Thank you for taking part in Solihull's very first fitness session during Covid-19! This week I set the challenge of taking a picture of a local landmark whilst out and about on your runs, walks or bike rides.

Chris shared two pictures with us - one a bin he uses everyday whilst out walking his dog for you know what… (thanks for sharing that Chris!) and the other picture is our favourite incline for when we’re doing hill training during our normal Group runs. Are you missing us that much Chris?!

Andy shared Solihull’s own wood-carved owl sculpture in honour of “eco-warrior” Edith Holden, a famous former resident – it wasn’t so long ago that we were all enjoying this landmark on one of our own Group runs!

Rachel’s first picture is not really a landmark but of her cat helping (or hindering) her yoga session! The others are from a run she did around Solihull while training for a half marathon. It’s great to hear that Rachel has finally gotten tempted by the idea of a half marathon, and what a good way to stay motivated at the moment!

Our challenge also spread beyond Solihull and it was lovely to see some landmarks from further afield! Thanks to Gwyn, Tracey, and Pauline for getting involved!

Tracey who lives on the outskirts of Derby, cycled to the border between Derbyshire and Leicestershire, Cavendish Bridge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_Bridge), so she could take a picture of an unusual local landmark that many people will drive by without seeing, as it's set back from the road.

It's a listing of the old tolls for crossing the river. Unfortunately, they didn't take contactless payment, so she had to turn around and go home! It was a round trip of just over 11k on her folding bike; his name is Little Blue (after this cartoon elephant (http://www.toonhound.com/littleblue.htm).

Gwyn is also one of the Derby runners, but actually lives in North Wales. Her local landmark is Dolbadarn Castle in Llanberis.

Gwyn used to work in the village, and her mother was from there. All Gwyn's family lived in Caernarfon with its famous castle, but her mother always said that Dolbadarn Castle was better because it was a proper Welsh Castle. It's at an impressive location at the bottom of Llanberis pass and was built around the turn of the 12th/13th centuries.

Pauline’s chosen local landmark is the original Runcorn Bridge, first opened in 1961. The bridge is Pauline's gateway to visiting her extended family, in Liverpool, and the way she gets to GoodGym Group Runs, Coach visits and Missions! Pauline loves to walk across the bridge, stopping to enjoy the view and take photographs across the River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal, but mostly, she cycles over to Widnes, and from there, cycle to Liverpool and beyond.

Thanks again for taking part! For this week’s challenge, it’s time to channel your inner David Attenborough and share pictures of any wildlife (or pets) you see whilst out doing your daily exercise!

Tonight we ventured into new territory and a new task, helping Swanswell Medical centre with their vision for a very exciting social enterprise allotment!

We met with Sheldon, one of the GPs from the surgery, who told us all about the allotment that they have just taken ownership of. This new venture will allow the surgery to offer alternative therapies for patients, providing extra health benefits.

The plan is to wait for the clocks to go forward in a few weeks’ time and then the evenings should be light enough for us to get going with the turning and weeding. We got some good inspiration from a nearby plot which is looking ready for the planting season!

We then did our fitness run for the night, with Rachel leading the way as we were in her neck of the woods. She even very thoughtfully included a very nice hill to get our heart rates up and arms pumping.

On our way we were delighted to find Solihull’s own wood-carved owl sculpture in honour of “eco-warrior” Edith Holden, a famous former resident. Thankfully we also had our own resident owl in the group, Raul, so it was only right that we stopped to get a picture!

Next week we hit our one year Solihull GoodGym Birthday! In honour of 52 weeks of tasks, runs and good times, we’ll be going for a social run and having a celebratory meal. Whether you’ve been to many tasks or none, it would be great if you could make it!

Last night we were back hitting our local parks for any rubbish we could find. Thankfully with the slightly lighter nights, we have more chance of spotting the litter!

Chris and Liam led the way, with Andy and Rachel back marking. Chris took us a slightly longer route to our first park to make sure we got the distance in.

Walking from one end of Brueton Park to the other picking all the rubbish we could find, it was soon time to head on our way to the second of the night.

Arriving at Tudor Grange Park, we headed straight to the well-lit cycle track for tonight’s fitness session, which was thirty second sprint efforts with thirty second rest in between.

These short bouts of intense exercise improve muscle health and performance and burn more calories than the same amount of moderate-level cardio exercise. Everyone did an excellent job over the six rounds. A big shout out goes to Rachel, who pushed her self extremely hard on the last round to keep both Liam and Chris behind - well done!

A quick rest was needed before it was time to head back to base, we were all grateful to be heading home to the warmth!

Next week we will be going to an a-maize-img new task - we’re going to have a great thyme (hint hint)! It will be a slightly longer run there and back, so please get in touch if you have any questions or concerns.

See you then Rob

A cold February pancake-day-eve-evening did not put off the five Goodgymers who came down to the Birmingham Central Foodbank tonight to sort food donations!

The evening started with weighing in all the donated food which the team did at super speed, quickly moving onto the task of sorting into the different categories. We quickly realised the difficulties surrounding sorting the more obscure items such as chicken stock and Nesquik (other milkshake powders are available).

Once all sorted into the different food categories, we moved onto the task of dating the items. Andy and Abi discovered the best way to find the expiry date on a bottle of squash whilst Ben and Anthony made sure the items going out of date the soonest were at the front of the shelves.

We finished by putting all the freshly sorted and dated items were put onto the shelves ready for action and had the obligatory group photo. A special mention to Ben tonight who completed their 10th Goodgym deed!

The mission runs again next week for all those who are interested!

For this week’s task, we were out braving the cold and rain, delivering flyers for Breast Cancer Haven in aid of their upcoming event on the 6th March.

Chris, Rachel and Andy told us a little about how they got on at the Community Mission on Sunday. They were helping AgeUK with their collection buckets in Tesco, managing to raise over £200! Tonight was also Chris’ 50th run, so huge congratulations to him!

We split off into two groups of three so we could deliver to both sides of the road at once running in between each house to keep warm. We managed to deliver all 400 of our flyers in no time!

It was then time to head back to base. To up the kilometres, we took a slightly longer route back, which included a few little hills to give us a bit more of a workout. Back at base, we had a quick stretch off and headed on our way home to warm up!

Next week we will be back doing good again, it would be great to see you there.