22 hardcore Hackney GoodGymers braved the threat of rain to run 6k to Hackney Elderly Caribbean Organisation and masterfully finish off a magical painting job with epic roller action.

On a drizzly evening in H-Town the weather fairy proved to be kind and held the rain away for us to get our roll on with some quality painting and mini circuit action. Great to see some super energetic new faces to Hackney GoodGym working hard and being helped along with our experienced core crew! A mini pulse raiser took us to London Fields for our warm up of duck walking and fire avoiding tip toe bouncing. Some skipping and leg swings got us nice and mobilised the action ahead. Setting off at a good lick weaving our way through the back streets of Hackney and out towards Stoke Newington in the close atmosphere we all certainly worked up a serious sweat!! The nearly 3k run zipped by in no time and great to see some big running fitness strides being made by many of the regular runners!! Running efficiency and speed are really improving with your consistent hard work well done!! 👏🏼👏🏻👏🏾👏🏿

With a pretty big group we split into groups to rotate through some physical preparation outside with some body resistance exercises and some super speedy painting. With 5 minutes rotations the pace was kept high both paining, taping up and beautifully executed exercises. We will flew through the task and had the second coat done in no time. To celebrate such a top task performance we finished off with a spectacular Static Squat Off where in a long line held a strong squat position for over 2 minutes!! Great way to Feel the burn!!.

We said our goodbyes and headed off for the race back to base. The Sexy group starting with a 3 minute cushion before being chased down by the Speedy crew great to see some of the Sexy group really pushing on in the last kilometre to really finish off the run strong!

A few static stretches and a mild panic to get back into the Bakehouse saw us end a very successful evening!

Be great to have you along next week as we work our magic at the Rio Olympic festival in Dalston please sign up here.

If you fancy some more running fun join me for a Running Fitness session on Thursday in Islington sign up here

If you are around on Thursday evening and fancy going along to the GoodGym monthly drinks all the info is here.

Big Good Luck shoutout to everyone racing this weekend in the ParkRun tour and in Regents Park 10k!!

Last but not least a huge congratulations to Cecilia on completing her 50th Good Deed!! 🎉🎈🎊🏆🏆🎉

Smooth strength

Joel

25 Bold and bright Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to Abney Patk Cemetery to shovel, carry, pour, jump on and rake 13 tones of special gravel to create a foot path.

On a oh so rare lovely summers evening in Hackney we had a brilliant turn out to light up the streets and bring some GoodGym shine to East London. Great to have so many GoodGym newbies and Hackney GoodGym newbies aboard the Tuesday evening Running Fun bus. We even had a special visit from Ken the trainer of newly opening GoodGym Chelmsford.

After a never to be attempted again new runner briefing and a not that informative pre run chat (sorry will do better next week). We got jogged around the corner to London Fields and got mobilised and warm with a dynamic warm up before heading out on the streets of H-Town brilliantly lead by Hackney Task Force members Clare and Cecilia assisted by the all important route map print out. Gliding through streets keeping a silky pace we reached Abney Park Cemetery to meet the super knowledgeable Tom who got us tooled up and gave us a interesting history of the cemetery and what happens there today.

Tonight we were starting the processes of creating/laying a footpath on an always hugely muddy path that runs through the cemetery. The idea is to create a path which is useable all year around this no need to walk to the sides of the path. The cemetery is a nature reserve keeping the nutrient levels down on the sides of the paths is key and this will allow wild flowers to grow instead of only brambles and weeds.

Starting at a ferocious pace the team split into 4 teams to get the most possible work done! Diggers, barrow runners, path rakers and path smoother's. The special cement composite gravel was being shovelled at a pace while the barrow runners tore up and down the path tipping the gravel out for the smothers to get smoothing by jumping up and down on it to compact it down then raking it smooth. While the path rakers formed a non chain gang and reduced the camber height in the middle of the path. A super sustained effort with everyone having a go at most jobs saw the pace stay high, particularly from the magic barrow that was being shared between Andreana and Holly. Big shout out must also go to Amy for her jumping up and down dance skills!

After 35 minutes for action we had laid 13 tonnes of gravel and turned it into about a 50 metre stretch of path! Top work team 👏🏾👏🏼👏🏻👏🏿

For the run back Team Sexy set off first on the race back to base, being lead by Cecilia the crew set a strong and steady pace. While The Speedy crew set off 3 minutes later and the Supersonic team lead by Rich waiting another 2 minutes before heading out after finishing off the post task tidy up. An epic race back to base with an impressive Supersonic long cut saw all three groups arrive back to base having completed an awesome run and an quality task!!

A few stretches and silent round of applause rounded off a top evenings Group run!!

Next week we are off to the Bikery for some painting action please sign up here.

On Saturday seesGoodGym ParRun tour come to Hackney Marshes ParkRun. Be great to see you there for 5k timed run. All the information can be found here.

Good luck to Ken as he starts on the Chelmsford GoodGym adventure next week!!

Thanks to Rich for the pun this week!!

Smooth Speed

Joel