7 days without a pun makes one weak

Christmas day minus 14 and it was fantastic turnout this evening with 12 GoodGymers representing the 12 days of Christmas perfectly.

We warmly welcomed back Natalia and Andi The big decision is are you ready to be added to the GG whats app group yet ? If so email me your mobile number and be prepared to find the mute button!

Welcome also to Sue who literally bounced in after 3 PB.s last week ! This is particularly notable after her amazing and inspirational return from her knee reconstruction after her riding accident in 2017.

Sporting fantastic head attire Gill together with Anne and Barbara who had all grafted some impressive head gear but having lost his hat at works night out Jay arrived in a borrowed Santa hat . Oh woe him!

However in comparison to loosing your hat loosing your trousers maybe considered a whole lot worseLucy arrived minus her running leggings but cue Duncan who donated his leggings to Lucy in favour of his jeans despite Paul gallantly offering up his shorts to Lucy and only too willing to drop his shorts and run in his underwear to rescue 'Tracey' our damsel in distress !

Such is the chivalry of GG Worthing and the total whacky and craziness that every Monday presents !

With back, middle , front runners all sorted and designated driver Belinda opting for 4 wheels tonight after completing her longest run ever earlier in the day ( Massive kudos B! ) the remainder of the group headed off for the steady 3k warm up run to our task tonight at Stepping Stones homeless hostel.

Ya butter back off pal because there ain't no oil , salt ,pepper , dishes ......or anything you need to cook a meal tonight

So with challenging conditions the group dug deep and cracked on with the task. With extremely limited tools and equipment I'm not entirely sure how this task was completed but with some pure determination and impressive improvising tactics somehow we conquered 2 large meat shepherds pies together with one vegetarian option and a huge bowl of fresh cabbage.

Bit of a Mash up

With Jay juggling GG with his Christmas movie and neighbours evening he was first to peel off together with Belinda ,Gill and Barbara on light duties taking the 4 wheeled option back to base. Duncan on his Forest Gump walking challenge heading back to East Preston.

Eager runners Paul , Andi, Sue and Lucy headed off for some lampost sprints along the seafront leaving Natalia , Anne and I to finish off an epic cheesy mash and cooking task before the run home.

Are you ready to pate?

Looking forward to our GG Worthing get together tonight ! See you around 7.30pm at The Libertine or at Wood Burger Kitchen at 8:30pm. Its going to be so amazing !!

Next week its our final task before Christmas at Byron Road homeless hostel. Depending on numbers ( and the weather)we may split into 2 groups with one planting bulbs in our seafront flower bed. Watch this space or whats app for more info.

Have a great week

Julia :)

Team Cuisine

What an evening this proved to be. With an earlier meeting time and venue it was really impressive that everyone turned up at the right time at the correct place. We warmly welcomed newbie Natalia together with Emily who returned again this week together with second timer Andi. With a great turn out this evening there was also Belinda, Lucy , Steve, Ros, Sue, Tamsin, Duncan,Gill and Jay.

This evening was our first out of 3 cooking tasks for the homeless before Christmas and had such a great fun,buzzing atmosphere from start to finish. We were at the Recovery Project which is an incredibly homely feeling hostel for recovering addicts and designed to encurage independent living again.

We all piled into the kitchen and were given our ingredients for making 2 spaghetti bolognese's , one meat and one quorn.

Wok this way

Without any hesitation the team immediately set about dividing into smaller groups to get the task done. We were blessed with a great turn out this evening meaning the team could rotate and have some social catch up time too. Belinda and Jay did a great job with the photos. Jay especially seemed to have fun adding an extra touch to his photo moments !

Vegetables chopped , beef and quorn fried, water on, spaghetti prepped, herbs chopped, garlic bread in the oven and in just over 30 minutes we had 2 pans of delicious looking ( and tasting) spaghetti bolognese on the table including garlic bread ready for the residents to enjoy.

Sprints of darkness

After leaving the hostel we said a goodbye to an injured Duncan and also Gill who returned to her very own painting task and headed down to the seafront for a fitness based warm up.

This comprised of sideways rotational runs, inchworms and a few burpees thrown in for old times sake. Following this we took a steady run to, and for some of the group, around the pier too before embarking on the return of our sprint training after a month of burpee based fitness.

This evening we did 6 x 20 min maximum effort sprints followed by a mini circuit of step ups , press ups and planks. After some good natured huffing and puffing the fitness was finished and we took another steady run back through the precinct stopping for a stunning photo in one the Worthing Christmas illuminations.

Home Stretch

Back at the start we took a nice long stretch and briefly discussed plans for next week before congratulating our first timer Natalia and 2nd timers Andi and Emily for coming along and joining in and putting up with the GG banter so sportingly.

Also massive shout out to my regular team who never fail to put a huge smile on my face every week. I'm looking forward to next Monday already !

Have a great week

Julia x