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!

Another glorious evening with the perfect combination of bright and sunny but not too warm for our Goodgym run, and we were returning to one of our favourite tasks for Colchester in Bloom up on Bergholt Road Allotments.

17 merry runners joined us, including Sue and Ian. There was the usual chatter in advance of the run, and we congratulated Chris for his first Marathon, Ian, Nicola and Hannah for their Alton Water 10kms, all under the hour, and Tav and Fay for completing their Leadership in Running Fitness Course.

We made our way to Bergholt road, though we did confuse Fay as backmarker when we circled back to bring the group together - clearly they're teaching something different on LiRF these days! Then we made a snake up Bergholt Road to finally arrive at the allotment.

This task was hard. The soil was really hard, and our task was to break it up and turn it over to create a bed for plants - we had 2 examples that had been completed by the Gurkha's the previous day - and we weren't to feel bad that they had managed this well when most of them were over 70. Almost everybody had a go at using the pick-axe, and we learnt the importance of bringing your hips into play to generate the power needed to break the soil up. And I even taught some of the runners what my dad taught be about using a fork to break down and turn over soil, by jumping on it to get it further into the ground to create more leverage.

As well as creating a new plant bed, a shed was built, and hundreds of bulbs were sorted. A really great array of things in 30 minutes, and as always Pam showed her appreciation by asking us back - we'll be doing another task for Colchester in Bloom next week, but she asked if we could come back every Wednesday!

After the task we got on with our impromptu social at the Bricklayers - a very last minute arrangement, but we will have our proper social next Wednesday, so please let Emily know if you'll be coming so she can book a table.

See you next week!