Bloomin' 'eck

What a muggy evening for a run - Big up newbies Thea, Maddie, Juliette and Louisa for joining us!

And talking of mugs - Congratulations to Tim Wheatley for winning our SPOTM, which included a mug! Tim is not a mug. In fact he's been smashing out missions, group runs, temporary tattoo illustrations and many other artistic GoodGym-related things, so our collection of mug, vanity kit, hip phone holder thing, coaster and bottle were very well deserved.

Nice one Tim!

This week we were heading off to Kennington Park, a lush green space near Oval, to help them with a multitude of jobs ahead of an inspection they've got tomorrow for Britain in Bloom. Nicky led a group on a 5k long route while the rest of us went the direct 3k.

When we arrived, Marietta showed us the huge pile of equipment they had and gave us the lowdown on what we needed to do:

🌱 Bindweed removal

🥀 Dead-heading roses

🍂 Getting the leaves off the shelter

🗑 Litterpicking

🌳 Hedge Trimming

We found that bindweed is a sneaky plant that gets everywhere. We discovered many undesirable items whilst litterpicking. And we have some quality topiarists in the Lambeth ranks!

Having collected up some huge bags of leaves and weeds, it was time for us to leave. Marietta was super grateful and said they'd have enough time to finish the last few bits ahead of the inspection on Thursday.

Some of us decided that we weren't sweaty enough already so squeezed in some fartlek on the way back whilst others were far more sensible in taking a leisurely jog!

Awesome work GoodGym Lambeth

Next week we've got a couple of options - Portico or Ruskin Park and don't forget to sign up for our community mission helping set up Stockwell Festival on Sat 6th July.

Southwark News

• On the weekend we took over Dulwich parkrun and it was a huge success! We ran, we paced, we timed, we barcode scanned, we funnel-managed, we supported. It was a wonderful morning. Massive kudos to everyone who made it special.

• Tonight is the GoodGym London social and it's happening at Prince Arthur Pub near Old Street station. Find out more and sign up here.

• The Olympics sign up has opened! Sign up for an event and find out more here.

• I'm sad but excited to announce that I'm leaving London in August to move to Sheffield to go back to University. Of course there will be a leaving do and I'll miss you all so much!

That's enough of the business

Last night we ran a whopping 11km overall to Upmarket Charity Shop in Rotherhithe to rub down the shutters and prep them for painting.

We arrived at exactly the same time as Emily who has been helping Father Mark with supplies - good timing! Father Mark explained the deal: use the scourers to rub down the shutters, wipe them clean and dry and then it was time for black paint!

After rubbing down (a very noisy affair!) we got to cleaning and wiping them dry and onto the paint. We were a bit low on brushes and rollers so I took half the group off for a run-and-squat loop around the block and swapped the groups over when we got back. Unfortunately Girija, who met us there, has an injury so we replaced running with walking for the second loop of the block.

With some super-speedy painting at the end of the session we managed to complete the first coat. Hooray! We're looking forward to coming back next week to do another coat.

A big thanks to Father Mark for meeting us there! On the way back we were a small but merry band of three runners - big kudos to Nicky and Will for running home. Everyone else took various transport options home.

See you next week.

Lucy J

11 Steptastic GoodGymers delivered 500 leaflets to get Westminsters older generation active.

This week we were helping Open Age who are a charity focused on providing fun and exciting physically and mentally stimulating activities for the over 55’s. These activities aim to tackle social isolation as well as physical inactivity.

Awesome to have some new faces along for the session, thank you all for coming along!

Setting off through the busy streets of Central London we headed South towards Pimlico where are focus was for the evening. 2.5k of Running and we had reached our destination!

We were delivering leaflets for the upcoming Walking Football initiative which aims to allow people the opportunity to play and enjoy football while reducing the physical demands so keep in accessible for more people.

Braking off into pairs we ran around the maze of estate blocks in and around Pimlico station stuffing residential letter boxes as well as many community buildings as possible! Keeping a solid pace throughout we were able to deliver 500 leaflets in 35 efficient minutes!

We then racked up the tempo and zoomed back up to New Balance picking up our knees really strongly through Green Park!

Thanks to Frances we were all stretched out and ready to re fuel after 90 minutes of continual movement! Lots of steps racked up!!

Next week the group is off to One Big Family to make the food for the homeless charity weekly food kitchen. James (GG Redbridge) Trainer will be leading the way! Enjoy

Smooth Running

Joel