The story starts like a noir film, with the streets of Ealing pounded by pouring rain. Eleven figures approached the meeting point at Bodyline Studio and brightened up the scene with GoodGym red t-shirts. The narrative instantly turned into an action movie (and later into a comedy of errors)!

Despite the cloudburst, absolutely no one dropped from the session! It was a unique, once-in-a-year task: putting up the signs on lampposts and poles with parking signs for the fantastic Ealing Half Marathon happening on the 24th of September. The intention of the advance signs along the race route was to warn the drivers about the upcoming closure of the streets.

Each GoodGymer today not only showed up not bothered by the heavy rain but also brought something special to make the team strong:

• Parham, who came today for his very first task, brought something we were desperately seeking today - height! 📏
• Sevan and Mike brought step ladders to help us place the signs on a level safe for tall runners and pedestrians 🪜
• Arran and Madhan brought their usual enthusiasm and can-do attitude 💪
• Claire brought a wealth of knowledge of North Ealing 🤓
• Divya brought a bike to carry the Ikea bag with signs 🚲
• Steph brought the perspective of a runner and a biker who would look at the signs 🏍️
• Louise, the guest from GoodGym York, brought a cosmopolitan vibe into GoodGym Ealing
• Finally, Liv brought the signs and instructions ⚠️ - that made the task possible!

Before she had to leave, Liv gave us an overview of the task and the route, complimented by a live demo of the best sign-putting technique.

We split into Team Left and Team Right, each tackling one side of the road. Although we did our best to remain neutral, we couldn't get away from politics. A passerby asked Team Right about sourcing the signs and obtaining permission to put them up. She had some political agenda to share with Ealing drivers and pedestrians. We dodged the question by (rightfully) saying we are only volunteers and the Ealing Half Marathon team is responsible for making sure the signs are put up lawfully.

Do you know that Ealing Half Marathon is a CIC? That means that the profit from the event goes to the local community.

When it started getting dark, each team split into two sub-teams to improve the efficiency.

How many GoodGymers does it take to put up one sign?

The result? The pace increased but both teams got a little bit lost at some point. Eventually, the whole gang arrived at the finish of our section roughly at the same time 🤜🤛 We covered all streets we were assigned to and ended up with four extra signs. To celebrate the success of the task and dry our drenched clothes we headed to the nearest pub for a drink and chat.

We are not done with the Ealing Half Marathon, oh no!

Sign up for GoodGym activities to support runners on the day of the event:

• Join our seasoned performer Harvey as a backup dancer for the warm-up and give the runners the best experience at their start!
• Come to the cheer station to keep the runners going!

Our next week's group run will be a task for Cultivate London - sign up now!

Our GoodGym has a fantastic history of working with St Mary's Church in South Ealing. We haven't been to their church garden for a while. Someone had to make a move and make things happen. That person was Milly. She got back in touch with Vicar Steve and organised a gardening task for us. Result?

14 Ealing GoodGymers weeding, chopping, cutting and pulling trees - that's a 2023 record! 🥳

Today's session featured:

• A welcome to Arran and Louise 🎉 (the latter we had already met at Pitshanger junior parkrun) to GoodGym Ealing - a welcome with a twist! Both of them have been already doing group sessions in Ealing back in 2018, so they should be really welcoming the rest of us! 😆
• Comebacks of Ben and Cam who rushed to the group run so much that the GoodGym logo of his red t-shirt couldn't match his pace and was left behind. We are sure it will catch up with Cam before his next group run
• The usual suspects: Claire, Mike and Milly
• Cyclists: Emmanuella, Madiha and our Hammersmith friend, Divya
• Runners: Steph, Sevan, Kash and already mentioned Ben who all ran through Walpole Park and around Lammas Park to the church - it was a lovely run in the late afternoon sun 🌞
• Madhan who walked to the task which earned him his own category on this list!

Milly and Ben volunteered to help inside the church move boxes with documents. The task involved heights and climbing a ladder. Our heroes' skills could match the Horsenden mountain goats, so no one fell down. Steph and Mike were taken on a special expedition to cut back a large tree. The rest of the group stayed in the main garden area that was troubled by weeds.

Our main enemies were:

• Sycamore tree saplings - they grew from the seeds fallen from the nearby adult trees and covered the area like a carpet. We had to remove them with the roots while they were still young before they all turned into full-sized trees!
• Brambles - Ealing is already full of brambles. Why would they hesitate to enter the land of a holy building?
• Bindweed - there was surprisingly little of that bad boy but pulling it was satisfying as usual!

In an hour we transformed the area, making the weed blanket disappear and the clear ground reappear. We made space for the native perennial plants to thrive. Steve was pleased with our efforts and was sure our work will help the area's biodiversity.

After we transported all the garden waste to the back of the church garden, it was time to...

go to the pub!

...but then an alternative appeared:

who would like to do a fitness session first?

There were seven takers for the fitness. They were served an easygoing core workout with a focus on the lower back, followed by musical planks. The latter was a brutal survival game in which the players enter a grassy arena and run around cones accompanied by classical music. When the music stops, a person who cannot find a cone to plank in front of is out of the game. Did I mention burpees as the penalty? Ealing was by Hammersmith's plankiator Divya who earned the title of the King of Planks.

The fitness session was so absorbing that the group that exercised showed up a the pub too late to mingle with the original party crew. Nevertheless, they stayed for a quick one and enjoyed the still warm August night in the pub garden 🍻.

Next week we are running to Acton to flyer for the Reduce & Recycle Hub.

A week after, at the group run, we tackle a task similar to the one at St Mary's but for a new church - St Andrews Church and its community centre! It is 5 minutes walk from Ealing Broadway. Check it out here.