With the final week of a massive ongoing task for us, it was great to see so many GoodGymers on board to make a real difference on a Monday evening!

*A very big welcome to Alice, Sophie, Celia, Jonny, Caroline, Bastian and Zak who all came along for their first run tonight. Give them a cheer!

Well done to all those who got out and raced this weekend, shout out to:

• Jo who wombled her way round a race at Wimbledon Common!

If you’re up for adding purpose to your Saturday run, why not check out

• this fun event in King George’s park in Wandsworth. This is a community mission, so you don’t have to be mission verified, and involves running (5k) or walking (2k) whilst picking up rubbish at the same time! Get that double endorphin hit of not only keeping fit but helping the local community. All equipment will be provided including gloves, rubbish bags and even a free Plogolution t-shirt!

Don’t forget that it’s the monthly GoodGym social this Thursday:

• Sign up here for all the details of the monthly GG knees up in central London

Parklife

After a warm up and a survey of our favourite comfort food (mac&cheese, chocolate, toasts, mash, roast dinner, crisps, grapes that are made into wine...all the good stuff!), we headed down for our final week at a Battersea community garden. As you all know by now, this space had been closed for eight years, but the decision has recently been made to open it up for the local people to use. But there has been an awful lot of work needed to make it a safe and welcoming place to use.

So after running to the Venue Community Centre to pick up tools, we made our way over to the garden to start the last of the final jobs. The big task for tonight was staining the benches and sanding the tables, so we got stuck straight in, as well as tackling loads of other jobs like litter picking, weeding, digging and cutting back bushes.

After 45 minutes of hard work, we called it a night, but not before taking a step back to see all we’d got done. The place is almost unrecognisable from the overgrown and unsafe space it was only a few weeks ago and almost ready for the local community to enjoy. Check out the before and after pics – what a job, people!

After dropping back the tools we jogged over to a little green space on the way back to the BAC to do our fitness session. It was the first Monday of the month, so it was time for our monthly core blast! So with a core triathlon to kick off, we then moved into various drills to really work those abs.

All that was left was a run back to base, and a nice stretch to cool down. Great work everybody. Next week we’re back to the Kambala estate to do some more planting of bulbs. Sign up here for all the details. Until then, run happy!

With a massive new task ahead of us, 38 amazing GoodGymers turned up to run 4km and transform a neglected community garden!

And we also got to welcome new runners Mitzi, Julia and Anna - give them a cheer! It was also great to see visitors from other areas including Croydon, Barnet and of course our lovely central officers- a big Wandsworth welcome to you all!

We kicked off the night with a bumper news session. To recap:

Inspired by the London Marathon on Sunday? Ballot entry is now open! It's one of the best major marathons in the world, and if you're thinking about taking on the ultimate challenge, you've got nothing to lose by entering the ballot! Just going to leave the link here...

The 2019 GoodGym Olympics are fast approaching! If you haven't been before, this is a very fun day where every GoodGym area goes head to head to compete for the title! Events include track racing, the sack race, a baking competition and lots more. There's the chance to race competitively or just to have a lovely day out - so sign up here to help defend Wandsworth's silver medal position!

Interested in making a real difference in the life of somebody suffering from isolation in the local community? Coach running - where GoodGym pairs you up with an elderly person, 'your coach' - is a fantastic way to spend just a small amount of time which has a big impact on both your own wellbeing and that of the person you're visiting. If you've got any questions come and talk to me about it!

Well done to Oliver who took on the Dubrovnik Half Marathon at the weekend and still made it for the run last night!

Garden State

After all that chat, we headed outside to do a warm up and discuss the best superpowers to have - flying came up pretty high, as did mind reading, the ability to teletransport, speak any language and never to get a hangover!

We set off for our task at Doddington Activity Centre, which was 2 km away, at a good pace. This huge patch of land in the middle of Battersea has been shut for the past eight years, but the decision has been made to open it up again so it can be enjoyed by the community. This is a massive job as it has been so neglected over the years, but something for GoodGym really to get its teeth into! So while some of the group went off to collect the tools, the rest of us got ourselves ready for the job in hand with a few squats and lunges - what better way to prepare?

Getting Turfed Out!

As soon as the gates were open we got cracking with a list of jobs that included rolling up massive sections of old astroturf, sanding down benches, digging over soil, weeding, sweeping and generally making the place more welcoming. We have three weeks planned at this task, and it is going to be incredible seeing the place slowly transform into somewhere the community can be proud of! I'll save the before and after pictures until we're done - watch this space! Amazing efforts from everyone, well done gang.

After 40 minutes of hard work, we popped over to the local community centre to drop of the tools and do a quick fitness blast - unfortunately after all that fun hard work we didn't have much time left for a full on session (I could see you were devastated...!) but we still managed some bear planks, hollow holds, lunge kicks and inchworms. Nice work.

All that was left was to head back to the BAC, tackle that last hill, and stretch it out. It's bank holiday next week, but don't worry, you can still get your GoodGym fix! We're back at the garden for week two of the transformation, then we'll be doing some fun fitness games, and we'll even follow the session with a social at the local pub. What's not to love?! Sign up here. Until then, run happy everyone.