If group runs were meals - stay with me here - then last night's in Barnet would have been a picnic. We had a lovely summer evening, we had the famous Barnet biscuit, and we had a task sandwich...

It all began at the beautiful Pheonix Cinema where we said hello to some ace new faces. Give a cheer to Tim, Laura, and Bethany, runners of Barnet! While you're there, why don't you also give a virtual pat on the back to Heather who, perhaps unsurprisingly, is topping the distance leader boards after running the Paris marathon last weekend. What a star! Hat tip to Hazel who is leading the cheers and the good deeds - way to go Hazel.

With Penny away on her hols, we did a head count and at the same time named our favourite biscuit in honour of the erstwhile biscuity trainer - chocolate definitely came out at the top of the rankings. Our task was only a very short run away, so off we set, looking forward to getting stuck in with the lovely Paul and Kim back marking for us. Ah, such hope, such optimism. It was only when we arrived at the Archer Academy ready to start digging a lovely big pond, did we find the building was locked. Tumbleweed skittered across the tarmac. It didn't look good. A quick call confirmed that the Easter hols meant that the school was closed. What were we to do? Luckily Barnet has a crack team of a task force, and after a moment of Damian and Hazel putting their heads together we came up with a plan. Paul still had some leaflets at home from a charity GoodGym had worked for previously - a brilliant sounding organisation called Barnet Furniture Centre that helps low-income families by providing them with affordable furniture. Phew!

We didn't want to waste the lovely quiet spot we found ourselves in and decided to do our fitness session first. It was circuits night, with five stations featuring burpees, sprints, squat holds, planks and press ups. 45 seconds of work, and 15 seconds rest between each circuit was a tough work out but Barnet meant business. There were some high energy burpees, some lovely straight-backed planks, and, well, there was some lying facedown on the tarmac too, but that was proof of a good work out. After a couple of games (Fish! Chips! Chicken??) we set off to deliver those flyers, dividing up into teams to get the job done quick smart. Which we did - in record time. Which meant that we had time for the last part of our fitness sandwich. Off we jogged with Damien leading us to a newly-mowed patch of lawn to bust out some core exercises. They were toughies, and ten minutes later our abs were well and truly worked. With that our fitness/task/fitness sandwich was done, and we had an easy run back to our start location. While we were stretching Paul and Kim told us about the chicken connoisseur - he searches for the pengest munch in London. We had some pretty peng munches with the dark chocolate post-run Barnet biscuits - thank you so much. You guys are some peng runners, Barnet! Thanks for a great night. Next week you'll be helping to spread the word about your lovely start location, you can sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/helping-out-the-phoenix

ps did you enjoy running along the streets of East Finchley with a soundtrack of your favourite tunes? I bet you did. Barnet cleverly has a spotify list YOU can add to. Just whack your choices on the list and Hazel will upload them to make a playlist for your next run:

https://open.spotify.com/user/hayzec/playlist/103nlP4rUGeecGerbkW51y

Wowwwww the fantastic four ran an amazing 8 (and a bit) kilometres to help out again at St Dunstan's Allotments!!

It was a chilly night when 4 amazing Goodgymmers met including the wonderful Steph on her first ever GG run! We were heading back to St Dunstan's Allotments to meet the lovely Rhea and do what we do best...shovel the heck out of some woodchip!!

We started off with a nice warm up and some dynamic stretches to get the blood pumping and our muscles ready for the 8 (and a bit km) then set of at a nice steady pace. We reached the treacherous Ealing Broadway where dodging skills are tested to the max then we hit the Uxbridge road, staying in group and having a good chinwag...I learned that Martin speaks looooads of languages! Very cool!

Then we arrived at the allotments and got to work shovelling and well, I wish I had taken a before shot of the pile as 4 of us made quick work of getting all the woodchip into bags and into the allotments ready to be spread! We donned some face masks as the mulch was dusty so we looked even more bad ass. And it was quite a tough work out...squatting, shovelling, deadlifting the bags! Rhea filled us in on some of the amazing permaculture she has designed and is working on at the allotments, it sounds amazing and I can't wait to see it all in daylight. Then by the time we were done I for one was shattered! Everyone was amazing and we finished with a lovely group hug and said cheerio to Rhea then we were on our way! What a good days work.

We took a steady pace back, interrupted only by the trainline but there were some sweet choons to keep us entertained as we waited! Then it was a hop, skip and jump (by Mel) and we were back before we knew it. We did a few cool-down stretches including a nice forward fold, great for opening up the hamstrings and down through the back and shoulders (as long as there are no lower back issues) and boom! Another amazing week done. I can't wait to see everyone next week for a much shorter 3km so we'll definitely have time for some fun fitness sessions! Sign up here.

Amazing! 6 awesome runners braved the elements (ok the drizzle) to run a massive 8km to St Dunstan's Allotments in East Acton!

We had two GG noobs, Martin and Mel a huge welcome to you! You made 8km seem like nothing and were a massive help with the heavy bags! Super strength!

We set off at a nice warm-up pace, past the iconic Ealing Broadway station and battled through the crowds to Uxbridge road. It was here we encountered my arch nemesis, the puddle on the junction with the North Circular...yes I was splashed once, it was a harrowing time...there was rather a lot of pancake chat ( I hope you enjoyed the post run pancakes Ian!)and with just a quick stop off at the pub (sadly no drinks involved, just a quick toilet stop) we were there and the lovely Rhea was waiting!

We managed to take the straight route this time (what do you mean you didn't want a scenic tour of the A40?!) and, stops included, we managed 4km in a respectable 30 minutes or so. And then it was time to work! Looooads of woodchip had been dropped off and it was our job to put it into bags and shift it into the allotments. This involved perfection of the squat-fill-mulch technique (correct me if i'm wrong on that one Ankit!) and then there was a back and leg workout as we deadlifted all the bags from outside, into the allotments.

There were some mega strong efforts from everyone, the pile clearing was particularly impressive!

We then sped back to Bodyline Studios in about 25 minutes, a quick stretch and we were done!! It was such a fun evening and the work we did would have taken one person absolutely ages! So nice one for being such a bunch of legends! I'm already looking forward to next week, hopefully see you all then! Sign up to next week here.