Friend-chips with beneFITs

Things couldn't have been more different from this time last week, when we were wrapped up in hats, scarves and gloves and had the coldest task yet. But last night, 38 of us turned up in shorts and tshirts ready to celebrate the start of spring in the lovely light of early evening.

We had some lovely new runners to welcome to the group - hello Sarah, Anne-Marie, Josefin, Ed and Rob! Why not give them a cheer, GoodGym?

It had been a very busy week of running, well done team. Shout out to Beth who put in a great performance at the Colchester Half (and also provided punspiration this week!), David who smashed the Sri Chimnoy 10k and Paul who had a good run at the Frank Harmer 10k - in between doing a huge 11 good deeds so far this month!

There are loads of races coming up - good luck if you're racing and let us know how you go! There's going to be a great turnout from GoodGymers at the London Marathon this year and we'll have a cheer team out in force. If you fancy joining us, just let me know, and don't forget to wear your GoodGym tshirt!

We were giddy to find that it was still light as we did our warm up, and in celebration, we listed our favourite things about spring. SUN, light evenings, wine in the garden, easter eggs and beer gardens are all the lovely things we have got to look forward to in the next few weeks.

Tonight our task was back at the lovely Paradise Co-Op garden to shovel a big pile off woodchip over the paths, and after a nice 2.5km run there where we made a new friend in the shape of Rob, we arrived happy to see the place in daylight! Organising ourselves with rakes, spades, buckets and other tools we got stuck in, and with 38 of us shifting woodchip, the job was done in no time at all. This community garden was once an overgrown and derelict site next to Wandsworth prison, but the hard work of volunteers has transformed this into a beautiful small-holding including an orchard, poly-tunnels, raised vegetable beds, a fish-pond, bush-craft area and community celebration area with pizza oven and running water.

We then ran over to Wandsworth Common to take on a fitness session that focused on some speed work and at the same time working on our cores - which is important for an efficient running form and to prevent injury. Alternating sprints with ab drills including v crunches, planks, mountain climbers and elbow to knee crunches, we got both a high energy, fat burning workout and a strengthening core blast at the same time.

All that was left was a run back to the BAC and a good stretch out. Don't forget that next week is Easter Monday, but that won't stop us! We have a lovely task helping to plant herbs and other jobs at a much-loved local youth centre, followed by our annual Easter social. Sign up here for a hoppity happity Easter run!