HERE'S THE LOWDOWN ON LAST NIGHT'S TASK

Kudos

It was great to see so many of you with us again this week. Huge kudos to everyone for coming out and giving up your evening to do good in your community. You really are awesome and each week, you make me so proud (hope that doesn’t sound patronising, but you really do!). Well done to everyone who is clocking up amazing mileage with their marathon training. You’re totally killing it!! And to those of you who are getting moving – whether you’re walking, cycling, swimming, or pole fitting – you’re keeping fit and active, hat’s off!!

Thank You

Huge thanks to Phil for acting as back marker this evening and ensuring that nobody was left behind. And as our latest TaskForce recruit, Amanda oversaw the walking group (even though she may not have been aware she was overseeing it – note to self for future reference! ;-)). You’re both stars!! Thank you to Kate at Motherwell for having us this evening and giving us a nice warm indoor task!!

Tonight’s Task

We were graced with another dry evening and a lovely clear sky. Perfect running weather. We kicked off our evening with biscuits – as always – followed by our warm-up. Tonight we warmed up by doing various sports. We tried our hand at boxing, swimming, running (obvs), canoeing, skipping and fencing. Poor Jordan took some ribbing from his lovely sister Sasha about his fencing technique (lunges). I didn’t think you looked THAT bad Jordan!! ;-))

Our red army set off along the streets of Crewe once again, having to take particular care around lots of tree roots this week – pesky things!! There were no broken-down cars to rescue this week though, so we just headed merrily on our way, chatting as we went. We had a large walking group this evening who had set off before us and were waiting for us on our arrival – possibly feeling quite smug that they’d beaten us ;-))

Our task this evening was to help sort leaflets into bundles. Motherwell is a local charity that offers support, counselling, therapy groups and well being days for women. They needed some help sorting leaflets into bundles to go out to local schools to promote their forthcoming women’s days. There were 20 of us and it took us 45 minutes. Imagine how long it would have taken for just two people do the same task?! It was a lovely night – we were in cosy, warm surroundings (there was even a bit of background music!) and even though there was lots of counting and concentrating, there was also a lot of laughter – especially when Sasha exposed a minor mix up with the leaflets and we had to go through them all again. We’re not entirely sure what happened but I will take one for the team! You can blame me!! ;0)

We put all the bundled leaflets into a very grateful Kate’s car and headed back to base. We took a slightly different route home which took us via clutch bite hill (renowned driving test route for the dreaded hill start!). Everyone flew up it with no trouble at all.

It was another fantastic night with the GoodGym Crewe Gang. I always come home on a high. Roll on next week. Can’t wait to see you all then!!

Stay safe, Lots of Love, Nicola xxxx

PS – Pam and Barry are off to Spain shortly so won’t be with us for a while from mid-March. Thought I’d just let you know in case you weren’t already aware….. ;-)))))

Welcome

It was fab to see Emily back for her second run and truly getting stuck into the nitty gritty of the task. Great running too Emily. Hope to see you back again for another task soon. Great to see Pam back with us again after a few weeks off following doctors orders ;-)

Kudos

Wow, it was great to see so many of you at tonight’s task. Huge kudos to you all for coming out in force to get stuck in to a really physical task!!!

Thank You

Huge thanks to Amanda for becoming the 6th member of the Taskforce. Thanks so much Amanda! Big thanks to everyone to helped out with tools - we’d have been stuck without them. And thank you to Shavington Primary School for having us this evening.

Tonight’s Task

Tonight was a pretty big night for GoodGym Crewe. The task was a big one and the run was our longest to date! Would we be able to pull it off?.........

We started the evening with a little bit of sugar to prepare us for our extra long run (the fruit jellies seemed to go down well). Needs must!!

The sky was crystal clear tonight as we headed out to warm up. Not a drop of rain or a breath of wind to be seen or felt. Perfect running conditions. We didn’t get up to our usual shenanigans this week as time was of the essence, but we did some high knees, star jumps and a gentle jog to get our heart rates up.

Our route tonight took us further out than we’d ever been - passing a couple of Crewe’s ‘landmarks’ (if that’s the right description – probably not!) en route..... Crewe Alexander Football Ground and Mornflake Oats (mmm, the smell that comes from that factory is amazing!). Everyone did fabulously with our longest run so far and it was lovely to hear the chatter on the way. As we were running, we saw a man who's car had broken down and needed a push. Our lovely runners instinctively stepped right in and helped him out without being asked. He was really grateful.

We arrived at the task to a very grateful Deputy Head Teacher. We set up our lights (genius little things that they are!!!) and set to work clearing 4 large overgrown plots that were full of marestail (a very very stubborn weed!) and lifting and carrying the sleepers across the playground to the skip. With 20 willing volunteers and the flexing of some strong muscles, we managed to clear all the sleepers (at least 16 but I think possibly more). Some of them were super super heavy and took at least 4 of our runners to carry and lift into the skip. It was a real team effort, with everyone pulling their weight. In 50 minutes, we’d cleared all the sleepers and removed a substantial amount of the marestail. It really was a job well done and the school were delighted and extremely grateful for our efforts. Oh, and if there was a prize for the dirtiest runner, I think it definitely would go to Alex (see pics!). Hope you've got plenty of Daz in!!!

We headed back to base at a slightly slower pace than our outward journey – but hardly any wonder after such a physical task! When we arrived back, we headed over to our local and enjoyed a nice drink and some more banter and laughs for our month end social.

A fabulous night all round and one thing’s for sure – we totally pulled it off!!! Shavington Primary School is now 'Sleeper-less!'. Well done everyone!!!! Absolute legends (as always!). I expect you’ll all sleep well tonight!!

I always have the BEST time when I’m with all of you and tonight, was no exception. I hope to see you all next week! Have a fab weekend everyone!

Stay safe, Lots of Love, Nicola xxxx

Welcome

A massive welcome to Sam who joined us for her first GoodGym experience tonight! We hope you had a great night Sam and enjoyed the craziness that is GoodGym Crewe! Hope to see you back again soon.

Kudos

Great to see Michelle back for her second task, even though her new hairdo completely threw me and I re-introduced myself like a total numpty!! (sorry Michelle!!). Great to have Barry, Louise and Phil back with us after a bit of a break (no pun intended Barry!!!). We’ve missed you!

Thank You

Huge kudos to Sophie for becoming the 4th member of the Taskforce and for taking on the role of walk leader along with Maurice to lead tonight’s walking group. Thank you Sophie and Maurice. Big thanks to Karl who took on the role of back-marker this evening, ensuring nobody was left behind. A massive thank you to Cheryl & Rob at St. Pauls for taking 22 runners into the foodbank this evening and allowing us the responsibility of sorting and organising your shelves!

Tonight’s Task

This week is Valentines, so naturally, we had to have a Valentines Theme! It started with the pre-run refreshments (or should I say pre-run nutrition…….erm) – jammy dodgems and love hearts (very healthy) with a few chocolate fingers thrown in for good measure (and to cater for us chocoholics!!).

Our warmup was meet and greet (basically, you have two teams. One person from each team sets off and runs in a big circle until they meet the person from the other team, they high-five each other and return to swap with the next person). I think it’s fair to say that we’ve all become good friends since GoodGym launched in October so I couldn’t understand their reluctance when I suggested they kiss their partner as they swapped over (well, it is Valentines after all!) ;-0)))) LOL! In the end, we settled for shouting out the name of a song with the word ‘LOVE’ in the title instead – they seemed happier with this – no idea why! ;-0)

Once suitably warmed up we set off into the (once again) dry night (so lucky). We had a large walking group this evening (7 in total which is fantastic!) with the rest of us running. The runners took a slightly longer route to the foodbank, heading up through the town centre. I always love to see the sea of red t-shirts as they weave their way along the pavement – we never fail to get a reaction from passers-by (even though people do sometimes look a bit like a rabbit in headlights when they see us all coming!!). I always love to see the reactions!

We were greeted with a wonderful welcome from the lovely Cheryl and Rob at the foodbank. They showed us all the food that had been generously donated by the people of Crewe and needed to be sorted (481kg in total!!!). We set to work like a team of worker ants – sorting, stacking, carrying and organising tins, packets, jars and boxes until they were on the shelves where they needed to be. As there were 22 pairs of hands tonight, we had spare capacity to sort some of the bric-a-brac that had also been donated to the church. We had great fun trying to inflate an airbed, adorning ourselves with large diamond rings and making conversation with pottery ducks – as you do! We even had time for a brew and a biscuit that had been kindly laid on by Cheryl and Rob. Michelle and Karen were chief brew pourers as I can’t be trusted apparently (can I Karl? ;-0)))

Once our work was complete, we set off back to base via the infamous ‘Rocky Steps’ (well Crewe’s version at least!) for a short workout. We were ‘encouraged’ in our exercise session by some local youths. Everyone took their encouragement in good humour as we did our one-legged squats, plie squats and a couple of circuits around the perimeter of the steps. We made sure that our ‘supporters’ knew who we were and what we were doing, so who knows… maybe they’ll look us up when they’re old enough…

Another amazing turnout tonight and such a huge credit to each of you for being genuinely wonderful human beings, who come out on cold nights week in week out to put something back into your community. Not only is it truly inspiring but it restores my faith in people and our society. There’s a lot of good in our local community and it’s a huge privilege to be a small part of it. Thank you for making my Wednesday evenings so wonderful and for making Crewe a better place to live.

Hope to see you all next week! Have a fab weekend everyone!

Stay safe, Lots of Love, Nicola xxxx

Welcome A huge welcome to our newest GoodGym recruit, the lovely Michelle who joined us for her first-time last night. We hope you had a great night and will join us again next week for some more GoodGym antics! You’ve also earned your very own GoodGym T-shirt now that you’ve completed your first run! Super Exciting!

Kudos Huge kudos to Alex who completed the Heaton Park Half Marathon last weekend. Not only did he do it in a cracking time, but he also ran as part of the GoodGym Race Team!!! Well done Alex, mega proud of you! It’s also great to see so many of you hugely improving your fitness levels in the short time I’ve known you - it's awesome to see. So many of you have now got the magic 10 tasks under your belt - well done – time to work towards that all important 50 T-Shirt. Who will get there first?

Thank You Thank you to Chris who took on the role of back-marker once again. Thanks Chris. We really appreciate it. Also, super huge thank you to Dan who has become a Taskforce Member. Really thrilled to have you Dan! If you've done 10 GoodGym tasks and would like to be part of the Taskforce, you can either speak to me or become a member via your profile page on the GoodGym Website (there's no commitment by the way.... ;0))

Tonight’s Task We kicked off the evening with chocolate digestives and chocolate chip cookies (one of these days, I should maybe think about bringing a healthy option instead.......... or maybe not.....lol!!).

For our warm-up we used giant playing cards for a bit of fun. 6 cards in total: 10 of Spades, 10 of Diamonds, 10 of Hearts, 10 of Clubs and 2 Jokers. Pull a suit card and you do 10 of the exercise, pull a joker card and you do 50!!! Much to my disappointment, nobody pulled a joker!!! I’ll get you next time!!

With heart rates up and Strava activated, we set off into the night on a mission to deliver as many flyers as possible promoting a charity event to raise vital funds for a baby bereavement unit at Leighton Hospital. We split the group into two teams so we could execute our mission effectively. We were like the GoodGym SAS as we moved swiftly but stealthily from door to door (with the odd curtain twitcher as we did so – but then is it any wonder when an army of runners in red t-shirts and bright lights are running all around your avenue like worker ants!!!).

Not only were we elite leafleters tonight, but we were also the friendly neighbourhood watch - Amanda knocking on the door of one property to let them know the boot of their car was open (they were very grateful once they decided to open the door to us, lol!). We knew that if we were to get as many leaflets as possible delivered, that time would be tight, so we decided to include our fitness session into our leafleting – so, Dan came up with the great idea of squatting every time we came across one of those ghastly low letterboxes!! And Amanda was feeling extra energetic with some letterbox lunges for every waist height letterbox (which was most to be fair!!).

Our route home took us along Crewe’s version of the Strip – well, perhaps a slight exaggeration but it probably has about 1000 food outlets (again, perhaps a slight exaggeration – maybe 50!) and the perfect opportunity to hand out some flyers as well as share the GoodGym love. Flyers were graciously accepted by many of the stores and lots more people have now seen the GoodGym Gang in action (hopefully they’ll give us a google!). Back at base we did our cool down and dished out the remaining leaflets for people to kindly take into their workplace.

Another fantastic night with The GoodGym Elite leafleting Crew….. MISSION WELL & TRULY ACCOMPLISHED!

I had the BEST time - as always. Same time next week?

Have a great week everyone! Stay Safe! Lots of Love, Nicola xxxx