That’s right, our leader, our captain, the sultan, the grand pupa Steven Hitch abandoned us to go sun himself – and on our 50th run too! Thankfully the gracious and glorious Paul Evans stood in for Steve. Paul Evans, winner of the 1991 Lisbon Half Marathon, the 1996 Chicago Marathon and 10k finalist in the 1992 Olympics – we’re looking into making this swap slightly more permanent

Our intrepid runners gathered excitedly on the steps of The Forum. Eagerly awaiting Paul’s arrival. What would he be like? Would he bring his medals? Could he run on water? And how were we going to work his AND Steve’s name into a pun worthy of a Goodgym run report title?! (We smashed the last one, thanks Hayley and Liz)

Paul soon arrived and settled everyone into a warm up. After some stretches with an Olympian, a half-cut punk and 32 Goodgym runners we were ready to call this a weird joke and go home. Instead Paul handed off the responsibility of leading the run to Sarah and Calum, very sneaky Mr Olympian. There was immediate concern. Calum has often led Goodgymers astray in past runs – and not even in a humorous way, in a “Where is Calum and his 5 runners?” way. Still we all had faith in Paul’s decision, and no-one else wanted to set the pace for the night.

After multiple ‘almost wrong turns’, a dozen ‘not that way Calum’s’ and a few ‘Grab him before he runs to Ipswich’ the runners arrived at the base of Gas Hill. Now, the runners have faced this specific challenge many a time in the past. They were familiar with the deceptively devilish slope. But in their prolonged absence from the eye-watering incline of Gas Hill this once surmountable task had developed into nothing less than a behemoth. It was a colossus of gradients, the master of calf bursting, one hell of a mole hill. They set off.

ALL MADE THE PEAK!! They celebrated with high fives and “whooping”. Some whispered they heard Paul even say “That’s quite the hill” but that’s just rumour and hearsay. Soon our sweaty travellers arrived at their set task. De-weeding Marion Road Day Centre’s garden. Ploughing into the challenge our runners pulled, tugged and trimmed to their hearts content.

The task wasn’t without its mishaps. One young man was sitting, enwrapped in his task. He and his gardening fork are united in uprooting the befouling weeds before them. The rise and fall of his tool is rhythmic. Sweat and focus cover his face. Until, tragedy. The Fork has broken. The middle tooth lost in the wilderness of the garden. Oh for fork-sake. Despite this set back the team make the garden beautiful. And by a happy accident they end up collecting an extra runner from somewhere.* Wonder of wonders they’ve hit 33 and broken their record for highest attendance in Goodgym Norwich history!

The task completed, and Day centre staff elated, our runners head back to The Forum. A sprint session finished off the night’s 3.5km run. Some say a more punctual run has never been had. Others, that Sarah and Calum’s leadership was simultaneously inspirational and uplifting. Still all you need know is everyone arrived back safely. Stretched. Thanked Paul for his kind service to the cause and then ate some brownies supplied by Jasmine. Alas! Here our tale does end. Before I leave you to wait another week to hear of our next exciting exploits I shall leave you with this. You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes, you can run your life in any direction you choose. Until next time folks!

(*Actually it was Emily who joined us at the task!)