Our Nurjehan took on the task of finishing the last few of the posters we had leftover from our group run last week.

She did so with aplomb and grace on Sunday - even if she didn't wear her GG t-shirt while doing it.

6 rugged Goodgymmers, battles with the waves of North London as they ran to lend a hand to the wonderful LIteracy Pirates in Tottenham.

Kudos Corner

We are led to believe our very own Nurjehan turned a year older when in truth it looks like she's not aged a day over 21. All the same, a very happy birthday to our Haringey rock star! <3

Guts and Glory

When we were one, we ran around,

The day we went to sea.

We climbed aboard a pirate ship

And good ol' Gramps said to me:

‘We’re going this way, that way,

Forwards backwards,

Over the valley of the River Lea.

Some orange pop to fizz my tum

A Pirates’ life for me’.

-

When we were two, Lordship Lane came into view,

The day we went to sea.

We climbed aboard a pirate ship

And good ol' Gramps said to me:

‘We’re going this way, that way,

Forwards backwards,

Over the valley of the River Lea.

A velvety cake to fill my tum

A Pirate’s life for me’.

-

When we were three, we leafleted free,

The day we went to sea.

We climbed aboard a pirate ship

And good ol' Gramps said to me:

‘We’re going this way, that way,

Forwards backwards,

Over the valley of the River Lea.

Avoid the dead fox, with an empty tum

A Pirate’s life for me’.

-

When we were four, we put up posters galore,

The day we went to sea.

We climbed aboard a pirate ship

And good ol' Gramps said to me:

‘We’re going this way, that way,

Forwards backwards,

Over the valley of the River Lea.

Nurjehan bumped into an old chum,

A Pirate’s life for me’.

-

When we were five, ain't no time for no jive,

The day we went to sea.

We climbed aboard a pirate ship

And good ol' Gramps said to me:

‘We’re going this way, that way,

Forwards backwards,

Over the valley of River Lea.

Birthday shanties we sung,

A Pirate’s life for me’.

-

When we were six, it's time for pics,

The day we went to sea.

We climbed aboard a pirate ship

And good ol' Gramps said to me:

‘We’re going this way, that way,

Forwards backwards,

Over the valley of the River Lea.

A selfie here, no one look glum,

A Pirate’s life for me’.

-

When we were seven, erm... what rhymes with seven,

The day we went to sea.

We climbed aboard a pirate ship

And good ol' Gramps said to me:

‘We’re going this way, that way,

Forwards backwards,

Over the valley of the River Lea.

Heaven or Devon, that rhymes with seven,

A Pirate’s life for me’.

-

When we were eight, it was getting late

The day we went to sea.

We climbed aboard a pirate ship

And good ol' Gramps said to me:

‘We’re going this way, that way,

Forwards backwards,

Over the valley of the River Lea.

Time to plan the weekend's parkrun,

A Pirate’s life for me’.

-

When we were nine, Gramps wants some wine,

The day we went to sea.

We climbed aboard a pirate ship

And good ol' Gramps said to me:

‘We’re going this way, that way,

Forwards backwards,

Over the valley of the River Lea.

We're done here now, time for home,

A Pirate’s life for me’.

-

When we were ten, we'll do it again,

The day we went to sea.

We climbed aboard a pirate ship

And good ol' Gramps said to me:

‘We’re going this way, that way,

Forwards backwards,

Over the valley of the River Lea.

Joined us next week for loads more fun

A Pirate’s life for me’.

---

We have a lovely Saturday Community Mission in Wood Green, and then we'll be visiting Traid on Wednesday for some fashionable shenanigans. Join us :)

This week 9 fierce pirates ran 4.5km to walk the plank at the pirate ship - i mean, shift the plank...

We were carrying old bits of wood down the stairs and to the skips outside, saving Phoenix and co a whole day's work!

We were joined by GG newbie Lindy - go give her a cheer!

The crew assembled at our Tottenham Green based to receive instructions of the mission ahead, before a quick warm up.

It was soon time to head off, so Sarah was our trusty back marker, and Dave helped me lead the way as he knew a much nicer scenic route around the back.

Phoenix greeted my crew at the pirate ship and quickly put us to work carrying the pre-packed bags of wood and the longer planks down the stairs.

Within 20 minutes we had completed our task, with the crew making quite a lot of trips up and down along the way.

Time for a photoshoot with our bounty - the treasure chest of dreams.

Phoenix then told us about how easy it is to volunteer for the Haringey Pirates and that you'd only need to do one shift a month (for a year).

Anyone who likes reading with kids should take a look at their website.

We then ran back to base for some swimming pilates, lead by Niamh, and a game of knee tag before stretching.

See you all next week!

(Apologies for the technical difficulties. More photos coming soon!)

Three brave sailors returned once more to the Haringey Pirates to finish turning their sky blue.

As the dawn rolled over the waves of Haringey, the fleet set sail from Pymmes port, followed few minutes later by Dave's ship. We battled through the snow, and soon found ourselves at HMS 639 Enterprise Centre.

We swabbed the ceiling once more, and soon had the place looking ship shaped!

This week 12 wonderful GG-ers ran 5km in the freezing cold to paint a pirate ship for local kids improving their literacy skills!

The team braved the frosty evening, guarding each other along the way from the odd ice patch on route.

Dave and Cathy helped out by leading the way and back marking the group, allowing me to scoot amongst the pack and talk to more people.

We climbed a few flights of stairs to get to Haringey Pirates, at the top, and met Jude. We crawled aboard and were given our orders: paint the ceiling, which ended up sort of looking like the sea above our magic ship, flip-turned upside down.

As always, the team got LOADS done in barely any time at all.

Everybody loved the ship so much though that it took 10 minutes to make it back to land, which meant the fitness sesh would have to be on route

We ran through a few running drills along the way, with a good mix of pace, and a 200m sprint finish back to base

We then finished up with stretches and high fives, before a small group went off for a community mission to prepare the flyers for Haringey Has Pride that we will be delivering to local houses on an upcoming group run!

Eleven amazing runners kick started 2019 in Haringey as we helped Haringey Pirates with some painting and varnishing and polished of 4km of running too!

Pennie was sadly off sick but it meant a chance for me to see you wonderful Haringey folk again! As well as our regulars I was delighted to say 'hello and welcome' to Geraldine, Mel and Rebecca who joined GoodGym for the first time!

After an introduction to GoodGym and the three ways one can do good - group runs, missions and coach runs - followed by news of this years January challenge we headed outside for a quick warm up and then headed off to our task!

Tonight we were helping Hackney Pirates with their new venture in Haringey. This group helps children to improve their reading age with one to one interventions. Our task tonight was to help varnish a floor and do some painting as they get ready to open next Monday.

Dave led the way and Sarah made sure that noone was left behind and we made the journey of just over a mile to the Enterprise Centre on the High Road. There we met Jude who outlined the work and split the group to be either focussing on varnishing the floor or finishing off some painting jobs!

After about 40 mins of hard work we were pretty much done, an excellent effort by everyone to get a massive amount done. We had left one plank unvarnished to give us a way to walk out and after some wonderful group phots we duly walked the plank out of the room!

Once we had gathered together, we left and ran back to base. Thanks again to Dave for leading. A quick stretch at the end of the night and we then said our goodbyes and headed home.

Top evening.

Cheers, Pritesh