Could we....dare we believe...might it possibly be summer? It was the perfect night for a run last night - warm, sunny, and brimming with lovely runners.

A massive GG welcome to the excellent Chantelle, Ben, James and Elizabeth, all of whom joined us for their very first Wandsworth run last night. Give them a cheer, people!

We had a loooot of congratulations to give last night - you've been very busy people! So - deep breath - an enormous pat on the back for Sarah, who casually ran a marathon on SUNDAY and still came along, to our fabulous fresh from Riga Racers Sophie, Jessie, Dave, Jack and Vix, to Matthew for a park run PB, to Luke for doing a mammoth 100k walk, Jo (and her mum) for doing a bit of park run tourism, and to Alyx for doing a whole lot of lovely good deeds. You are all superstars.

It was bound to be a great run last night after kicking it off in our fave teletubby room, but the sun was shining and our task was waiting, so after a quick hello we made our way outside for some warm ups and to get to know each other a little better. Tonight we found out what everybody likes to whack on the BBQ (thanks for the inspiration Jack!). The shock winner tonight was....halloumi! Who knew that little cheesy squeaker was so popular. With that decided we headed off for our task at Balham Baptist Church.

We have been working at the church a few times now, forming a human chain to empty a room of junk so that it could be turned into a foodbank. We've discovered some exciting things in the past - a huge crucifix, a mannequin, records, a pair of oars - but tonight we were down to the last big stuff. We filled the van with doors, chairs, planks and a lot of nails, and just managed to squeeze the final few bits into the van before declaring it Job Done. Way to go team, it's great to see a task done from start to finish, and especially one that would have taken the team at the church much longer to complete.

We waved goodbye to Pastor Jim, and set off to the common, where we smashed out a fitness session. Starting off by buddying up, we found out something nice about our partner. Jo found out that Ruth works with children with hearing impairments, while Luke found out that Dave had missed him when he was in Riga. So lovely. Then, while one person was doing a shuttle run, the other was doing a strengthening exercise - either holding a plank, squat, doing press ups or ab crunches. There was some interesting running from Will and Matthew, both trying to make each other suffer with the plank segment as long as possible - bet you can feel those abs today! Then we moved onto our core triathlon, before finishing the evening off with a quick game of British Bulldog. That was a tough session tonight, so well done everyone. Back to the BAC we went, finishing off a splendid evening of running with some stretches. Next week it's bank holiday but that doesn't faze us - we'll still be running as usual, as well as having a drink or two afterwards to celebrate. You can sign up here, and I hope you do!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/distributing-flyers

Wandsworth smashed its own record for runners last night, and smashed it good. With no less than 46 of us, we just needed was Roy Castle and his trumpet confirming that al we needed was a bit of dedication. With the equivalent of over three rugby teams running to help out community organisations we are able to make a huge difference in our borough.

We couldn’t have made it without our amazing new runners, so here’s to Andrew, Paula, Georgie, Jessica, Larraine and Foster. Give them a cheer, Wandsworth, they’ve earned it!

A huge well done too to Alex who absolutely nailed his first ever 10k race this weekend in Regent Park. If you’re keen to get a race in the diary but don’t know where to start come and let me know and we can find you the perfect challenge. Don’t forget about park runs across London – and beyond – every single Saturday. Why don’t you have a look at the GG leaders board and while you’re there give Sophie a cheer, for she has sprinted to the top of the distance rankings. Way to go. Same goes for Berit who has been smashing out the good deeds along with Alex who also tops the cheer board. Well one Matthew for sustaining us with all that cheering!

All that running is thirsty work, so don’t forget about our monthly social which happens to be this Thursday near Russell Square, more details and sign up found here.

This week’s CoRUNdrum comes courtesy of Jordan  who asked us where the longest street in Britain can be found. Good one! With that in mind, we set off down the Wandsworth Road – which felt pretty never ending – and headed to Food For All. This amazing organisation provides a completely free food market for those who need it most, supports community self-help and is committed to tackling homelessness and social exclusion. We hope to work with them a lot in the future, and our next trip will be supporting them by distributing food to those that need it.

This time though we were there to see what it was all about, meet the lovely people and do a few jobs. This started with emptying the huge pile of rubbish, and never one to miss out on the chance to make a human chain we got cracking. Excitement peaked at the head of the line when Jessie spotted a mouse (new GG mascot?) but thankfully there was nothing bigger lurking in there. Our next task was to peel off the vinyl stickers on the soon to be repurposed Food For All van, which proved to be a very satisfying job, and the team had to be persuaded to step away from the vehicle to complete our third mission, which was to distribute posters to all the businesses along the Wandsworth Rd on our run back. Sinead took an early lead as the first to persuade a local shop to put it up, the rest of the team could be found weaving in and out of places all the way to Larkhall Park, where we stopped for a quick abs blast at the top of a hill. We worked our core hard with a combination of Russian twists, planks, crunches, scorpions and mountain climbers. A strong core is key to an injury-free and efficient running style as it helps reduce twisting and keeps us stable when we get tired. And to take our mind of the pain, we discussed our dinner plans – with pasta and burgers coming out on top, with cold sausages a less popular option. Whatever you went for, team, you earned it.

We pushed it harder for the last mile of the run, bossing that final deceptive hill on the way back to the BAC with ease. While we stretched we crowned this week’s CoRUNdrum winner - clever Holly that knew Streatham High Rd is the longest in the country. Well done Streatham and Holly. Next week we’re going to have fun delivering some flyers for a local community centre who need help spreading the word about their Easter festival. It’s a shortish run so we’ll be off to Battersea park to do a cracking fitness session. Don’t miss out, you lovely people. Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/spreading-the-word-for-our-local-community-centre

It was the first run of Summer last night for GG Wandsworth, and we sure made the most of it. Not only that, but we are now set to become the stars of the silver screen that we all knew we were destined to become, as we had guests Ben and Holly there to film us throughout the evening. Action!

We had some new athletes to welcome to our merry band tonight- hello Jamie, Holly, Baz and James! Alos, welcome to your first Wandsworth run, [Alex] (https://www.goodgym.org/runners/alex-brown-accbd6d9-5534-4f50-85ad-7dab12ff159c] - give them all a cheer, why don’t you, they’re pretty awesome.

Well done to Jamie and Matthew for doing park runs, you superstars. If you haven’t done a park run yet, then you need to get on that. They are weekly 5k timed runs across London which are free, sociable and brilliant for charting your inevitable progress. The closest ones to us in Wandsworth are Tooting, Fulham Palace (although that is cancelled this week), Brockwell, Wimbledon, Richmond….you have so many to choose from. Why not try a little bit of park run tourism?

HEROES this week. Ooh, you are an amazing lot. Hat tip to Matthew for both giving and receiving the most cheers along with Jack. Running machine Sarah clocked up most miles as she continues to smash her marathon training, while David topped the table for good deeds done.

It was still light when we set off, which we all agreed was pretty marvellous. All the better for the camera to catch our moves on the tarmac – although camera man Ben did show us up by running pretty easily not only with his equipment but in jeans. Someone get that man a red tshirt, quick. With almost two miles under our belt we arrive at Balham Baptist Church where we were met by Pastor Jim, ready with a van to load up with junk from the basement. We pulled our favourite GG Wandsworth move, and formed a HUMAN CHAIN through the community hall from basement to van and off we went. Last time we did this we uncovered some incredible stuff. This time we did not find any mannequins or kitchen sinks, but a few pairs of oars and a radiator did make their way along the chain.

Van loaded, we waved goodbye to Jim with promises that we’ll be back to finish the job soon, and weaved our way to Clapham Common, trying to make friends with the other running groups on their evening run. We got some waves back, but have come to conclusion that GG is the most friendly bunch of runners you’d hope to meet. Keep spreading that GG word! Parking ourselves on the common in the dying light of day, we set about our fitness session. The group split itself into five lots of seven people, each doing either a squat hold, plank, lunges or mountain climbers in the time it took for one group to run across the common and back. It was tough going but as usual team Wandsworth rinsed those drills. Great job everyone.

We divided into two teams to run the last short stretch back to the BAC – speedy and sexy. Of course, we’re all simultaneously both of those things, but for the purposes of the run, we had to choose just one. Team speedy pipped it to the post on this occasion – possibly because team sexy were taken on a slightly longer route. Soz. Stretching it out, there were quite a few of you who solved this week’s CoRUNdrum (courtesy of lovely Vicki) knowing that Europe’s largest Chicken Cottage is indeed in Tooting – but the crown falls to Roshan who cracked it first. If you’ve got a good old head scratcher that you want to put to the group as our weekly CoRUNdrum, just come and let me know!

Next week we’ve (fingers crossed) got a great new project. We’re helping local group Food For All distribute free food to those in Wandsworth who need it most. Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/distributing-food-to-the-isolated

ps as soon as I receive our cinematic debut, I’ll send it over. Maybe we should have a red carpet premiere at the BAC?