Having looked at the weather forecast in the morning I was slightly trepidacious that the weather would put some runners off, I mean who wants to run in torrential rain and snow?! Turned out I needn't have worried as a massive 27 GoodGym runners in Hammersmith & Fulham were keen to do precisely this in order to run to do good in their community. It was great to see so many new faces, a big welcome to, Alice, Georgina and Claire who all joined us for their first GoodGym run. Hope to see you all again very soon, hopefully the weather will be kinder next time! It was also lovely to have along GoodGym tourists, Mathilde, India, Jen and Africa who joined my wonderful regulars on a very cold winter night with adverse weather conditions! Thank you all for coming along.

Since the rain was coming down with some force we sheltered under the Better Gym car park for the intros and a quick round-up of the week’s news.

The news this week, a run stop shop

1. JANUARY CHALLENGE 2019! - We're into the last few days of the January Challenge. The GoodGym targets of 6,000 good deeds and 80,000 kms run are in touching distance, will we make it?! As a group we hit BOTH our 2019 targets for good deeds and distance run last week and have a trophy for each as a reward. We're also sitting very nicely at the top of Division D. Awesome work H&F team, great team effort! Track the January Challenge progress here.
2. The Vitality Big Half (10th March) - GoodGym has some £10 community entry places for the Big Half. If you're interested, please email bighalf@goodgym.org Deadline for applications is Wednesday 30th January. Names will be drawn at random from those who want a place.
   
3. London-wide GoodGym social - Thursday 7th February at the The Prince Arthur Pub, near Old Street - Celebrate GoodGym, Heroes of the months, January IPOTM (International Pun of the Month), IPOTY (International Pun of the Year) and January Challenge Results! Sign up here.
   

Lots of racing at the weekend too, big well done to Tom and Chris in the very muddy and hilly Maverick Trail Race down in West Sussex and to Johnny and Sarah who ran the Morden Hall Trust10 Trail Run AND ran their 50th different parkrun! Impressive! Well done all, great running.

Following a name and number count we headed out into the heavy rain to get ourselves warmed-up (well sort of!) and headed up on our short 2km run up to St Mungo's Reconnection Post. Stopping briefly for some jumping jacks and squats when waiting to cross the roads we arrived in super quick time at St Mungo's Reconnection Post and were met by one of the Reconnection Workers, Marcia. As Marcia located the keycard for the room that we were going to be working in, I briefly explained to group about the valuable services St Mungo's Reconnection Post provide to vulnerable and homeless adults with complex needs in the community, such as the 'No Second Night Out' service – as well as providing 25 beds, they also work with the residents to get them reconnected in the community or repatriated back to their country.

All-sorts of clothing, snow many clothes!

Tonight's brief sounded simple but in reality was quite a challenge. We had been asked to help organise one of their store rooms which had become filled full to bursting, quite literally, of a fantastic array of donated clothes by the public and previous residents. A few weeks ago we made a start on the room but due to the sheer volume of clothes and bags within the room had only been able to get so far. This week we were back to (hopefully....maybe) finish the job off!

A different kettle of squish

One bonus of tonight's task was that it was inside, however, we were very limited with the space in which to work and with 27 GoodGym bodies we had to be both creative and extra efficient with all our sorting. With the group divided up between two rooms and along the corridoor it was time to sort. Jason provided a brilliant contact point between the two rooms and corridoor, and even participated in the well known challenge, just how many coats can one person carry?! With excellent co-ordination, communication and all round teamwork it wasn't long before the room started to look clearer and the shelves fuller with neatly folded and stacked clothing - plus we could now see the floor! Half an hour flew by as always and the task came to a nice natural end point, for now!

Too clothes for comfort

Since we could now get in the room I decided this was the perfect opportunity for a group photo, despite it being a tight space everyone got up clothes and personal, well neatly packed in and we managed a great team photo in the room we had sorted. Andrew also providing a brilliant photo op - check out the photo of him sat on the throne (chair) admiring the wonderfully sorted and folded clothes now on the shelf and in boxes. In just two half an hour bursts it's amazing what you have all achieved, the room is unrecognisable from our first visit - well done all, great work!

Check out the transformation...

Snow joke, the weather really was that bad!

We said our goodbyes to Marcia and headed back outside into the driving cold rain. With many shivering and with snow just starting to fall we unanimously decided to forgo the fitness session this week and head straight back to base. With base only a short 2km away it wasn't long before we were all back and having a quick stretch off inside the warmth of the Better Gym Leisure Centre. Cold and damp to the core it was time to call it a night and we headed off for our monthly social which comprised of drinks, food, chats and general merriment - a perfect way to end the night.

Thank you all for coming along, hope you had fun and have now all warmed-up and dried off! Have a great week. Sign up for next week's run here.

Thank you to Jason for backmarking and many thanks to Catriona for the extra photos and for organising the social!

What a perfect way to start a Saturday! Following Fulham Palace parkrun with some speedy times, 11 other GoodGymers joined me on a fresh January morning for a plog and Christmas tree collection and recycling. A big welcome along to Simeron, Katie, Emily who came for their first GoodGym H&F group run. It was also great to welcome along GoodGym Wandsworth tourists Rebecca and Karen, and of course some of my wonderful regulars. Thank you all for coming along!

Squatshots

After a quick intro we warmed up and split into our two teams for a quick two minute game of 'squatshot'. Team One (Team Down) v Team Two (Team Up). 35 red plastic shot glasses. Some interesting tactics and battles occurred with shot glasses quickly being up then down or vice versa (and the odd multiple shot turn!). It was a highly competitive and close game with Team Up victorious, despite the late gust of wind for shot sideways! Awesome shot work all!

In the same teams we moved on to some sprint and fitness exercises. The person at the front had to sprint 20m to the tree infront of them while the rest of their team completed the following exercises: Jumping jacks, squats, lunges and frog jumps. Some excellent sprinting technique was displayed by all and it wasn't long before both groups had completed their sprints and exercises.

Ooh aah just a litter pick...

With everyone a good few degrees warmer we quickly gloved up and distributed the bin bags and long litter pickers (not to be confused for lacrosse sticks!) amongst the group and set off on our plog around the perimeter of Bishop’s Park.

A litter pick of this & a litter pick of that

At first sightings of litter were few and far between, limited to the odd cigarette butt and scrap of paper that Catriona triumphantly bagged up. However, as we reached the Craven Cottage end of the park more and more litter was slowly spotted and bagged up. The litter found included plastic bags, bottles, an L plate and the glamourous finds of an empty condom packet and tampon case, lovely!

Time for some TREE-rific collecting

Following the litter pick we found the Christmas tree recycling point outside the park with one solitary tree standing proud but alone. In order to add a couple of Christmas trees to the area we set off around the surrounding streets looking for abandoned Christmas trees. It is technically fly tipping leaving them abandoned out on the street and some pose a real hazard to others. Therefore we were helping the community in lots of ways getting them collected and recycled.

The trail of the lonesome pine

It wasn't long before we came across the first two Christmas Trees that needed collecting and carrying back to the recycling point. Andrew, Karen and Helen expertly carried them back while the rest of the group continued their hunt around the surrounding streets. On each street we came across a distinctive trail of pine needles but sadly no Christmas Trees. We even asked a friendly postman if he'd come across any on his round, but again no luck.

One plus TREE = Four!

However, as we headed home we stumbled across a HUGE Christmas tree in the road that required some efficient tag team carrying action and a final smaller tree that took the total Christmas Tree finds to 4, plus the decorative wreath.

With all the trees lined up in height order we posed for some fun post-Christmas Tree collection group photos before we headed in to the park to do our cool down and stretch.

TREE-sy does it!

Next week we will be continuing the TREE-mendous task of collecting and recycling Christmas trees in Hammersmith,great fun and a great upper-body workout! Sign up here.

Thank you all for coming along and for all your efforts, what a start to the weekend! Have a great rest of your weekend and hopefully see you on Tuesday.