Soil Sisters

It is international women's day this weekend, so before our run we talked about inspiring female figures - read on to find out our favourites...

• Welcome to the group Natalie, lovely to have you along for your first GoodGym session!

It was also great to see some GG tourism from our lovely H&F neighbours, but also from Samantha who has set herself the goal of visiting every GoodGym area in London this year - give her a wave when you see her out and about!

It's a busy time for GoodGymers, and we started off with a quick rundown -

• A huge well done to all the Big Half racers on Sunday, and well done to those who volunteered too.

• Fancy a lovely community mission clearing the Thames of polluting rubbish? Then check out this great River Wandle clear up on Sunday.

  • Social time - the monthly GoodGym social is BACK! If you haven't been to one before then it's a great chance to meet other GGers from different groups, find out what's been going on, and generally have a good old knees up! All the details are here. Alternatively, help support one of your lovely GG Hounslow runners and raise money for the Red Cross whilst watching a cracking film about running - Remy is hosting a screening of Brittany Runs A Marathon and you can sign up for it here.

Let's hear it for Rosa Parks , civil rights activist, Montgomery bus boycott pivotal figure, and downright remarkable human being.

Our job last night was at Chiswick allotments, where local people are creating an area to be is used by school kids, particularly those dealing with mental health and behaviour issues, and turning it into a productive fruit and veg plot. They hope to use produce in the canteen, run a small market stall at the school, and liaise with local restaurants and have already made chutney, raising £80 in profit!

Let's celebrate Ada Lovelace, computer visionary , and her sister in science, Marie Curie, radioactivity pioneer.

So, after a 2km run which we most spent avoiding puddles, we arrived to find Andi, who is organising the project waiting for us with a list of jobs. The biggest of the lot was shifting and spreading manure onto the beds, so with Luis running back and forth with the wheelbarrow, we got to work digging the soil over.

Put your hands together for athletics superstar and three time world champion Jess Ennis Hill.

Meanwhile, a smaller group was tasked with breaking up branches from the recently enthusiastically pruned plum trees, as well as attacking two tree stumps that needed to come up.

Wave your hands in the air for everybody's favourite lawyer, former first lady, activist and all round hero Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama.

We worked hard for 40 minutes, during which we saw Michelle adopting some interesting but effective fork techniques ("but I don't want to stand in the sh&t!"), several dozen barrow loads of manure spread, and a pile of twigs turned into a huge pile. Great work everybody!

Let's remember social reformer and founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale - more relevant at the moment than ever.

We just had time to squeeze in an indoor abs and conditioning blast before the night was over - check out some verrry interesting photos!

Here's to all you brilliant ladies of GoodGym - keep doing good, being fit, and making a difference in the world.

Next week excellent trainer and all round goodie Beth with be leading you back to Gunnersbury park to attack those brambles - will this be the week you uncover the back wall of the old lodge? Sign up here, and until then, have a week of happy running!