My quince brings all the Goodgymmers to the yard...

10 Goodgym folks arrived nice and early last night (including new Goodgymmer Kate- welcome!), and it was lovely to catch up before heading over to our task. There was lots of talk about upcoming races; (The Big Half next Sunday for example, and a few running films to catch on streaming services. Hanry recommended checking out "3100: Run and Become", a documentary about the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, which takes place in Queens, New York City each summer. This race is held around one square sidewalk block (0.56 miles) and requires at least 59 miles a day for 52 straight days to complete the event.

Before we set off, we performed the count-off, and asked each other "If you could run anywhere in the world, where would it be?". The answers were as follows:

• Bosnia
• The Lake District
• Patagonia
• The Copper Canyons, New Mexico
• Aviemore
• Paris
• Somewhere in Wales
• Cornwall
• Kiev, which I am doing in April (see info here!)

Chain, Will Keep Us Together (working in the shadows)

Our crew jogged up Holloway Road for about 2km before connecting onto Mercer Road. At number 107, we met up with Regina, the volunteer coordinator for Single Homeless Project, and we got straight to work on shifting the last of our woodchip pile. Back in September, our team unloaded almost 4 tonnes of wood chip off the streets of Islington in record time, and we have dedicated the last two weeks of tasks to distributing the mulch to the appropriate gardens. A small team took it in turns to shovel and fork the material into builder's sacks, and everyone else safely carried the sacks through the house, and into the back yard.

We made short work of the huge pile of wood chip- keeping a constantly moving string of workers moving through the building proved to be super efficient. Our final additional task involved a bit of light weeding, taking our a few troublesome plants from around a new quince tree growing in the back yard. We will be sure to return soon to continue with some additional weeding and gardening tasks.

After collecting all of the tools and equipment together and saying goodbye to Regina, we made our way back to the Emirates for some light stretching and a few congratulatory Oreo cookies for a job well done!

NEWS

GG Islington Monthly Social- March 2020

We will be hosting our monthly social meet-up after our group run on Monday 9th March!

Come and join us for 2-for-1 pizza and drinks at the Victoria Tavern (straight after our task at Sunnyside Community Gardens, Archway).

Sign up here to confirm your attendance, or turn up on the day!

Hackney Half Aid Station Volunteering

Goodgym have been asked to assist on a second aid station for the Virgin Hackney Half marathon (17th May 2020)!

So many folks asked to help at the Mare Street aid station, that the organisers have allowed us to also take on the Broadway Market aid station at Mile 9. This is awesome- 2 out of 6 aid stations will be manned by Goodgym runners (1/3 of every aid station will have a GG cheer squad)!

Basically, we have had a presence at Hackney Half since year 1, and it is a really fun day! A proper carnival, with cheering and some water distribution to runners involved.

Also, any volunteer at Hackney Half will receive a free place in either the Oxford Half or the Asics London 10km later in the year. It's win-win!

Sign up here before the places fill up!