Despite the noticeable cooler temperature it was lovely to have a massive 19 GoodGymers join me for tonight's run down to Age UK H&F - maybe the lure of the indoor task and post-run birthday cake contributed this?! It was great to welcome along Rebekah and Steph on their first GoodGym H&F group run, to have Anders back with us for the night and to the numerous GoodGym tourists, who I did not bribe to come along....Emily, Helen, Amy and Chi from GoodGym Wandsworth and further afar! What a wonderful bunch of runners I had tonight!

Once everyone was assembled, glow sticked up (thanks to Sarah!) and signed in we left the warmth of the Better Gym Leisure Centre and headed outside to our warm-up spot where we huddled together as we ran through a quick intro and round of the week's news:

1. Adidas City Runs Fulham 10K (18th November) - If you're running the Fulham 10K next month, sign up here. If you'd like to volunteer and earn a 50% discount on the entry price of another Adidas City Run event, sign up here. Email Danny (daniel@goodgym.org) if you have any questions.
2. The big C word......GoodGym London Christmas Party! (1st December). Hosted by GoodGym Southwark. Fancy dress theme - the first letter of your GoodGym area. £4 donation. Lots of killer tunes and dodgy dancing! Sign up here.
3. GoodGym H&F Christmas Party - will be on Monday 10th December. Location TBC.

With the group in a nicely formed circle we did a quick name and number count as we began our circular warm-up to quite literally warm-up and raise our pulse rates. Following some dynamic side-to-sides, lunges and the classic 'shooing of the chickens' hamstring stretch, and most importantly the check that Stravas were set we were ready to set off on our short (ish) 1.4km run down to our good deed for the evening. Jason was fantastic supporting the runners at the back and we made it down in quick time to begin the task at hand! We were met by Aileen one of the lovely volunteer co-ordinators from Age UK H&F who greeted us with a fantastic atmosphere (MTV Hits!) and of course a very warm welcome. She explained to the task for tonight was to help spruce up the Age UK H&F Activity Centre, an amazing place that provides delicious home cooked meals to support those isolated and vulnerable residents of H&F for only £4 a day! Bargain! They also provide computer and technology classes (I reckon they just come to see Johnny!!), health and fitness classes, and a whole host of other great activities (talk to Johnny for more info)! Aileen was incredibly organised and split the team in to two groups.

The first group were challenged with tackling the kitchen, in teams of three the challenge was to wash, rinse and dry the walls and any other surfaces to give the kitchen cooks a sparkling clean kitchen to prepare their meals in. Aileen again was fantastic providing us with sponges, buckets, cloths and all the sugar soap (a big hit with those who love to clean!) that we needed, which allowed the team to get straight down to it. Walls, fridges, cupboards, and even fire blankets were cleaned high and low leaving the kitchen sparkling! It wasn't long before Johnny appeared with two jars of biscuits (who can believe there were any even left?!) to give everyone an energy boost and reward for doing such a grand job!

Whilst operation kitchen was in full swing, the second group were tasked with moving furniture from one room to the other, think cabinets, cupboards and so many folders! Not only was everything moved quickly and efficiently but everything was put back in to it's rightful place and order, very impressive....I reckon it could be the start of a very successful GG removal company! After finishing up a fantastic job, group 1 joined group 2 in the kitchen to help them finish off the cleaning, enjoy a biscuit and pose for a cracking team photo.

Task complete, and another good deed in the bag, we set off on our second run of the evening taking us along the river and down to Furnivall Gardens. And here was where the fitness began... once again I'm sure GG H&F would like to send their utmost regards to Andrew and Chi for their fitness inspiration! First fitness activity of the night was Sally squats, where it was noted Sally likes to go down a lot more than she likes to go up! All be it with some slight technical issues Sally's squat challenge was completed. Then it was down to Mr Abs on tour to round the fitness up with a session set to deliver us a six pack, no problem, although disclaimer, abs may not appear instantly!. Two minutes of abs done, all that was left to do was to head back to base and end the night with a stretch, a pat on the back and a trip to the pub to celebrate the lovely Catriona's birthday! Sadly, Catriona was unable to join us the run as she had become the latest victim of TFL travel and points failure, the anti-GG group run recipe!

Thanks all for coming, here's to a fab week of running! Hopefully see you all again next week. Next week we're off to help out at St Mungo's Reconnection Post, sign up here.