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 way to get up and running in 2019!! It was lovely to be back after the festive break with lots of new shiny running gear from Santa on display and the beaming smiles and sea of red t-shirts somewhat taking over the BetterGym reception area.

A whopping 25 wonderful GoodGymers joined me for the first run of 2019, including Margot, Corinne, Charlotte and Kat who came along for their first GoodGym H&F group run, lovely to have you along! It was also great to welcome along our special GoodGym guest Rob, the new GoodGym Solilhull Trainer and of course my fab regulars. What a group I had tonight!

In line with our usual formalities we all headed outside for the quick intro and round of the week's news.

I Guess That's Why They Call It the News...

1. GoodGym H&F Starter Session (Saturday 12th January) - Fulham Palace parkrun, plogging & Christmas tree collection/recycling. Sign up here.
2. January Long Run (Sunday 13th January) - This month's GoodGym long run is an 18km run led by Ealing Trainer, Liv along the river and though Richmond Park. Meet outside Kew Bridge for a 9.45am start. Sign up here.
3. JANUARY CHALLENGE 2019! - As a group we need to run as far as we can and complete as many good deeds as humanly possible to achieve (and hopefully surpass!) our 2019 targets - 80 good deeds and 1,000kms run. This year we are in League D against Bromley, Hounslow and Stockport! Let's go H&F team!

One nifty fifty!

And a BIG well done to Sarah for completing her 50th good deed!! Obviously this called for a mega cake and biscuit celebration, after the run of course!

RUN-derful running goals for 2019

Following a name and number count and the return of the icebreaker question, "What running goal do you want toachieve in 2019?", for which there were some fantastic goals and first time marathons, half marathons and PB aspirations we had a quick pulse raising warm-up and headed up on our short 2km run up to St Mungo's Reconnection Post. When we arrived at St Mungo's Reconnection Post we were met by one of the Reconnection Workers, Lucasz. Lucasz briefly explained to group about the valuable services they provide to vulnerable and homeless adults with complex needs in the community, such as the 'No Second Night Out' service they provide – as well as providing 25 beds, they work with the residents to get them reconnected in the community or repatriated back to their country.

All the lost clothes

Tonight's brief was to organise a fantastic array of clothes donated by the public and previous residents that had become slightly disorganised due to the sheer volume of clothes within one small room. As the room and space in which to work was only small the group split into two, Team Trainer Beth and Team soon to be Trainer Rob!

Clothing all sorts

After a slightly disorganised start, Team Beth, in human chain formation, got to work on organising the donations, sorting through the many t-shirts, jumpers, trousers, skirts, socks, hats- you name it, it got sorted. Alice did a fantastic job as chief labeller of the bags (word on the grapevine is that the bags had very much missed Sarah over the festive break!) ensuring that all that got sorted remained clear for others to see, and the rest of the team efficiently placed each item into the correctly labelled bag- what a team! Meanwhile outside, Rob began his fitness session, putting his team through their paces with sprints, basketball squats (Yay! Another type of squat!), lunges and a tough wall sit/sprint relay which left all legs feeling a little tired. Then it was time to switch!

Team Beth was led out to begin their fitness session which included some sprinting, fitness exercises and core strength partner work, whilst Team Rob got to work on the organising and sorting, continuing the good work already done!

One impressive chain line running to time

With some efficient human chain action from both groups, in just over half an hour twenty bags of donations had been sorted, filled and labelled. With the sorted bags placed back into the room and the rubbish cleared away we posed for the massive 'piggy in the middle' group photo and the cheeky group photo where we all pointed at Rob, to show our appreciation and love for our Trainer guest!

With everyone head counted in it was time to say out goodbyes to Lucasz and began our short 2km back to base via Brook Green for a quick 1km time trial sprint lap around the outer perimeter of the Green. We headed to the start of the Strava segment so that everyone's times could be logged and progress tracked, Jason kindly provided the manual stopwatch option so hopefully everyone has a time to aim for when we return this year. Chris expertly led the first of four groups around the Green, and I assume everyone used the post-run cake and biscuits as added motivation as it wasn't long before everyone was back at the start having completed the 1km lap in super quick time. Brilliant effort all!

TREE-sy does it!

Next week we have a TREE-mendously fun task in which we will be running and scavenger hunting for discarded Christmas trees, 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 2019! Have a great week and hopefully see you all on Saturday or next Tuesday.

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

Our first Tuesday evening run in November with one noticeable difference, there was still no appearance of multiple layers, wooly hats (aside from Johnny's stylish number), gloves (I'm not counting gardening gloves!) and no considation rising when we all ran and talked. It was one very mild November evening in Hammersmith and Fulham last night which was very welcome since we had an outdoor gardening task at St Mungo's Reconnection Post!

A wonderful 14 GoodGymer joined me, including Hazel who came along for her first GoodGym experience, great to have you along! It was also lovely to welcome back Steph and Rebekah for their second GoodGym H&F group run in as many weeks and to have GoodGym Camden tourist, Sarah join us over in the west for the evening!

In line with usual formalities we all headed outside for the quick intro and round of the week's news.

I Guess That's Why They Call It the News...

1. November Long Run (17th November) - This month's GoodGym long run is the 'Southwark Circle' starting at 11am from Waterloo Station. Sign up here.
2. Adidas City Runs Fulham 10K (18th November) - If you're running the Fulham 10K next month, sign up here. If you'd like to volunteer and earn a 50% discount on the entry price of another Adidas City Run event, sign up here. Email Danny (daniel@goodgym.org) if you have any questions.
3. GoodGym H&F Christmas Party - will be on Monday 10th December at The Distillers. To help us get an idea of numbers for the evening, please sign up here.
4. GoodGym London Christmas Party! (1st December). Hosted by GoodGym Southwark. Fancy dress theme - the first letter of your GoodGym area. £4 donation. Lots of killer tunes and dodgy dancing! Sign up here.

And a BIG well done to Tom for his Thames Meander Half Marathon at the weekend and to Helen for her Weymouth Ironman Run!

Before setting off on our short 2km run up to tonight's task we did a quick name and number count, and warm up to get the blood pumping and pulses raised. Nicely warmed up and with Strava's set we all set off up towards Shepherd's Bush with trusty back-marker Jason, nicely fuelled by his pre-run coffee, ensuring that no one was lost en route. Much to everyone's delight (...well Andrew's eyes definitely lit up!) we made a couple of stops on our run up to regroup which allowed time for some bonus squats and wall sits!

When we arrived at St Mungo's Reconnection Post we were met by the Reconnection Workers, Chris and Lucasz. Chris briefly explained to group about the services they provide to vulnerable and homeless adults with complex needs in the community – as well as providing housing, they work with the residents to get them reconnected in the community or repatriated back to their country. Tonight's brief was simple, concentrate on tidying the bushes in the centre and along the buildings. Lucasz kindly gathered and laid out the gardening tools - a mix of shears and weeding forks - gloves and bags on the garden table, and everyone quickly gloved up and chose their gardening tool of choice and set to work weeding and cutting back the bushes as requested.

To weed or not to weed

As is often the case, it wasn't long before there was the question of "are these weeds or not?!" followed by contemplation and the decision that in this case we were not sure so best to leave them be for now....

The group had nicely split into three groups to tackle to the garden:

• Group one tackled the bushes in-front of the building offices and entrance;

• Group two tackled the bushes and beds down the side of the building; and

• Group three (aka "group tickle" – see this week’s totally unstaged cover photo with a plant prop....) tackled the bushes in the middle, giving them a much needed trim and tidy.

Bench (im)pressing

With some efficient weeding, cutting and sweeping, in just over half an hour four large bags (bags that very much missed Sarah holding them open!) of gardening waste had been filled and it was time to say out goodbyes to Chris and Lucasz and pose for a group photo. A group photo which this week was very much a question of "how many GoodGymers can we fit on one garden table?" - answer: quite a few became benchwarmers or table toppers! With everyone head counted in we began our short 2km back to base via Brook Green for a quick fitness session.

Squat,squat, goose

First up was a twist on the classic children's game, duck duck goose, but much to my dismay quite a few had never played this as kid! With the rules explained - in this version there was the addition of squats or power squats - we had a good few rounds of close sprints, with those who missed out on being a 'goose' having a quick sprint to tree at the end.

One-hit number

Next up was fitness by numbers, the group split into two and numbered themselves 1-7. Amongst some planks, frog jumps and leg raises when I called their number they had to run to the tree to their left and back to the middle, with the winner each round being the one who was first to touch in on the first aid bag. It was closely run throughout and even featured a cheeky first aid bag grab and run...otherwise known as "you didn't say we couldn't move the bag!!"

With Andrew's fitness fix not quite achieved, he began a set of 10 burpees which the group wonderfully joined in on - impressive work guys! All that was left was a short run back to base followed by a cool down and stretch, nicely finished off with small celebratory slice of coffee and walnut cake!

Next week we're off to St Paul's CE Primary, sign up here, and don’t forget the last social on the year on Thursday in Bethnal Green! Have a great week!

Many thanks to Catriona for the extra photos and to Jason for providing a very handy portable floodlight last night!