And we’re off… It’s the 2nd of January 2018 and undaunted by the bleak weather forecast or the weight of two weeks’ foraging in the Quality Street tub over the Christmas holidays, 12 runners reported for duty at Wholefoods in Richmond.

Mark promised us a gentle short run to ETNA in St Margarets, a local community centre, where we were due to finish a job we started last year, putting the weeds to bed for once and for all with some heavy duty matting and several bags of bark.

It kicked off with a game of ‘Where’s the wheelie?’, a bit like ‘Where’s Wally?’, although you’d expect it to be less challenging since the wheelie bin we were looking for could house a baby elephant (it took two search parties…).
Then it quickly became clear that this job was Mahmoud’s personal mission. Thwarted by too little time on our last visit, Mahmoud was determined to see the job through this time. He was so committed to the task, in fact, he even ran home to get better tools when those in the shed were found wanting. Then he set about cutting and laying matting like a man possessed, whilst we weeded and mulched around him. By this time, we were being pelted by rain and a little icy wind had whipped up around us, testing the spirit of even the most hard core GoodGym runner. The garden shed was starting to look pretty tempting. But Mahmoud, seeing one last bag of bark and with five minutes on the clock, persisted until all the bark was gone. He was definitely our player of the match.

So, 2018 got off to a stomping start with old and new faces joining us for the inaugural run of the year. Let’s hope the weather is a bit kinder to us for the rest of January.

Finally, remember to log all your runs on Strava/Runkeeper (and link it to your GoodGym profile) during January for the GoodGym challenge. Collectively across the UK, we are aiming to complete 5,000 good deeds and run 50,000 kms in a month. And then, of course, there is the chase for the glory of being the best team in the UK…

Welcome to Judith on your first run, I don't think Richmond has had a mother and daughter team, so it was good to have Heidi back and for her to bring you along, well played for getting stuck in at the task. Welcome back Thomas (lots of the newer runners were delighted to see you laden down with you graze snacks.)

Well done to all those runners who have signed up for events this year. One of the challenges mentioned was R.E.D January for the charity Mind, to raise awareness and funds for mental health. Jenna is running this one daily and whilst not necessarily participating for sponsorship, if anyone would like to donate then please contact her.

In amongst the news tonight , I should have mentioned that we have a "starter" run in the calendar for Jan 13th, if anybody you know is considering joining a GoodGym run but struggles with a Monday evening or wants to have a go with other newbies then this is the run for them. If you are already a GoodGym runner you can also use this to build up your mileage, so all welcome. The run details and task are listed on the website.

Finally, we left last year singing and for those that stuck around at the end of tonights run we started the new year in fine voice too as we sung "Happy Birthday" to Mahmoud. Definitely player of the match, holding his birthday celebrations at bay while he tends to his good deeds.

BTW.....BIRTHDAY'S ARE NEWS! You must tell us about them, we promise we won't give you the bumps!

Happy New Year all

9 GG Brent Familia, hit up a couple of K, to; Break up old beds, manovoure matresses, lift chairs, move massive mounds of old furniture & whack some weeds. All For the community regeneration of the Old Police HQ in wonderful Willesden!!

Intrigued.... yes it was a weird and wacky one I can tell you!! Read on for the full report

Delighted to be back with my west London fam, the GG Brent brigade didn't disappoint, with a courageous crew of nine, ready to rock the roads and pound pavements for Willesden Town Team's Police Station regeneration project. POW POW!

Back in the mix for a second week in a row was the absolutely awesome Coralie, one of the GG Brent originals back from her travels, all gorgeous and brown. Joining Coralie was our gaggle of gals: Sisters Beattie and Rachel, Debs and Tabs, Clairey-bell and Awesome Amy. And holding down the fort for the Brent, brilliant blokes was always jubilant Joe!! YAY.

So wasting no time..... OKAY We did waste a bit with catch ups and banter We stepped out to run the short distance to our destination for the eve on Walm Lane! On route we heard some very exciting news indeed that our very own beautiful Debs, received a proposal at the weekend...!!!! Amazing and we were so delighted to hear her wonderful wedding news! x x x

The run was fairly short, so arriving on time was no problem at all! Meeting us a the door was our ever brilliant host Colin, who, like the stray cats he fostered lurking all around the yard, has had nine lives himself! Which we heard all about over the course of the evening The being swept out the sea escape being the most dramatic swerve of death story he told! WOWZER and there's you thinking cool-cats didn't like water!!

Wanting to maximise the time we decided to stay for the duration of 60mins as there was plenty to do!! Most notably the smashing up of old bed frames and mattress stacking as this old station used to be haven for a very large community of squatters and copious amounts of sleep aids were not needed for what was in store for this place's future! FYI - You couldn't stop the enthusiasm of Beattie and Tabitha as they launched straight into the bed-bashing and wielded their hammers until the final stopwatch chime! Girl Power Hour for real!!

Rachel, Amy, Coralie, Claire and I focussed on the chair stacking and heavy lifting of the debrit varieties from the shed to the yard, while Joe became Colin's right hand muscle man! And despite his looks of dismay and self doubt, turned out to be quite the handy-man, spending some of the night perched on top of a van!! LOL

Although it's fair to say this was definitely a physical task of the highest decree, in order to get in some legit fitness fun, I integrated some leg circuits into the mix, with break-out squads tackling: Split squats, sumos and jump lunges X10 Reps for 3 rounds and I'm hoping there's gonna be some well toned, aching muscles waking up in West London this morning as a result!!

Although it seemed like only a few moments passed, the time had unfortunately etched away and once more we had to bid farewell to our excellent host and worthy task. However, this one is one where there is much to be done and we will be back for a visit in the next coming weeks!

Fast feet took us back to base with speed demon Debs (as always) pushing pace at the front and giving me a sure-fire run for my money! Stretches to finish and with a genuinely pooped possey we called it a night! but we'll see you next time Brent brigade!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE!