Good to get back to GoodGym antics and the Newham fam last night. In my absence there were several tidy parkruns, a spankingly good 5min course PB for Hils and GoodGym celebrated a decade since its inception. Siobhan generously dashed over to the lovely Somerset House HQ and picked up a GG flag, which we coupled with our own Newham flag for some quintessential Olympic Park shots. I believe all areas have done the same to mark the tenth birthday milestone, don't know if you guys have seen any of the speeches online, take a look they're some really touching ones.

RWQ this week, "which film have you seen the most?" more of a deep dive into our fellow GoodGymers soul this one. In no particular order, or merit: Lion King (twice), Aladdin, Drop Dead Fred, The Matrix (twice), Die Hard 2, Hitch, Bend It Like Beckham, Incredibles, Love Actually, Notting Hill and a few more including some Christmas films that I forgot.

We skipped over the 1.5k to a sunset flowing over Abbey Gardens. Task of the day for this community garden was a bit weeding, watering and litter picking. No one pulled out any live artichokes or swung a pitch fork precariously in the dark, so a resounding success, still adjusting the Irises to the decreasing evening illumination, next week head torches everyone, sorry that's not the actual tone I'd use, but from Leon, probably in my most ever watched top 5, FYI.

Even managed a tidy before and after shot this week, your nagging and mocking has paid off, bravo! We finished with a dash of leg strength and tidying up some squat technique. Start with a isometric squat hold, then into a plyometric-esque squat jump. A little dabble of leg strength and power to conclude a lovely session. Try them at home, can get huge gains of just 5 - 10 mins of squatting per day, allowing you to be better and more robust at whatever other activities you enjoy.

If you haven't already signed up, we have a lovely community mission this week at Cody Dock, sign up here for Super Saturday. These are also being run all over the country, 30 missions and counting, to mark GG10. Get involved. Hilary brought some exceptional chocolate cake to continue the celebrations. Finally it was lovely to have Victoria back, post baby, and back with the clan, can't wait to see you flying around an unsuspecting park run soon.

Till next week

B

Some top GoodGymming action last night over in Newham. Featuring a gusty westerly and a closed locker area at the aquatics centre, luckily they had another section open. I'm told this won't be the case next week.

The squad warmed up and answered James' RWQ, "if you were a chat show host, which guest would you like to have on?" David Attenborough, Obama, Sandy Torqvist (spelling blag, sounds right), Oprah Winfrey, Jesus, Mohammed, George Monbiot (holiest of them all), the first alien and loads others i forgot as my brain is operating at 36%, max.

A mere 1.7 miles later or lovely sunset hour canal trot, however you want to frame it, we reached destination. Our man Pablo, also know more formerly as Paul, was on the money with tasks and instructions. Bark got shifted, tyres got rolled, sheds got reoriented, weeds got plucked and troughs emptied. A perfect dose of work for our clan, out at just after, in time for some of you guys to justify the pub. And crisps, lots of crisps.

I'm off next week, on hols, currently closing in on Paris, where I'll get a connection and head off in south westerly direction. If you'd like me to swill any red wine on your behalf, drop me a line, I'm here for you.

Have a fab session next week, Kev and Shaz are taking the reins and galloping to Cody Dock. Always a quality session.

As always, log some salacious steps and run like you stole it.

I'll see you'll in a bit,

B

The inclement weather of yesterday didn't bother Newham's finest one iota, bodes well when we're rocking up 20 + in a blimmin' all day deluge. I got sodden multiple times, hence onto my final rain jacket with name printed on the shoulder (my mum didn't put it there...ha ha), luckily James showed up with plastic bags on his feet, smoothly taking the spot light with him.

We welcomed Beth on her first run with the clan. First of many perhaps?Also Siobhan as she returned for her first session in three months after an intrepid solo expedition around the 'Stan' Countries. Welcome home Queen of The Newham Gram.

RWQ delved deep into our sauciest desires, not that you dirty dog, literally: "what's your favourite condiment?" We've done it in the past, but it's a good 'un, so we did it again. We had the classics: brown sauce, ketchup, mayo, burger sauce, mint sauce, soy sauce. The spice brigade: tobasco, chilli oil, encona x hot. The 'posh': dijon mayo (did someone say that?!), aioli (I can't pronounce this without making a ridiculously exaggerated mouth movement). The niche: HP Fruit Sauce - i googled it, it's a thing.

2miles later we arrived at destination, dry as a bone and personally overdressed. Matt took seemingly an eternity to come and meet us, but there was a crash nearby to be fair. But we cracked on as soon as he arrived. Clearing out a section of the dock, where they intend to relocate the main shipping containers with offices etc. We shifted a load of wood planks, metal grills and random poles. Others clipped and trimmed the foliage. Some swept with speed and rhythm. We were done and dusted in 20mins, reckon that would've taken a single person half a day or so. Lovely work. This dock was pretty run down a few years back, out of use, nothing going on. It's now a community hub, with exhibitions, fairs, festivals, party boats, ecology field trips and a plan to bring the dock back into working order. YOU were part of that.

A chosen few honed some speed and technique work to finish. 6 x 20s with 30s recovery. Short, but enough to bring about a training effect at the end of a run. Bravo to the brave sprint boshers of the bridge. Technique and intensity fused together for a finishing stimulus.

Next week we go to the adventure playground, a short run, with a social after on site using their outdoor pizza oven. We'll nab an early fitness session, then roll up our sleeves for the task before kicking back. Sign up here

Folkestone go-getters have a corking run, cafe, swim, pub....etc. Looking forward to the updates, who's gonna have that warm glowing PB feeling in the cafe? Time will tell, in both senses.

Nice one team, till next week

B

Off the back of an incredible week for GoodGym Newham, with a near record turnout last week and a sublime display from our comparatively small outfit at the GG Olympics, yesterday was another lovely run and task with a quality crew.

We had first timer Rory, a fresh dose of run + volunteer fusion for him. On the other end of the spectrum we had James popping out for his hundredth run. Beautiful stuff. Our Random Weekly Question this week "what's your favourite sporting performance?" Greg Rutherford's leaping, Torville and Dean's skating, England's Cricket World Cup, Froome on Giro d'italia, GB Gold at 4 x 400m 1991 World Champs, Jonathan Edwards doing his silver fox thang, Liverpool's outrageous Champions League comeback, Usain Bolt's magic fast twitch moves, everything at London 2012 Olympics, Jasmine Paris beating the women and the men at The Spine Race, Wilko's nerves of steel at the Rugby World Cup and Graham's egg & spoon effort on Saturday.

We wandered down to our adopted canal section over the Marshes, potentially a fraction further some say, an argument that only an exhumed Pythagoras himself could resolve. Two teams went their separate ways and came back with a surprisingly large amount of rubbish. Especially the group that went north, must be a bit grubbier that way, great work guys. This is a great back up task to have in the locker, we had a late cancellation this week, but having this to fall back on saves you guys from a fitness session! We pegged it back on different routes and at different speeds, but all with one thing in mind - cake.

James marked his 100 deeds with a delicious lemon drizzle cake, it later would transpire that Mel did the baking science. We missed you Mel! Whoever made it it was sweet, with a soft sumptuous tang and fantastic structural integrity too. James has been incredibly consistent at GoodGym over the past few years, his relaxed and jovial demeanour an asset to our collective. With a recent 16.01 5k clocking on Monday, he's managed to chop off 2mins off his 5k since the year began, a testament to regular training and a firm resolve. Pick his brain about his progress and training next week. It could be you slicing minutes off your parkrun...

Right, i'm off for some breakfast, 4 crumpets with some spicy humous as you asked. Yes Graham, blended chickpeas pre-noon, livin' lyfe on da edge innit.

Sign up to next week's awesome Cody task here and remember the week after it's pizza and refreshments post Adventure Playground.

Make those weekend's count people

B

It's been a long stretch, but BST finally returned to our lives, reducing dinginess, lifting moods, increasing Vit D production, and enhancing...you know, seeing stuff.

15 of us congregated in The Aquatics Centre, buoyed by winning the photo award, beating 49 other GoodGym areas on the way. I'm going to head down to Somerset House tomorrow and pick up THE AWARD. Promise, I won't nick it. Unless it's really really nice.

Quick little warm up and Parkrun chat, then a jog to Abbey Gardens, discussing "your favourite live performance?" amongst other things. I heard a couple of people say Muse, did you know Aaron 'fan boyed' the main man in central london once? There's actually a bit of resemblance there too. Florence and the machine was on the list too. I semi fell in love with Paloma Faith about a decade ago in The Jazz Cafe, I was a barman... and as soon as she started singing that was that. The power of music...careful out there.

Back to yesterday's proceedings, we made it to Abbey Gardens in very good time, Manorfield had cancelled, and an outdoor task sub was unfortunate on this occasion. It started hailing/raining but did ease off after 10mins of weeding. We cut it a bit shorter than normal, and warmed up with a wee trot back to base. I must be getting soft as didn't gather everyone up for a fitness sesh, we'll make some room for that next week, redemption is but a week away...

Adventure Playground joy awaits us, sign up here

Hope your weekend's are packed with good stuff

ps. there's a parkrun clan going on Sat. tbd on whatsapp

Over and Out

B

Pretty sure that's the worst of winter out the way now, we can now polish our sunnies and get our vests ready for next session. A clear and calm evening in Newham last night with a superb bunch. We had a green themed random weekly question, to mark 'Earth Hour' this weekend "what's your favourite green thing?" courtesy of Helen. Some great answers including charity shops, bicycles, re-using clothing, sustainable packaging, banning micro-beads, composting, dads mimicking vegan habits, carrying a tote bag, eco-tourism, growing veg, sustainable consultancies and green peas. Bring on the Green Revolution.

I forgot to mention a couple of very decent runs last weekend, starting with Timbo's Parkrun PB, hard not to like that. Tim's come on massively and now attacks these 5k's races from the go. Siobhan, our endurance lady, ticked off a 17 + miler, inc a hilly Ally Pally Parkrun in the middle. No PB obviously, because every run has its own purpose. Well in, keep it up, continue to inspire.

Abbey Garden our old haunt from 2016, now back in our schedule, i'm personally chuffed: it's a close run at under 1 mile, the space is lush and relaxing, occasionally get some of the harvest...not to mention we can do a proper fitness session after. Yesterday you guys diligently weeded and de-constructed large planters in the dark. As all the men instinctively gathered around the demolition work, kicking the planter as they went, testing its structural integrity. The ladies and Brad got some soil between their fingers and uprooted the unwanted plants ie weeds. We got most of it under wraps before getting booted out by the council official closing the park. Next time we'll have more light, I reckon there's an abundance of potential for a sunny picnic social here come June/July. We finished off with 5 lunge varieties, 100 lunges cumulatively - known worldwide (well, Newham) as the HUNDRED LUNGE CLASSIC.

Next week it's back to Manorfield Primary, if you fancy some training and volunteering...sign up here

Make your weekends and parkruns count and I'll see you all next week

ps April 13th Parkrun Hackney Marshes - be there !

B