14 amazing runners ran 6 k and helped Franklyn Hospital prepare a wildflower garden for improved well-being. What a fantastic night!

After a day of very heavy hail showers and strong winds, I was worried that no-one would be up for running this evening, but I so should have known better. It takes a lot more than hail to scare away the awesome GoodGymers in Exeter. 14 brave runners turned up! Woop woop! A very warm welcome to Dean, Toni and Alex who joined us for the first time. You did a brilliant job running and doing good with us. We hope to have you along soon again!

We started the evening with a dynamic warm-up session. Not only did we let our chickens out, we also got to do a great egg and spoon race. What more do you need to get into the GG vibe?

With the spirits high we then set off running towards our task location. We stopped to re-group at regular intervals and had lots of fun doing squats, lunges, press-ups and press-ups. Big thank you to Sarah who back marked so that no-one got left behind.

The run took us up and down some of Exeter's steepest hills. We do love hills, don't we? Everyone, new runners as well as experienced GoodGymers, gave it all they had and we totally battered those hills!

When we arrived to our task location, Franklyn Hospital, we were welcomed by Carrie and her lovely colleagues. They walked us around to the back of the hospital and showed us an amazing little orchard where we were to dig up a big area, preparing it for wildflowers to be planted. The wildflower garden will be enjoyed by patients who suffers from dementia.

Wildflowers for Wellbeing- What a brilliant idea!

We had the best of times working at the task this evening and I am not just saying that, we really did! The area that we dug up was on a slope and marked out with little white sticks so that we could see it clearly in the darkness and there were also some very sweet candles dotted around in the garden. It took us a little while to get the right technique digging up the turf, but by the end of it we nailed it and there were some pretty amazing looking rolls of turf- like giant slices of mud-swiss-roll!

It's certainly not every night you get to go out digging in candle light!

Not only did we manage to dig up the whole area that had been marked out for the wildflower garden, we also managed to transport all the turf 30 meters away to a big compost heap in wheel barrows! Wow, we certainly got fit whilst doing good!

When the task was complete and we had managed to wipe the worst mud off our trainers we were treated to a very yummy buffet with drinks, sweets, cakes, flap-jacks and more. We were also given little Thank You cards made by the patients at the hospital and tulip bulbs to take with us home. Thank you everyone at Franklyn Hospital for treating us to all this!

Egg and spoon race, wheel barrow race, party food, goodie-bags and a good deed! Does it get any better than that?!

Refueled and warmed up by having carried out a good deed, we set off running again and made it back to the Phoenix ALMOST before we were hit by a pretty impressive hail shower. But, to be honest, I don't think anyone cared one bit about the hail... We were all on a bit of a high after having achieved so much together at the task, having tackled those hills and all the fitness challenges along the run, and felt far too happy together to let the hail bring us down!

Back at the Phoenix we stretched out and talked about what is happening next:

• On Sunday we have a great community mission, helping Ludwell Life with some gardening and conservation tasks in Ludwell Valley. Come and join us!

• Next week we will run 6 k and help delivering the Whipton and Beacon Heath community magazine. You will get super fit and do something super good at the same time! Don’t miss out! Sign up here!

Can't wait to see you all soon again! You are totally awesome every single one of you! You all make our GG group just as brilliant as it is, a community where everyone is welcome and where we tackle everything TOGETHER!