On the most scorchio evening this year, 25 of the coolest runners took on 7+km of running and shifted 70+ bags of woodchip at Ewart Road Clubhouse.

We have had another brilliant week of volunteering and running, with Emma up at the Hilly Fields Fayre, helping to set up, Juliet, Vic and Ian helping out an older person with their garden and many of our runners doing what they do every week, which is running to spend time with their 'coach', the person who gets them out of the house when they don't feel like it. Great work everyone.

GoodGym gives you wings!

Talking of missions, last week we had a very special milestone, when Nykolette and Stephen went to visit Mrs G in her home. They helped out with the task they had signed up to, then realised that she was going to be left alone when the health visitor had left, waiting to be collected by an ambulance. Being the kind, thoughtful people they are, Stephen and Nykolette decided to stay and keep Mrs G company, reassuring her and chatting until the ambulance arrived. This also happened to be Nykolette's 100th good deed. Nykolette has been a big part of our group for around two years now, joining in group runs, going on missions, coach running and taking part in lots and lots of races with the GoodGym Race Team. Those of us lucky enough to know Nykolette can tell you what a kind and thoughtful friend she is and how she goes out of her way to look after others (she volunteers at parkrun, Lewisham Food Bank, Big Red Box, Crisis at Christmas...and possibly others she hasn't even mentioned). Well done Nykolette, keep on doing good and being the most sparkly person I know :)

Joining this delectable team of do-gooders for the first time this week was Eleanor, trying out her first ever GoodGym group run. We also had two visitors, Ian from our neighbours and friends over in Bromley and Chi, all the way from Haringey. Lewisham Love to all of you!

You might have gathered by now that it's been pretty hot today (around 30 degrees), so our warm up was a slightly sticky affair, with a swift game of British Bulldog, that came to a quick conclusion due to some very skillful tagging! Feeling quite warm enough, we got going towards Ladywell. With my H&S hat firmly in place, I made sure we stopped every so often to catch our breath, regroup and take a big swig of water, I felt like I was dragging my legs through treacle, whilst trying to hold a breathless conversation and run up a hill. Phew!

A chip off the old block

The last time we visited the Ewart Road Clubhouse, we were inside, painting the walls and washing the windows. Since then, a rather wonderful sensory garden has popped up (though I'm sure it's taken a lot more work than just 'popping up'!), giving the whole space a lushness and texture that you simply couldn't have imagined before - great work everyone! We were met by Dominique, who offered us water and then showed us the massive stack of woodchip sacks that needed transporting over to the open space, then spreading out, to create an area for children to run around. This area was also housing some broken slabs and rocks, which needed moving out of the way, giving our intrepid teams of two an excellent upper-body workout.

As always at a task, I tried really hard to get a 'before' photo, but everyone was a bit too quick for me. You can still see from the photos though, just how much of a transformation this made. Like little ants, a line of volunteers carried the sacks, with another team cutting them open and tipping them out and a further team raking and spreading the woodchip to cover the rough ground and help prevent weeds from peeping through. In just twenty minutes or so, the job was done - how amazing is that? Something that might take existing volunteers a few days to do! We really hope this has made a dent in the remaining work at the garden. We were told that, on Saturday July 14th from 11-4.30 there will be a Family Fun Day, where the sensory garden will be officially opened by Councillor Pauline Morrison - we are all invited!

Run to the hills!

Our run back to Glass Mill felt ever so slightly easier, with a downward slope, but some people just don't find this enough. As part of his GoodGym tourism, Chi likes to tick off a few different challenges along the way, including a Strava segment and, this time, a steep hill. I casually pointed towards Blythe Hill, which he promptly peeled off to run up! We all continued on our merry way, enjoying a more gentle approach and met up with him further along, where he informed us that he had also tackled Vicars Hill, really, you know, just in case Blythe Hill wasn't steep enough.

As you may know by now, this Saturday sees us enjoying the now annual event that is the GoodGym Olympic Games, a day of sporting expertise, camaraderie and playful competition between the different areas. We had had a request from Jacqueline, to practice the egg and spoon race but, as she'd already left us, we decided to have a go anyway, with the clear winner, with a very professional form, being Chloe. A special mention must also go to Kirsty, who had a very determined and focussed style, never seen in this field of play before. If you can't make it to the games themselves, you can still get involved, by taking part in the GoodGym Olympic Games Nationwide Race, a chance to show your creativity as well as pushing hard over a 1km run. Have a look at the link to see how to log the run and go out there and have some fun (as Chi did, trying his best to get near the top of our GG Lewisham Monthly Time Trial Strava segment...!).

Next week...a brand new task, our first at a school. We will be visiting Beecroft Garden Primary School in Crofton Park, to work outside in their garden. Expect a 5k round trip, a fun task and some fitness fun on the way back.

See you there!

Starting their week with some good, sixteen eager runners took to the streets of our wonderful borough, covering 8km and painting the walls and woodwork at the Ewart Road Clubhouse.

As we waited for everyone to arrive, we rather cheekily eked out the last bit of warmth we could grab before our start point closed early, pointing at the one still unlocked door as people trickled in. It was an evening of celebration and recognition, with our April Heroes (or Lewisham Lovelies as I think we shall refer to them from now on) being credited for their contribution to all things good in the past month. First of all, we gave Steve a VERY big round of applause as he joined us, having completed his first ever half-marathon yesterday, check that massive medal! Cheers could be heard echoing around Cornmill Gardens for these achievements:

• Most Good Deeds, Kim (she did three over the weekend!)

• Distance Covered, Ian (closely followed by Conroy)

• Most Cheers Given, Conroy (almost 800 cheers, really!)

• Creative Excellence, Lucy (for her beautiful GoodGym banner at London Marathon)

• Most Promising Newcomer(s), Wisdom and Freda

Click on their names and give them a big cheer (especially if you have plans to beat Conroy's record this month!).

Time to get warmed up with a quick game of bluffing. A runner was appointed to bluff the others, decided whether to run to the first, second or third point. A great way to raise the heart rate, warm up the muscles and keep everyone on their toes. Partnering up, we then did a few dynamic leg swings and hip openers before our run over to the Ewart Road Clubhouse.

If you've never been to a GoodGym group run before, you might be worried about getting left behind. We make sure this doesn't happen, by appointing a back-marker. A very hearty high-five to Lucy and Steve for taking on this role tonight, motivating and encouraging from the back.

At our task, we were met by Dominique and Moira, who had already laid out the dust sheets, brushes, rollers and paint for everyone to get stuck straight in. Those who had visited a couple of weeks ago were keen to give the wall another coat of paint, covering the remains of the pink, once and for all! Others had moved out into the hallway and were painting walls and woodwork, everyone focusing closely on their own little area. It wasn't long before time had ticked away and the last of the paint was being teased out of the bottom of the tin, no waste here! We took our group photo, were thanked by Dominique and promised to be back in a few weeks to move onto another space.

Our return run took on a loop-the-loop pattern. On these longer runs, we can quite easily find ourselves splitting up so, to try and lessen the chances of this happening, we were periodically turning and looping back to meet the runners behind us. This led to some chat about what this might look like on Strava and James suggesting a GPS drawing challenge as part of the upcoming GoodGym Olympic Games (though Caireen was pretty ambitious with her suggestion of 'Lewisham' as a run...!).

As we neared our start point, there was a buzz of excitement and a lot of 'aaahhhhh's, as Kim appeared with her lovely dog Molly, who had joined her along the way, our first canine visitor to GoodGym Lewisham! She was very excited by the whole thing and was even wearing a red collar to look the part, good work Mol!

Next week we will return to Seniors' for some more work in the garden, come and join us!

Easter Monday officially rocks in Lewisham, with twenty tip-top runners taking to the streets to cover 8km, paint the walls, woodwork and radiator at Ewart Road Clubhouse, tackle some deep core work and take each other on in an eggciting (sorry) game of egg-and-spoon.

My, how we've grown! I remembered, as I planned this week's session, last year's Easter Monday group run. We hadn't been going very long in Lewisham, which resulted in a cosy gathering of just the three of us (Roni and Alex did get all the chocolate treats though!) and here we were, one year on, a whole twenty of us huddled outside our start point, ready to take on an evening of running and good-doing!

It makes my heart sing!

Our intrepid souls were made up of regulars, visitors and newcomers, welcome to Kani and Catherine, who were trying GoodGym for the very first time and Emma, who was 'on tour' - show them some Lewisham Love by clicking on their names and giving them a cheer.

After a warm-up (our start point closes early on a Bank Holiday, so we were bouncing on the spot outside for a while!) and a name-check, we talked routes with tonight's back-markers Conroy and Caireen. If you've not been on a group run before, you might be worried about getting left behind, we don't let that happen. A big thank you to this week's stars, who encouraged, supported cajoled and (check out Caireen's photos) pulled our runners along. This week's run was considerably longer than those of the past couple of weeks, so this meant a few of our runners smashed their previous distances, so high-fives, loud cheers and whoops of joy to Wisdom, Freda, Amber and Matthew!

A great thing about a GoodGym group run is getting to know some new running routes. This week we went a completely different way, taking in Ladywell, Crofton Park, Blythe Hill and touching on Forest Hill at our destination. A nice, mostly flat route, but you could see the potential for some serious hill training around here! We were greeted at the Ewart Road Clubhouse by Dominique, who had set out dust sheets, trays, rollers, pots and brushes in the office, which was an interesting shade of pale pink. As our crowd of eager helpers streamed in, we wondered if there was enough room for everyone but, as always, people grabbed a tool and got stuck in.

The blinds were taken down, the windows were washed with soapy water, walls were covered in crisp white and the woodwork was freshened up. Every so often Chris was called upon for his long reach and even the corners were painted in this cosy space. Matthew decided the radiator looked grubby against the newly white wall, so a team set to work giving this a quick coat before we had to head off. It really was a tight half hour, but so much was achieved, well done! We will return here in two weeks, to give this room another coat, move on to the hallway and maybe into the hall itself.

Time now to run back. Over this distance, it's inevitable that we will become separated, so well done to everyone for working together to regroup, catch up and keep each other motivated. Our first group to arrive back were treated to some core exercises, perfect for the end of a run - it's good to try and include these in your running week to build strength and your running foundation. We did front planks, side planks and some bridges (don't let that £20 note go!). We were soon joined by the rest of the group, so time to talk all things GoodGym Olympic Games and to try one of the events. The games will take place on June 10th, at Parliament Hill track and promise to be a fun day of sporting splendour, competitive grit and good, hard fun. We are keen to field a strong team from Lewisham, so let us know if you want to get involved.

For now, we couldn't run on Easter Monday without some appropriately themed action. Out came the spoons, followed, of course, by the chocolate eggs. It really hadn't occurred to me that people might not know what an egg-and-spoon race is - is it really that British?! A quick explanation, a quick line up and a reminder that, if you drop your egg, you must go back to the start and try again. Well, what a whirlwind of a race! The tension was high, the concentration was impressive and the competition was fierce. In the end though, there can only be one winner and it is now clear that Scott is our secret egg-and-spoon weapon. Well done Scott, I hope you enjoyed your medal :)

Next week will see another brand new task! Why not sign up now and put it in your diary? This will be another run of around 8km, but with a slightly different route. Marvellous.