It was looking pretty grim all day, but as soon as we all met at Chiswick Town Hall for our run last night, the skies brightened for us and we were treated to a beautiful sunset as we did our task. The sun always shines on GoodGym runs!*

We started off by giving the amazing Remy a big old pat on the back for absolutely smashing the Aberdeen half marathon at the weekend with her fastest time this year. She's a machine! Well done also to Dave for taking on Gunnersbury parkrun last weekend. Incredibly, this Saturday will be Dave's 150th parkrun, so if you see him crossing the line, make sure you give him a massive GoodGym cheer!

Welcome also to our lovely GG visitors Jordan, Amy and Matthew - lovely to have you with us.

What's your favourite curry? In anticipation of our social after the run last night, we found out everybody's fav before we set off. Rogan josh, tikki masala, dhansak and caulifower curry were all winners. Who's hungry?

The root of the problem

Outside the town hall we met up with local Jan, who organises the wild flower meadow and the rockery in Turnham Green. She provided us with gloves and tools, and we got stuck in clearing the thistles and mugwort that we didn't manage to blitz last week. It was tough work, for they are thorny little pests, but after double-gloving and giving it some serious elbow grease, at the end of 40 minutes we had a huge wall of weeds of which we were proud.

Thistle never end

We warmed up for our fitness session with a few rounds of knee fencing, fish and chips, and clusters - with varying successes. It did the job though, so with our heart rates up, we got stuck into our technical exercises. To improve our running style, helping to prevent injuries and increase efficiency, we went though a series of sprints focusing each time on a different aspect of form. These included thinking about low shoulders and high chests, knee raise, positive backwards arm drive and foot placement. To put it all into practice, we finished off with a pyramid interval session which saw some great running from the team.

The trouble with tribbles

After all that hard work, there was only one thing left - our curry social! But hold on a minute, half the group wants to run the two miles to the restaurant? Amazing stuff! You lot can't get enough of running. Not long after, we all met up at Waterman's art centre, where we had a lovely evening stuffing our faces. Hounslow, you rule. Sign up next week for more GG fun.

*metaphorically

1 - Our first run for August! Last night we met in the mid-summer drizzle for our first run of the month. It's not the only first of the week either, because on Saturday Team Hounslow will be doing Fulham Palace park run together, and for many it will be a park run debut. Don't forget your bar codes! Good luck, athletes.

7 - Seven lovely runners gave up their evenings to do some good last night - nice work Dave, Natasha, Remy, Adam and Andy and Jo, who are both on their second GG run of the week. Way to go!

13.1 - The number of miles that Remy smashed out at the Wimbledon half marathon last weekend. You are a running superstar, Remy. Give her a cheer, Hounslow!

3 - The choices we had during our warm up - would you rather be the richest, most beautiful, or cleverest person in the world? We had a range of responses, but Dave's answer was the most canny.

2 - The distance (in miles) we ran to our task tonight. We've been to Friends of Cathja charity shop a few times before, and this time we split into two groups to continue clearing the donations pile and to shift a huge bookcase. While Remy and Natasha got stuck into the piles of bags, Andy and Jo started on clothes before moving over to Team Bookcase to help out Adam and Dave. It was a monster of a piece of furniture, but with a lot of elbow grease, some tactical shifting, and a whole load of clapping, it was soon in its rightful place and ready to start filling up with books. Lance Armstrong biography, anyone? Microwave cooking for one?

1 - The number of dogs we finally managed to win over last night. Bruce, you are now officially our friend.

2.7 - The number of miles we ran on the way back....thanks to a few twists and turns. It just keeps it interesting!

? - The number of squats we smashed out on the way back. Lovely, lovely squats.

10 - The day in August which will see the monthly social - come along to see if Hounslow wins the pun of the month. Sign up here. We also are doing a GoodGym Tooting park run takeover, so if you fancy pacing or volunteering then sign up here.

100 - The percentage of which you are brilliant, GoodGym Hounslow. Next week we're running to a food bank in a church, come along and join the fun.

What a night in Hounslow. Not only are we growing (hurrah, more of you to run with), but we had our first social thanks to the lovely Waterman's Art Centre who gave us some tickets after we did some tasks for them, and the lovely Jo, who organised it. Thanks both! Welcome to the group Rafal and Gosia and welcome back Giacomo!

After some chocolate biscuits and a chat about our racing weeks, we made our way outside to warm up. During some dynamic exercises which tested our reflexes both mental and physical, we discussed what we would send to room 101, never to be seen again. From moths, wasps and spiders, to large umbrellas, buggies, drizzle, and overcrowding, it was perhaps Adam who summed it up for all of us, when he said he would banish foolishness. Excellent idea.

In a decidedly unfoolish fashion, we set off for our task tonight at Strand on the Green primary school.It was a very nippy run down because we only had to go a short distance, so in no time at all we arrived at the school and were faced with electric gates and the code we had been given. In what was like an episode of the Crystal Maze, we got the code right, and as the gates creaked open we found a pile of tools and gloves waiting for us. Our job tonight was to clear a very overgrown conservation area and tidy up a lot of clippings, moving the whole lot to the compost heap across the field. Wasting no time, we hopped to it, accompanied by some tunes to keep us motivated.

Back and forth went the trailer carrying pile after pile of weeds and branches, Remy's secateurs were given the test of their life, and Jo found the world's largest slug. Before long the areas were looking much clearer and tidier - check out the before and after photos (and thanks for the reminders, team!).

With the school field to ourselves we decided to take advantage and do our fitness session there. After a few rounds of games including Clusters, British Bulldog and knee fencing, we set off on our first sprint around the playground. But where did Adam go? Then we smashed out some strengthening drills including squat holds and planks, before attempting to beat our times on the sprint the second time around. There was some excellent running from the gang, who all beat their first times.

While the advance party set off for Waterman's, the rest of us took a speedy run back to the starting point and finished off the night with some stretches, before some of us took ourselves off for Hounslow's first social. Same again soon please!

A great night of doing some real good and getting some proper fit! Way to go, Hounslow, you are all fantastic. Sign up [here[ (https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/friends-of-cathja) to take the slow out of Hounslow. Or something.

Did you know that the most decorated athlete in British athletics history, Sir Mo Farah, went to school in Hounslow? He joined Hounslow Athletics Club and represented the borough in the London Youth Games. 20 years later, we're meeting for our GoodGym run in Chiswick. Coincidence? There must be something in the water!

We had some great new faces last night - firstly a huge GoodGym welcome to the lovely Gemma, who joined us for her first run last night. Give her a cheer! Another massive pat on the back goes to Michael and Jade who both came along to see us from Ealing. Lovely to have you aboard, guys!

After a run down of the week's news, where we talked about the mission that still has two places left near Isleworth this coming Saturday, we made our way outside to do some nice warming up and have a quick talk about super powers before we left.

Tonight's task was a short run away, so with Adam leading the way, we set off for the lovely Strand-on-the-Green primary school. We arrived to find a little party going on, and dozens of kids on massive sugar highs darting about the place. Envious of their energy levels, we set about clearing the site of a overgrown car park. While Claudia and Natasha started weeding the borders, Jade, Michael, Adam and Gemma grabbed huge brushes and began sweeping the huge space. Meanwhile, Andy and Jo got to work digging up whole trees nearby, and in the process discovered all sorts of treasures including a rubber duck and glitter.

"It's a like a unicorn graveyard!" said Jo.

While we were a hub of industriousness, we had a GoodGym Hounslow first, when the staff brought us over a box of drinks including juice and...beer! At a school! It felt a bit naughty. But that didn't stop several of the group getting stuck in and having a jolly good time too. Well deserved, people.

Oi, teacher, leaf those kids alone!

After a quick rehydrate, we made our way back to Turnham Green in record time and ready to do a fitness session. And what a session it was. The challenge was leg circuits - eight stations, all focused on strengthening those legs. They were real toughies - high knees, tuck jumps, lunges, squat holds, hopping, mountain climbers, jump squats and ski jumps. Aside from the fact that I'm definitely going to need a rear view mirror in future, the exercises were tackled with real grit. Well done everyone!

Job done, all that was left was to race back to the Town Hall and to stretch out those aching muscles. Great work team - you not only helped out a local school and made your borough a better place, but you also smashed through a fitness session. Go you! Sign up for more fun next week right here.

PS thanks for the puns team, especially Adam who was on fire!

On a lovely Wednesday evening 23 GoodGymers ran between 4-10km, delivered leaflets and did some DIY.

Wow lots of newcomers to GoodGym, welcome to Kat, Lucy, Mara, Sylwia, Rosie and Frederic. Fantastic to have you along!

In the news this week:

1. GG monthly drinks, an opportunity for everyone from GoodGym to meet up, is on Thursday 6th October (Pritesh's birthday), sign up here
2. Well done to Danica who completed Richmond Half Marathon on Sunday in 1.59.29 - completing her sub-2 hour goal. Well done #proud.
3. Also well done to Steve Moody for doing Hull Marathon at the weekend, he is planning to do a marathon a month between now and April, amazing!

Our tasks this week were to help Abbey Community Centre spread the word of their amazing work through leafleting and doing some DIY for C4WS, a national homeless charity.

DIY Run Report:

After a game of tag we did a short run to C4WS led by the wonderful Sophie Hedges, arriving to find a cabinet and desk to put together.

Ikea!

With Ikea instructions, great minds, allen keys, and focused hands we were sure to complete the task. We lacked a little space in the room so five of us headed for a run around the block while the other 10 split into teams, with Polly in overall charge, putting the furniture together.

With a swap of DIYers and runners we were only getting closer to finishing the mammoth task. Boom the cabinet was first to be put together, after a group pic 10 people headed to Russell Square while five team members stayed to continue the finishing the job.

We've done the Good now for the GYM!

Intervals - this weeks fitness session was based around a PYRAMID, using time as our tool. It went something like this:

• 1 min fast
• 1 min slow
• 2 min fast
• 2 min slow
• 1 min fast
• 1 min slow

Everyone did very well and really smashed the fitness session!

Meanwhile the DIYers continued to put together the table, with Steve, Arnulfo and Polly staying until 8.45pm! #commitment #good

Leaflet report written by Pritesh:

Tonight I had seven hardy runners joining me on my favourite run up to Abbey Community Centre. It was a great little group and we kept a good pace (including the ‘stomp’ up Primrose Hill) and had some nice chats about what we’d been up to over the summer and various race plans for the winter too.

Tower Block Climb!

We weren’t sure if there’d been a ‘cock-up’ as we arrived at the community centre as there seemed to be no lights on but Laura was awaiting us and was just saving some energy. Tonight’s task was some leaflet distribution in two nearby tower blocks to let the residents know about the various upcoming activities at the community centre. We had a 102 flats in each tower block and so we split into two teams (“How about girls vs boys?”) and Laura then led us out to the blocks.

Girls vs boys

The girls took on ‘Casterbridge’ and the boys ‘Snowman’, yup there really is a Snowman House – we suggested Steve might want to consider a new place here so he could have the address ‘Steve Coman, Snowman…’ Both teams went hard at the task but in the end the boys prevailed and were first back to the community centre. The girls were not far behind and Laura then showed us the mural that has gone up (we whitewashed the walls on a previous task so great to see the outcome) in the kids playground. There was some discussion over whether the boys might’ve taken the lift but the evidence was inconclusive and so thoughts turned to the pun…with ‘Snowman’ and ‘Thomas Hardy’ as possible references we thought we’d be in for a jackpot… we came up with nothing!

Lemonades!

So with that we had a quick group pic and some goodbyes and then we headed back into the night. We naturally split into a fast and faster group and headed back home for a good stretch and then a few lemonades at the pub. Smashing night – thanks all.

Thank you as always for coming along, sign up for next week's run here.

PB out.