Beautiful evening for a short group run to help our friends of Coldfall wood.

Beattie, Rachel, Emily, Moya and Cloud set off from The Phoenix cinema for a steady 12 min run with a pit stop for a series of short sprints.

we met our host Linda at the back of Coldfall woods where the green open space is. Today's task involved digging little holes ready for seed planting next week. the planting will be done by the local school kids.

we have done an amazing job (pat on the back) digging a total of 112 holes ! there were a total of 5 volunteers... who do you think dug the most holes and how many??

keep up the great work GGers!

What’s the connection between Barbie and an old Arrowhead. The answer is this weeks GoodGym Barnet group run!

A goodgym group run is a great way to get perspective on life and what better way than to start in a barbie saturated cinema, run to an ancient woodland, (where they had found a 4000-year-old Arrowhead) and then help to protect the trees by rebuilding fences.

We gathered at the cinema which was covered in pink balloons to celebrate the arrival of the film. Then warmed up, introduce ourselves, before setting off on the 1.5 km to the woods where we met Linda.

During her introduction, she mentioned the fact that they had recently found an arrowhead, which dates between 1500, BC and 4000 BC. She then went on to explain how we would rebuild some of the forest fences. We got to work as the sun started to set and by the time we had finished and set off back to the cinema, it was twilight. We had enough time to do some shorts sprints before a warm down outside the cinema. Some of us then went for some light refreshments in the cinema café.

Thanks for coming, running, doing some good and maybe shifting your perspective for the better!

Give a shout out to our new runners… Alefiyah Megan

6 GoodGymers ran to our local nature reserve Coldfall Woods to meet up with Ann from the Friends of Coldfall Woods. The recent winds had blown a lot of branches down, and with the summer heat there was a danger of fires from illegal barbeques. We were put to task in teams collecting branches and piling them onto designated areas to protect trees from being trampled around, and provide a nice habitat for insects and small rodents. We also found some rather unusual stinkhorn mushrooms growing, happily not yet at their stinkiest. We swiftly got stuck in to our stick-picking and made some satisfying piles.

But the big news of the night was that by joining this task (and gathering up litter on the way) Jacqueline had done 100 Good Gym deeds! What an achievement, and definitely worthy of that angel wings red t-shirt. No sticky wicket for her - that's a century! We all ran back and celebrated at the Phoenix cinema with some well earned hot drinks.

Three of us met at the Phoenix Cinema to make the short walk and run to Coldfall Woods and its recreational ground to help with weeding. Ivana wanted to walk so we did alternate tag running ( one of us running off and back ) this allowed us to keep company with Ivana. Two others tried to meet us at the venue. Unfortunately Kirsten never found us despite using a WhatsApp tracker. (thanks for trying look forward to catching up soon!) Richard did join us and we met up with Linda who gave us tools to start our work. We were looking to clear the base of the tree of weeds and uncover the watering pipes. We then had the jolly task of throwing the bags of weeds over into the compound. we headed back and three of us had some refreshments at the Phoenix Cinema on its glorious balcony! thanks for coming running and doing some good!

A few GoodGym members came together at the Phoenix Cinema to support the friends of Coldfall Woods. Phew what didnt we do last night!.. 😅 here is the list!

short read..

Book Club, a run, paired squats , forest fencing ( that’s not a martial art), social chats, Forest bathing, yoga breathing, another run, warm down stretches and a drink in the Cafe! ( 3 also cycled home)

longer read...

We gathered for a chat , warmup and all recommended a favourite read. ( could you send your suggestions in the comments below?) We ran the 1 km to Coldfall and stopped to do some paired squats before meeting others at the entrance to the Wood. We met our host Vicci who explained we were going to repair the forest fences to encourage new growth within the wood. We also removed some unsightly items for disposal. The wood was magical with new green growth and an eerie twilight glow. To finish we gathered to do some forest bathing by just standing still and listening to the wood. ( it’s big in Japan)

please click on the red...

Big welcome and cheer for Rachel on her first group run! ( please click on her name to register your support or give her a cheer)

well done for doing something with your energy making yourself stronger and supporting your local community.

you did good!

Eighteen goodgym runners gathered to run and do good but also in celebration of ten years of Goodgym! It’s grown from one mans idea to 15000 people looking to use their energies to help their local communities. We welcomed Samuel (possibly our youngest runner), Simon, Agnes (good luck with your Half marathon at Eden.. hopefully we helped!), and Justine. Give them a cheer! We numbered up and as is now traditional answered a simple question. This time a favoured restaurant or cafe ( Sorry I should have made notes so could you reply with your suggestion?.. they all sounded great!) Our group run was to Coldfall woods to help the friends by litter picking the recreational area. The walking group set off first lead by Fiona with the added task of distributing leaflets for Stephens House and Gardens. (A beautiful charity park with a great cafe)Then the runners set off with Damian on point and Sarah as the back marker(possibly her last as she moves abroad for work… give her a cheer!) We set off at a gentle pace and stayed together as a group. We ran through the streets and then the woods to stop at the recreational ground. We then used the flat open playing fields to do some speed work. Picking up pace for tens seconds, driving with the arms and legs and then relaxing into a normal pace for another ten seconds repeated until the end of the fields. We then gathered to meet Linda ( from the friends) who distributed pickers and bags to paired runners. It was a beautiful twilight evening to litter pick. We covered a large area and collected a good haul including a tea pot! Tea rrific! ( see evidence in photos for tea-rrible pun!) The walkers joined us and we warmed up with some aerobics ( No Good by The Prodigy) and then some static core work and lunges. We then headed home and after walking through the woods (very dark!) we split into two groups for the run home to the Pheonix. Hope you can make some of the community missions over the weekend.

Thanks for coming you were Tea rrific!