Kenyan-born Bernard ‘Kip’ Lagat was once asked during the Sydney Olympics what the secret to his record-setting times was, and how his country had produced so many amazing athletes. ‘It’s the road signs,’ he replied. ‘Beware of lions’!

We don’t have many lions in Wandsworth, but we do have some amazing charities and social organisations, and that’s good enough motivation for us on a Monday night.

Our incentive tonight was a run to Caius House, a youth centre in Wandsworth that is committed to giving young people in the local community a safe place to go where they can try new things, develop their talents and have fun. They had asked GoodGym to distribute a huge pile of flyers in the area to help spread the word about the amazing work they’re doing.

But before that, we needed to say hello to our lovely new runners. Victoria and Iona, it was so good to have you with us! (And way to go super-recruiter Sinead). Huge well dones also to Matthew, Jack and Sarah who all stormed through Park Runs at the weekend. We tipped our hats to Jack, Matthew and Dani who covered some serious miles last week, and to David and Jack for doing the most good deeds for their borough. You make us all proud!

Then it was over to the lovely Jenny for this week’s CoRUNdrum, and it was a corker. What is it that makes somebody a true Cockney? Thanks Jenny!

Off we set to Caius House, where we were met by Charlene and Tameeka, who took us for a whistle-stop tour of the facilities. It turns out that Prince William had visited a couple of weeks before us, and no doubt he was as wowed with the basketball courts, recording studio, gym, dance space, meditation room and kitchen as we all were. The young people of Wandsworth are really lucky to have something so special as Caius house to use, and GoodGym Wandsworth will be back to support them as much as we can.

After the tour we were given our flyers, and split into teams to deliver them before racing each other back to a designated meeting spot in Battersea Park. It was Team Roshan v Team Win v Team Penny, and, after a mass sprint hitting all the letterboxes in the area (and a few wrong turns) it was TEAM PENNY that made it back to the park first. Way to go! It meant they had the longest breather before we headed to our starting point for our mile time trial. We’ll be doing this regularly to see how our times go down, and to talk about changes we can make if we’re not seeing the improvement we want. However, after a, ahem, minor glitch in communication (#trainer fail) the distance covered was actually only half a mile. Except for heroic James, who was the only one of us to do the whole distance. Well done James!

It was a gentle jog back to the BAC for the team, who managed to cover a huge amount of ground overall. That was no excuse not to finish with one hill sprint which took us back to our starting point and the answer to the CoRUNdrum. You are a true Cockney if you were born within earshot of the Bow Bells.

Next week, we won’t be anywhere near St Mary-le-Bow, but we will be doing a task in a churchyard – this is, of course, for our Halloween Special + Social. That’s right, we shall be getting dressed up in a finest spookery, running up to Eden Community Garden to transport logs for their upcoming bonfire, as well as a few other jobs for them. Then we’ll be heading to the common to play some Halloween themed running games before jogging back to the BAC for a big spooky social. How can you resist? Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/it-s-halloween

Ps A few of the Wandsworth crowd have been laid up with injuries this week. Wishing you all a very speedy recovery.

Things we found out last night:

1. GoodGym Wandsworth love plastic ponchos. They even customise them to maximise efficiency when painting, and to flatter the figure. Check out the photos of Will modelling this winning Autumn ’16 look.
2. Runners have a natural flair for carpentry, specifically sanding, and a head for heights atop stepladders.
3. There will be no playlist that satisfies all GoodGym tastes although the most requested is, unpredictably, Britney.
4. GoodGymers mostly keep inside the lines when painting, even if it’s in the Gents’ loo.
5. Tom is good at history, and knew that London was once the capital city of six countries during WW2 (Poland, Belgium, Holland, Norway, France and England) thereby solving this week CoRUNdrum.
6. GoodGym Wandsworth love holding squats, and want to do lots and lots more.

OK, that last one might not be true, but the others are definitely FACT.

The night of the many discoveries began when we met at our home, the Battersea Arts Centre, and welcomed some ace new people. Hello Zhiqi He, Gemma, Tina and Penny – lovely to meet you all.

It was on to our heroes next, with David taking an early start in the good deeds leader board, having kicked off the month with an amazing double mission last week – way to go. Hat tip to Jack, Kylee and Matthew who are all racking up some impressive mileage in October.

It was off then to Omnibus to do some painting of walls and sanding of benches. The first group was dispatched to give the theatre walls a good lick of paint. The lucky ones were given rollers, the not so fortunate had somewhat smaller tools, but all tackled the task with characteristic finesse. The sanders braved the cold, and took to the benches outside the building and left them looking as smooth as our sprinting technique.

We’ll be back at the Omnibus theatre to finish the job in a couple of weeks, so we took to the common to smash a tough fitness session. We buddied up and there were a series of fiendish exercises to do while each twosome completed a sprint. The combination of conditioning and cardio is such an effective one - not letting your heart rate drop between exercises is brilliant for increasing stamina and fitness levels. The most hated station was the back to back squat holds, which is fantastic for your glutes and quads. Impressively, not one pair toppled over despite some noticeable differences in height (good job Dave and Sophie!).

It was a nippy run back to our starting point, with Tom, Luca and Matthew leading the way. Shout out to the lovely Sinead who proved her commitment to GG Wandsworth last night by taking a slightly circuitous route from central London via Croydon to be with us. So great to see so many of you last night on the run. You are all making Wandsworth a better and happier place to live. You are also working hard and getting fit. And we all know what that means – more biscuits. Sign up for next week’s run here, runners:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/do-good-and-get-fit-in-wandsworth

The weather was against us last night, but like Nicholas Cage in every film he’s ever done, we laugh manically into the face of rain and wind. For we are runners.

After a quick rundown of news – well done Sally for a great half marathon last week, and congrats to Cath, Sophie and Hannah for most deeds – we welcomed our lovely new group runners. Hello Jenny, Emma, Kylee, Luca and Frances! Not forgetting our weekly CoRUNdrum – what are you allowed to do if you are granted the freedom of the City of London? – we set off for Wendelsworth Community Garden in Wandsworth.

We’ve been to Wendelsworth a few times now, and it’s great to see how the gardens are changing and the difference our work is making. We met Martin, the man in charge, who dispatched us to various plots to dig deep, whilst a few runners ferried Jurassic sized branches across the garden.

Martin set us a challenge – the first group to finish digging their bed and covering it with leaf mould wins a prize. Furiously we forked, turned and excavated. There was a brief pause as Danni discovered hidden treasure – a priceless (ish) antique (ish) tiny bottle that is going to serve as our Wandsworth trophy at the end of the year. Then, storming to victory, it was Sophie, Danni and Lizzie who finished digging their bed before all the others. As we finished up, Martin gathered us together to let us know the great news that he is inviting GoodGym to plant a tree in the garden that we can visit and check on every time we come to work in the garden. Danni, Sophie and Lizzie’s prize is that they can choose our very own GoodGym tree. They will come up with a shortlist and the rest of the group will vote on the winner. Looking forward to hearing your list, ladies! Something Poplar, though, right? Like a Syca(run)more, or maybe some Runflowers? Sorry.

We ran back in the direction of our starting point, the Battersea Arts Centre, but stopped short, right next to a fiendish little chinscraper to do some hill bashing. The group took some convincing that ‘hill-bashing’ was not actually a cruel and unique punishment, but in fact a legitimate training drill, but soon set off, one by one, to tackle the challenge. Every single runner managed three hill sprints, well done team, that’s something to be proud of. Hill training improves muscle strength, is great for your cardiovascular system, and makes your stride more efficient.

We finished up with some stretches, including Tom’s masterful half-pigeon and Sarah’s graceful full pigeon, which was actually more royal swan than common London sky-rat. Sticking with the animal theme, the answer to this week’s CoRundrum was that you have the right to herd a flock of sheep over London Bridge if you’re granted the freedom of the City of London. Why not?

Fantastic job, Wandsworth. You’re making your borough better and yourselves fitter. Next week we’ve got a great task for a fantastic charity, doing laundry runs for the Katherine Low Settlement. You can sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/group_runs/helping-out-the-katherine-low-settlement-with-some-laundry-runs