for the group, not Mr Abs on Tour, Chi!

A blue green that was all white!

With the rotation of the groups seemless, the walls were quickly being transformed from their original white colour to the fresher and brighter blue and green colours. Unfortunately, as always the time had flown by and it was time to call it a night. With all the paint brushes put down a quick team photo was captured in front of the room's windows so that the fantastically painted walls of the room were visible. With the final handwashes completed we all regrouped outside and headed off on the final part of our run down through Furnival Gardens, along the towpath and back to base - with a couple of bonus squats thrown in when we regrouped.

Cake to cake our day!

It wasn't long before we were all back at base for our cool down and stretch. Cool down and stretches complete the class were dismissed to enjoy some delicious and moreish homemade treats - a biscuit cake made by Johnny and chocolate brownies made by Catriona in celebration of my 200th good deed!

Thank you for all your hard work at the task tonight, hope you all enjoyed the cathartic painting and run. Next week we're heading to Gibbs Green Tenants Hall where we will be doing some more painting! Sign up for next week's run here. Have a fab week and hopefully see many of you next week where I will hopefully be a little more vocal!

Thank you so much for the winged surprise and all the cake based treats, I was totally blown away. You're such a lovely group and an absolutely joy to lead, big love and thanks to you all!

Oh what a difference a week makes! After the less than favourable weather conditions these past few Tuesday evenings it was wonderful to have one that was both dry and mild, perfect for running and doing good...and thank goodness this evening we had an indoor task!

A big welcome to Martin, Melissa, Michelle, Sapphire and Toyah, who all joined us for their first GoodGym group run. and two wonderful tourists from Hounslow, Eloise and Matt. Wow! So many new faces tonight amongst my lovely regulars, hope to see you all again very soon!

Before heading outside for the weekly news round-up and intros there was first the BIG NEWS of the week...Johnny's 100th good deed! Well done, Johnny! Thanks to some subterfuge from Catriona and Sarah I presented Johnny with some stylish fairy wings in celebration of his big 100 for him to wear on the run tonight, which he clearly had no idea about! What a great idea.

Once Johnny was winged up we all headed outside to our warm-up spot where we huddled together as we ran through a quick intro and round-up of the week's news:

This week's news...

1.February Long Run (Sun 24th Feb) - This month's GoodGym long run is in South London starting at 9.30am or 10.30am depending on the pace you would like to run from Brixton Station. For all the details and to sign up, click here. 2. Morden Hall Park - Trust10 Trail Run (Sun 24th Feb) - Meet at 8.30am near the White Bridge in Morden Hall Park. Sign up here. It is FREE - there are no admission charges at Morden Hall Park. 3. Community Mission (Sat 9th Mar) - We will be following-up our January group run visits to St Mungo's Reconnection Post and will be finishing the final bit of sorting and labelling. No DBS check is required. Sign up here. 5. GoodGym Eurotrip 2019- Sofia (weekend of 11th May)...racing, pubs, spas, buffets and more! - come & join the fun! Sign up here.

With the news and intros complete we did a name and number count followed by a quick pulse raising warm-up. With Stravas set we were ready to head off on our short 1.4km run down to our task tonight at the Age UK H&F Activity Centre. Following a brief pause to regroup at the bottom of Greyhound Road where of course the time was filled with a favourite exercise, the wall sit, it wasn’t long before we arrived at the Age UK H&F Activity Centre.

We were warmly welcomed in by Aileen, one of the lovely volunteer co-ordinators from Age UK H&F who briefly explained the brilliant activities and services they provide for older adults in the area. It is an amazing centre that provides delicious home cooked meals to support those isolated and vulnerable residents for only £4 a day! Bargain! They also provide computer and technology classes, health and fitness classes, and a whole host of other great activities.

Eileen explained that tonight's tasks were as follows:

• Sort and tidy the art cupboards
• Sort and clear the 'corridor of doom'

Art of doom

The group split into two even teams: Team Art and Team Doom - admittedly one sound more appealing than the other!

Team Doom quickly got to work and formed the ever efficient human chain to clear everything from the 'corridor of doom' out on the tables in the main seated area so that they could be sorted through and grouped together. Team Art began by clearing everything out of the cupboards in a similar human chain fashion onto the sheets that had been layed out by Jason. Within what seemed like minutes everything had been cleared out from the cupboards and onto the sheet on the floor ready for sorting and grouping. Sapphire, Melissa and Eloise got stuck into a small room at the end of the corridor and left no toilet roll or crockery unturned or sorted as they marvellously transformed the room, making use of every available bit of space that the small room had to offer.

As always, Eileen had been ever so kind as to provide everyone with biscuits as a thank you for all their hard work and help, and Johnny ensured these were distributed amongst the group fairly to give everyone an energy boost and reward for doing such a grand job - the biscuit fairy godfather?!

On a winging streak

With the corridor of doom cleared and the art cupboards now tidied and sorted to a tee it was time for the mega team photo infront of the wonderfully creative Age UK chalkboard that was hanging on the wall. Despite the slight squash, everyone packed tightly in and a great team photo with the fun jazz hands was captured by both Eileen and myself.

Squat's my cup of tea!

Before we headed off we made use of the excellent indoor space to complete the 'Sally Squats' or 'Pete's Press-Ups' challenge. Apart from Johnny, everyone opted for the squats, where it was noted Sally likes to go down a lot more than she likes to go up! Amongst the groans, the sign of strong groins being formed so I've heard, 3mins 28secs of Moby's Flower (I've added the link if you'd love to complete the challenge again!) flew by....oh how time flies when you're having fun right?!

Everyone was squat amused

With the 'Sally squats' challenge complete it was time to say our goodbyes to Aileen and head off on our short run up to Normand Park. Once at Normand Park we did a quick 'Johnny Quiz' - 5 questions, if you selected the wrong answer a 'fun' exercise punishment of 20 reps of either jumping jacks, press-up, spotty dogs, frog jumps or lunges were given! The idea being 20 reps x 5 incorrect answers = 100 reps!

Sprint screen to higher the 'art rates

Everyone excelled in the quiz, with some getting more right (and vice versa!) than others. Next up was a short sprint technique session focusing on some 'pocket to socket' action, nice upright posture (imagining their is a helium balloon holding you up!) and powerful leg drives. This is best done on a hill, but sadly tonight all we had were two 50m running lanes, but these more than sufficed. With everyone paired up each pair complete their sprints displaying some fantastic sprinting technique, well done all!

All good things (biscuits) come to those who wait...

With the quick quiz and sprint technique session completed we headed off on the 1.5km run back to base for a quick cool down and stretch, and for some well earned cake-based 100th good deed celebration treats - some delicious vegan gluten-free flapjacks courtesy of the man of the moment, Johnny, and a coffee and walnut cake. Johnny was even wished a "Happy Birthday" by a lovely member of the gym....It wasn't long before only crumbs were left and all that was left was to say our goodbyes and head off home. A great end to a fun night!

Thank you for all your hard work at the task tonight, hope you all enjoyed it. Next week we're heading back to Flora Gardens Primary School for a big painting challenge task, sign up for next week's run here. Have a fab week!