.Well that was a hot one! Brighton was absolutely sweltering tonight as 14 Goodgym runners braved/ enjoyed the heat and got out there to get fit and do some good.

We welcomed Jen & Luke for their first group run and it was great to see the return of Rose who we haven’t seen for a while due to her being off training for an incredible feat of endurance swimming and running around the Scilly Isles.

Our task was just a stone’s throw away so we were there in no time at all. Dorset Mews is a housing association run block with a small community garden which has been improved over the years, single handedly by resident Lee. It’s now attracting lots of wildlife but the dreaded bindweed is creeping in and Lee needed Goodgym to give him a hand keeping it in check.

Of course Goodgym Brighton are well experienced in the removal of bindweed, having attended previous tasks where we’ve been pulling it out by the armful. But tonight presented a more delicate challenge as we untangled the bothersome stuff from some smaller plants. We still ended up with a big bagful of the stuff and saved Lee a few hours work. We also had a good sweep up, gave the garden a good water and shovelled some earth into a bag.

Task complete we hit the seafront for our 1km time trial to celebrate the Goodgym Olympics which are taking place this weekend. This is a great way for everybody to take part, even if you can’t attend on Saturday. Simply run a kilometre as fast as you can, upload it to Strava and tag with #GGOlympic2018. More details here. There were some great times recorded tonight, some well under 4 minutes, I had to run faster than I wanted to make sure I got to the finish first to give you your times, even with a big head start, and I only just made it! Phew!!

As it was such a beautiful evening the playground where I’d planned to do our fitness session was still full of kids but as luck would have it, there was a brand new fake lawn area as part of the Sea Lanes development that suited us perfectly! It was all about the pair work tonight with a variety of exercises to do in synch with your partner. Thanks to Sherman for the pics of this part. I was too busy sharing your joy/pain to take any!

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