Wow, what an evening!

Firstly, a very warm welcome to our new runners Romona, Taz and Zac - go and give them all a cheer! And also worth a huge cheer is Vic's fantastic achievement of a 24 month streak of group runs! That's two whole years of running and doing good, what a wonderful woman!

After a rather dog-eat-dog (or rather, runners-watch-dog) warm-up, we soon set off towards Lee, stopping at pretty much every set of traffic lights along the way. Thanks to the lovely Jacqueline, Clare and Oli for helping to keep such a big group together and safe along the busy route to Lee.

As always, there was plenty to do at Big Red Box HQ. There was a huge new donation to sort, many bags of which had been collected by our friends at Hilly Fields parkrun over the weekend. The packing station needed to be replenished, boxes had to be assembled, and pallets lined up ready for the 5 minute challenge.

You gotta be tin it to win it

We got not one, but two attempts at the hotly anticipated 5-minute challenge. For the uninitiated, this is one of the most glorious human chain experiences you could ever hope to be a part of, with each empty box making its way from one end of the corridor to the other, being packed full of one of each type of food, before being closed up with a lid, and stashed on a pallet ready to be sent out for distribution.

(Pal)Let battle commence!

After a fantastic first attempt where 35 of us managed to pack 36 boxes in just 5 minutes, a 2019 record. We restocked our food stations, assembled a few more boxes ready for round two. Nicely warmed up, and either enthused or intimidated by my constant shouts of "pack smart" and "tesselate harder", we managed a whopping 52 boxes in our second round! A Big Red Box all-time record! If you add in the extra boxes we finished filling after the countdown was over, that's well over 100 boxes in less than an hour. Just think what a difference that will make to so many people in our community over this festive period.

Official heavyweight boxing champions

There's plenty more festive fun to be had in the next few days, including putting up decorations at St Christopher's Hospice with our friends over in Bromley tomorrow night (nice to see you Ian!), the GG x Xmas Xtravaganza! where you can meet GoodGym runners from far and wide, distributing Christmas trees for Kings who we were supporting this evening, and a trip to Crofton Books next week where no doubt the Christmas tunes will be out in force.

Thanks to Marta for this week's run report title, and to Oli for the smattering of puns (as always!).

After a quick detour by sports direct to pick up an emergency jacket (because I was not wearing enough layers for the weather) I made it to Glassmill, ready to see who was going to brave the cold weather to deliver flyers for King’s Christmas Trees.

Quick overview of the Lewisham news this week, Claire ran Beckenham 10k - give her a cheer next time you see her, and Simon gave the group more details of how these Christmas Trees help and what they provide the funds for.

Armed with maps (that didn’t end up being laminated) and a plan of action, we headed out into the cold (which felt much colder from the warmth of Glassmill) for a quick warm up and we headed off to Crofton Park.

Give and Let Fly

We tackled the longest and furthest away roads first, with pairs going up either side of the roads and running back down to where I was waiting at the bottom, having completed the nearby houses and side roads with a top team of Amber and Nyk.

Once those long roads had been completed, we made our way back towards Ladywell, tackling the hilly but shorter roads, again in pairs as this system seemed to work excellently. By the time we completed these roads, we were down to 5 leaflets left!!

Avoiding the house that already had a Christmas Tree we delivered the final few leaflets and made our way back to Glassmill.

After 7 hilly kilometres later, it was time for a stretch and discussions of upcoming community missions and task packing the boxes for Big Red Box.

Don’t forget the Christmas Social is on 27th November at Ninth Life - make sure you sign up so we can confirm numbers!

Pun credit goes to Oli - thank you.

Running under a sky filled with sparkle, 21 eager athletes covered between 5 and 7km and delivered many flyers for King's Christmas Trees.

Our top class title pun this evening comes from Emma, who shared it on the the run out, now that's worthy of a cheer! You will also see some beautifully crafted wordery amongst this report, from regular punner, Oli.

Talking of cheers, I started the evening with a little round-up of the Heroes of October. I haven't done this for a while, so thought it might be nice to celebrate some achievements, but none of the October heroes were here tonight! Maybe give them a cheer for all their cheering (Clare - 617), being cheered (Vic - 247), distance covered (Vic again - 166km!) and good-deed-doing (Nykolette - 10). I also mentioned our Christmas social, which is happening on December 12th, at the Catford Constitutional Club. Please sign up here if you are coming, so we know how many to book for. Yum.

We had two absolute first-timers joining us tonight, a big welcome and all our Lewisham Love to Emily and Jonny, we hope you enjoyed your GoodGym debut.

Flyer-works display

I handed over at this point to Simon, who is from the King's Christmas Trees project, so he could tell us all about the fantastic work that they have been doing now for ten years. We heard how the sale of the trees funds the weekly feast for a whole year, providing hot food at a drop-in, with 4500 three-course-meals being provided last year for rough sleepers and vulnerable people in the local area. Our task this evening was to help to spread the word about this project, delivering flyers in the Telegraph Hill area.

Letters entertain you

After a brief warm-up, with Ian's team just about winning the game of over and under, we gathered together, flyers in hand, with Amber acting as back-marker, making sure nobody got left behind as we ran along Lewisham Way towards New Cross. As we went, we regrouped at crossings, pausing to look, open-mouthed, at the fireworks popping all around us. We were soon at the foot of Jerningham Road, the start point for our flyering. Splitting into smaller groups, I assigned roads to everyone, along with a few little tasks to keep us focused:

• Taking a group photo by our road name

• Spotting an interesting item/door/name/garden ornament

• Carrying out a wall-sit for 30 seconds (or more!), with photographic evidence

• Coming up with a smashing pun for the run report

First past the post(box)

I ran up and over Jerningham Road, giving a little nod to the road I used to live on as a student, many years ago. At the top of Telegraph Hill, I could see far and wide, colourful stars filling the sky. It wasn't long before our first runners made it up the hill, with Team Pepys powering up (though 'powering up' is maybe not the term to describe their 'wall sit', ahem). As they still had a few flyers in hand, they decided to keep going for a few more minutes (I think there was a competitive edge between Oli and Tom...). More red t-shirts appeared, so I did a quick head-count and we gathered for a group photo (thank you all for contributing photos to this run report too).

It was interesting running back a different way, exploring some new roads and very nearly losing everyone as they scattered along Shardeloes Road, feeling the urge to continue flyering! Soon, we ran down and over towards Lewisham, sprinting back in to Glass Mill. Really great work from everyone, teamwork at its best, well done. Next week we will return to Beecroft Garden Primary School to work on the sensory garden, so expect a 5k run, a good physical task and possibly some Hilly Fields fitness session fun ;) Don't forget we have a community mission on Saturday as well, another chance to do good! Sign up here to help out at the bulb planting session in Hither Green.

See you soon!

On the eve the hallows, there were some scary sights to behold in Brent! But thankfully amongst the horrors, were 14 local heroes, who, although wearing masks, carried out tasks, in the name of what's Good(gym) in Willesden. YAY!

SCREAM QUEEN The usual meet up was a freaky affair, in our old haunt, The Queensbury! But making a play for old Queenies crown, was I, the Goodgym prom queen of death, in all my crowning glory!! But to my absolute delight, I wasn't alone in my Halloween costume efforts, with the majority of the crew bringing a whole lotta fierce, with faces painted, masks, head dresses and props! Hurahhhh haaaa haaaaa haaaaaaaaaa (that was an evil laugh by the way!)

Amongst the familiar faces was another I'd seen before, although a member of my Peckham flock who appeared to have flown West for winter! Michael, a regular Southwark speedster, but due to a change in address was ready to bust out with Brent!! Hurrah!

So after housekeeping and the big reveal of what would be the prize for best costume - A pumpkin disguised as a chocolate orange and my crown, we hit the road for a fast mile down to the police station.

ELLO ELLO ELLO The Old Police Station is a site we've been visiting for months and months and are proud to say have contributed to its complete regeneration. Once a den for squatters, thanks to Colin and his community crew, it has been shaped into a glorious hub for artists. What was once an unsightly eyesore, is now a tremendous center for arts and crafts, which values community spirit and supports local business.

Devil may care, artistic flare So after our pavement pace down the high road, we arrived excited and raring to go. Waiting at the door for us was Colin, our host, ready to explain our missions for the eve. First up on the agenda was was the most important task; The creation and painting of our very own Goodgym mural, representing all the hard work that we've achieved since beginning our volunteering, way back in spring. So with paper at the ready, the crew began sketching the designs, that would later be translated onto real life, painted wall art!

Rubble in paradise As the sketching began a few of the scary soldiers peeled off to tackle some lifting and shifting of rubble and rubbish outside, into Colin's trusty old van. This task was EPIC to say the least!! Led by Uzman, the gang of Goodgym ghosts and ghouls, hoiked and slung mountains of debris and made way for some much needed outdoor space! As the crew formed a chain of shifters and lifters, Joe was put to work inside the van, where he felt far more comfortable than standing on the roof, like last time!!

Paint by numbers With all the action outside going on, I nearly missed the excitement inside, when the actual wall painting finally started! Crammed into the mini room where our mural would take shape, the team worked tirelessly, chalking up outlines, then painting on the infamous GG logo and all manner of related images, from running shoes, to wheelbarrows and spades. Michael worked particularly hard on the creation of MEEEE, now to be remembered forever doing pull-ups on the tube!!

Drop it like a squat Even though the night was brimming with all manner of tasks to be completed, I still found time to put my Halloween hotties through their paces. Splitting off in teams of 4, a HIIT session was on the menu, consisting of squats, stair runs and sprints!!

We've only just begun Even though we would have loved to have stayed all night long, we feared the inevitable of turning into pumpkins ourselves, so I had to wrap the timer on the cop shop task drop. However, we still have loads and loads of our mural to complete and will therefore be back to do more in 2 weeks!!

But before we could say a final farewell, sister sledge - Tabs and Debs were crowned the winners of the Halloween Prize for their fantastic face painted efforts!!! However the twosome turned out to be not so gruesome, when they shared their choccy orange prize out with the troops.

Homeward bound So that's a wrap the winner revealed as Debs the cat. Oh and Tabitha too, as a scary ghoul. We ran home feeling pleased, with all we'd achieved, on this Goodgym for Brent, on all Hallows Eve.

See you next time fit fam xxxx