With train strikes on, Sam left work slightly early to ensure he could welcome in everyone. Newbie, Jitka, arrived before anyone else and had a chat about GoodGym with Sam. Steadily, Nathan and Maria arrived as Jitka clocked that we were going to run 3k tonight. Since she's a hiker, it was decided that she would need to leave slightly earlier than us to make it to Thorlands in time. Sam gave her the directions and off she went as Isaac, Daryl and Gemma just came in at 18:45 on the dot!

After Sam's quick speech, they agreed as a team to skip the warm up as a few people had run over and were still "warm".

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Radio silence

Off we went through the backstreets of Peckham as Sam lead the way for the beginning part before we went off the team took lead and Sam dropped back to run with Maria. We ran up Grove Hill and down towards Denmark Hill station and King's. Thorlands Gardens is tucked away at the back on Denmark Road.

Surprisingly, newbie Jitka with a seven to ten minute ahead start made it to Thorlands first and she met Andy, Lindy, Mikhail and Sander there. Unfortunately, there was no Simon. Sam thought he might be late (though, he is usually not as he likes to prepare the tools), so he proceeded to ask the ice-breaker question:

What is the best Christmas market you have been to? or What is your Christmas tipple of choice?

There was two votes for Edinburgh for the Christmas market, but we got mentions from Manchester and Winchester in the UK whereas Brussels, Munich, Prague and Tallinn got a mention in for Europe. For a Christmas tipple, people love bubbly, but also beer, Baileys, (not a) hot toddy and whatever is going/on the table at 10AM...

By the time we made the rounds and Sam calling Simon multiple times plus leaving a few messages, he decided to call it as it was getting cold for those who had run over. Yet, not before the one and only group photo from the night. Job done for Mikhail!

It was a shame not to have the activity as we had prepared everything on Saturday to get stuck in for tonight, but these things happen. Those who met the team at Thorlands filtered off whilst those who ran from Old Spike ran back arriving before 20:00 to hit the pub.

Note: Simon messaged back to say a massive sorry as he had overslept after not feeling great earlier in the day.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! It didn't go to plan, but there's always a first for everything and Simon does send his apologies! We still got in a 6k run in and managed to catch up on our week and find out all about our favourite Christmas markets.

Catherine, Maria, Paulin and Sam met up at Bababoom Kebab restaurant in Stratford at 11:00 before putting on their Stravas and setting off at 11:10. They started just outside of Westfield to head towards Bababoom Kebab in Battersea. With Nathan running 30 minutes late, we had a head start on him (he is speedy, so it was a good challenge 😉).

It was hard navigating to get out of Stratford and onto the canal path, but once we did, it was plain sailing.

Across East London we went next to Victoria Park before heading towards Bethnal Green ans Whitechapel. It started getting busier as we crossed London Bridge and headed down to Borough, but it was quiet again from Imperial War Museum until Vauxhall bus station. We waited here for Nathan as he was only a few minutes behind us.

The final 4.5k we did together arriving at Bababoom Kebab in Battersea just under 2 hours after setting off.

We all appreciated the tasty kebabs we had after promoting them on social 😉

Join us on the next one in 2024! 🏃‍♀️🥙🏃

Old Spike Roastery was a welcomed sight for everyone on this cold night. Sam welcomed in Daryl, Gemma, Isaac, Lindy, Maria, Nelly (who reach her target tonight, hooray!), and Tim. We even had Andy come back for his second group run in a row and Alex came back too! But more importantly, we celebrated Emma's major milestone of reaching 100 good deeds! She earnt her wings!

Sam did his customary GG intro speech and highlighted that we are close to the end of the year. Noticing that it was a cold night, Sam did a more active warm-up to ensure everyone's core was warm. After the warm-up, everyone gave their answer to tonight's ice-breaker question.

Since it was French Toast Day on Tuesday, Sam's ice-breaker question for tonight was: What is your favourite topping on a French Toast?

A few people couldn't remember the last time they had a French toast, whilst the majority had a sweet tooth with sugar, lemon, cinnamon, maple syrup, fruit compote, bananas and berries. Some went for cheeses and hams...

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A petition to bring back gooseberries...

Off we went through the backstreets of Peckham as Sam lead the way whilst Daryl backmarked as we ran up Grove Hill and down towards Camberwell and eventually to the back roads where Salvation Army Camberwell Corps is. Valentina let us in as Alex, Mikhail and Olive had just arrived to met us there at the task. Then Phil arrived slightly afterwards.

Like we have done many times before, we were here to clean and disinfect the children's and baby toys that is used at this nursery as many kids use them daily and germs do spread, especially during the winter months. Yet, tonight, Valentina wanted us to clean the blue mats on both sides and loads of chairs too. Since we were a big group, we managed to clean, dry and put back all the toys and equipment within the 45 minutes that we were there. To lift the spirits and keep the mood festive, Sam put on his Spotify Christmas playlist (but no Coldplay please...).

By the end of the session, Sam asked those who hadn't answered the ice-breaker question to give their answer. Everyone seems to have a sweet tooth, but we got into the topic of bringing back gooseberries as they are very much an underrated berry. We will look out for Isaac's petition soon.

After our group photo, we said our goodbyes and ran a more pace-y pace to get back to Old Spike for a lovely stretch before a few of us decided to go to The Gowlett Arms for a pint.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! Firstly, we welcomed back Alex and Andy. I feel it's harder the second time as you know what to expect - hahaha! It ended up being a 3k run each way, so I don't know where I got 3.5k each way.... The task was done in an efficient matter, so thank you for arranging yourselves in small teams. Finally, thank you to Daryl for backmarking the run and to Mikhail for taking the photos!

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Thank You to Valentina

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Valentina for preparing all the tools for the task in advance! We will be back in the new year (on Valentine's Day) to paint the hallway walls!