8 GoodGymers ran 5km to help Scope Charity Shop on Camden High Street!

Welcome along to GoodGymxFacebook Run - it was the first time for Andy and Jordan, great to have you join us. We collected together at the Reception of the Facebook Offices with the mission to do some good for our community and get a bit fitter.

We headed via the back streets to reach Camden High Street, aiming to avoid the traffic and enjoy the evening's run. Upon reaching the Scope Charity Shop we were ready to help this fantastic charity which aims for all disabled people across society to enjoy equality and fairness at home, school, work and in our communities.

GOOD Spraying!

Our contact Jane told us that the tasks for the evening were all about cleaning and tidying up. The charity shop is almost exclusively run by volunteers so any help we can give makes a massive difference. Armed with sprays and paper towels we got to work cleaning the windows, surfaces, skirting-boards, mirrors, shelves and display boxes. Plus Jordan did a great job of mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors, while Jake hoovered the shop and Andy swept the stairs - nice!

After 25 minutes we were done, Jane was really happy for our help and we left knowing we'd made a big impact in our community. I know the original plan was for us to sort donations at the shop, it's a shame this didn't happen this time around but I'm glad we could still help out.

Next we ran to Regents Park Inner Circle where we did some drills, including:

• High Knee Skip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBLf1KsmOJI
• Bounds/High Skip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMdz8pK5ByY
• B Skip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB8qd-_RehQ&t=10s

These drills are all focused on improving our technique - posture, arm drive, ground contact and higher knees. This was all building up to our 1km time trial around the inner circle - everyone pushed hard and did amazingly!

We then headed back to base for a group picture and a good old stretch.

See you next month for more GoodGym.

PB out.

8 Goodgymers ran 5km to help Cecil Sharp House

Thanks for coming along to the GGxFacebook Group Run. Welcome to the newbies!

So a bit about GoodGym, Ivo Gormley founded this wonderful charity nearly nine years ago for people to do good and get fit! Our mission is to help our communities with physical tasks and reduce loneliness through projects with older persons. There are three ways of doing good with us:

1. Group Run - First way is a group run, which you went on last night. As a group we meet in 45 areas around the UK on a weekly basis, we run to local charity do something physical for 30 minutes and run back.
2. Missions - these are one off and happen with 2-4 people, the idea is to help older persons in their home with something like setting up a hospital bed, moving furniture or gardening.
3. Coach Running - this is where you go visit an old isolated person once a week to have a chat and keep them company.

After a quick intro we warmed up and were rearing to go. We headed go Cecil Sharp House via Regents Park, still having the opportunity to run in the light at 5pm through the Royal Park. On the 2.5km run out the lead group stopped twice to do squats and shuttle runs - nice!

We arrived at Cecil Sharp House and met Mimi, she told us about the Home of English Folk Song and Dance, a charity that provides educational programmes and activities to the community. It also hosts weddings and events to keep the charity growing, making the permaculture garden vital to the space.

Armed with an array of tools we headed to the lawn to do some good! The target was yet again leaves, it is Autumn so they are everywhere! We raked the lawn with Katherine's special technique, brushed between the pavement cracks with the best tool in Camden and we collected up leaves on the stairs and pavement surrounding the lawn.

Over 30 minutes we collected together 10 bags of leaves that we will be used to make mulch/compost that will in turn feed the garden.

After a group picture we headed to Regents Park Inner Circle for an out and back challenge, and a 1km time trial -nice!

Well done to Julia who ran the furthest she's ever ran - 5km!

Thanks for coming guys and see you soon.

PB out