Warm weather, warm welcome

It was a warm night as we gathered outside our lovely hotel base to welcome new runners, talk through tonight's task and welcome Dani, the new GG trainer for Derby!

After a couple of dynamic stretches, we headed straight out to our task, via a recce of the planters we were going to be tending to on Roman Road. Expertly navigated by Bryon and Chris, and formidably back-marked by Katherine, we made excellent time to our first planter, which set the tone for the evening: we whizzed up Roman Road, identifying which planters needed the most work; those that just needed just a lick of varnish, and areas that were in desperate need of a bit of litter-picking.

And then we arrived at the Fire Station, to be greeted by three of the warmest welcomes from the phenomenal Globe Town Community Gardeners, Joseph, Marco and Jess, who were brilliantly prepped with everything from wire brushes to a scooter (on which to shuttle varnish between planters).

Productive planter work

Two minutes of efficient briefing and we were dispatched: teams of 4 and 5 ran up Roman Road to their designated planters to start blitzing cobwebs, uprooting unsightly weeds, ditching Coke tins and glossing panels.

It was quite a sight to look down Roman Road and see a sea of red t-shirts dotted along this busy street, earnestly at work. Shop vendors came out to film; residents and local businesses came over to thank, and pedestrians smiled. We were appreciated last night. Of course, that's not the driving force for any GoodGymer ever, but it is so much appreciated and very much adds to a sense of community and positivity on the night.

Timings were adhered to and the work was complete by the 10 minute countdown. Last to finish were the painters working on the London Buddhist Centre planter who insisted on finishing the last panel (quite right - "GoodGymer's prerogative").

And so we gathered for outros and pics - and water. Courtesy of the Bethnal Green Fire Station crew (thank you very much - you made our night!).

What a brilliant time, all down to fabulous GoodGymers and our truly, truly terrific task owners tonight - powerhouses of efficiency, smiles and appreciation. We'd love to join you again soon!

Single leg burpees in the sun

So we still had time to run some of our fitness session as planned (with a last minute bit of mileage for our recce, I wasn't sure if we were going to have time for our scheduled workout). Cut a bit short, the runners still managed single-leg burpees, monkey push ups, eccentric lunges and a speedy lap of the Museum Gardens. Way to go. And in 30 degrees.

Monday night shout-out's

Bundles of appreciation for lots of runners tonight.

Thanks to Katherine for brilliant backmarking (and an additional thank you to Katherine, from us all, who attended the Shindig at the weekend, and will be briefing us further soon).

To Bryon and Chris for expertly, instinctively leading the crew to our first planter; and to Dani and Sam for being so hands-on and doing so much, while learning on the job.

And I feel compelled to give a mighty shout-out this week to Polly and Si who opted to take the task of jumping into a couple of tree planters and blitzing the worst litter (in terms of volume and material matter) we have ever seen.

To finish, a HUGE GG welcome to our first time runners, Caoimhe and Jill - well done for a fabulous first run, and we hope you'll come back very, very soon.

Don't miss more fun this Saturday!

On Saturday, we're doing it all again! It's the Tower Hamlets Summer Planting Party, complete with: two tasks, some running and Pilates, and a picnic and the pub.

Come for as little or as much as you fancy - this is YOUR day. Details and sign up can be found here.

And next week, we're back to Weavers Adventure Playground for our first visit of the year! Details and sign up are here.

Another good sized crew

It was a good sized crew who gathered for tonight's warm up on our hotel steps. After whizzing through some of our trusty usual dynamic moves (omega squats and butterfly squats), we headed out for the short, 1/2-mile route to one of our favourite tasks at nearby Oxford House, the community arts centre.

Fabulous furniture, serious scrubbing

There, task owner Sarah, along with colleague Deborah, welcomed us and talked us through tonight's task: a tough, labour-intensive task of relocating large amounts of furniture, and scrubbing the dance floor area. Even more tough as the arts centre was a hot place to be tonight (literally, due to its glass roof). The runners had even more of a sweat on as they set about racing up and down the numerous flights of stairs carrying tables, stacks of chair, and hoovers.

Several teams were upstairs scrubbing bathrooms, bringing a shine to the floors and unblocking sinks. It was quite the team effort.

As usual, the GoodGymers finished their designated work early, and so Becky took a new team off to the bar area to undertake a huge washing up effort. The small kitchen was a hive of GoodGym activity, with the most fantastic production line being formed, from the soap sud start right through to a crockery stacking finish.

The venue was the usual hive of smiley activity until just after 8 when we met for our cheerios and final pics. Brushes and buckets were rinsed; the last chairs left in their rightful homes, and the group gathered for a couple of smiley pics, a little fatigued but feeling very good.

Tonight was a sad cheerio, as although we accomplished lots, Sarah is leaving the wonderful Oxford House, for other shores and so it was our last task with her. We've loved her energy and enthusiasm, and brilliant planning and her bundles of appreciation for our lovely partnership over the last seven months.

The Weavers' workout

And so the work continued over at Weavers Fields, a breath of fresh air (literally) as we headed out to the still warm, still light, streets of Bethnal Green for tonight's fitness session. Billed as a speed and strength workout, this soon turned into a speed, drill, and super-strength workout as we were lucky enough to be joined by Chi who joined me mischievously for our favourite "who-can-deliver-the-toughest-abs-exercise" game. We think it was a draw - so did our runners, judging by the looks on their faces.

We enjoyed hamstring and hip flexor running drills; jumping squats and burpee challenges, then the great abs-and-glute-off. Despite being given the offer to sit out any exercises, the GoodGymers didn't take us up on our offer, choosing instead to hover in isometric squats, before cheerfully tackling one last sprint of the park. What an incredible fitness effort.

Let's hear it for...

So tonight’s shout-outs include a huge hello and welcome to our first time runners, Amara and Ahmed. You did so much. Thank you. Not only did you accomplish a vast amount at our task, you also achieved bundles at that tough fitness session! Do come and run again very, very soon won’t you.

And a big welcome to Kate, not new to GoodGym, but new to us here at Tower Hamlets, and we hope to see you again very soon.

Thanks to Lieke for brilliant backmarking, and to Chi for the usual fun, fabulously effective, fitness offering.

And so to next week

...Yep, moving onto next week, we're back to Meath Gardens and Hollybush Gardens for a two-task evening of gardening and clearing. And The Lower Body Blast workout. Come and join in, we'd love you to come along.

Until then, have a really good, enjoyable week, and hope to see you very soon.

14 tip Top Westminster GoodGymers ran 3k to help Rhythms of Life homeless Charity renovate their new building.

Will only a very short 400 metres standing between our starting location and our task destination this week we had to get a little artistic with our route to get in a few K’s in.

Literally running away from the task we run a nice pretty quite Loop to Rhythms of Life new building and got stuck right in!

Navigating the maze of floors and rooms we first carried a room full full of old floor tiles from the 2nd floor to the 5th floor store room.

We then got to grips we the renovation of a new meeting room. But clearing out 3 big shelving units, a huge table, 10 big bags full of rubbish and 4 sets of draws!!

With the room empty we managed to rip up the floor tiles, take them up to the 5th floor store and hoover the room out! Phew!!

With a few minutes to play with we carried the new black floor tiles from the 5th floor store down to the new meeting room so that everything is ready to be laid after a lick of paint!

Bursting out of the building after a very physical carrying and stair climbing task we modified the route back to base with a top task under our belts!

We will be back to Rhythms of Life next week to carrying on the renovation, so please come along for another action packed session!

Andrew the task owner called me to thank you all for your hard work and apologise for not catching up with us before we left.

Have a great week

Smooth Running

Joel