A visit to Ilkley’s ‘Cow and Calf’ was the target for the first GG Leeds hiking social! The morning shower cleared just as the group of intrepid adventurers departed Ilkley station in the direction of the nearest hill!

The 7.8 mile route started tough with a steep ascent up Ilkley crags to join the Dales High Way. Whilst most of us were relieved to reach the top of the trail, Adam was determined to go off piste and scale the adjacent hill to inspect a small Cairn.

Under the advice of friendly walkers passing us in the opposite direction, and with Jenny concerned for her new ‘Swetty Betty’ hiking boots, we stuck to the - only partially submerged - flagstones for the short hop across the moor to our next waypoint, the twelve apostles. After a thorough and detailed history lesson at the stone circle (I’ll google route facts the night before next time!), we left the apostles behind and continued across the moor.

This time the route was much less forgiving, the flagstones gave way to mud - with many a grunt and squeal being heard as the group hopped across the increasing wide and deep boggy puddles! After numerous shouts of ‘are you sure we’re going the right way’ i was relieved when we finally reached the edge of the moor, and dry ground!

“I went in real deep on that one” Riobhne not quite nailing the landing of a big puddle jump.

After a short pit stop, reenergised by greggs sausage rolls (great shout Charlie), we continued towards the rocks. On re-joining the dales way the next definitely planned surprise was a small waterfall which made for a great picture stop. The next waypoint was the cow and the calf pub for a quick drink and comfort break, with great views being had of the Cow and Calf itself.

The route back to Ilkley took us up and over the rocks, with many testing their rock climbing abilities - again Adam proving his bravery by taking the hardest routes possible! As we climbed our way across several mini crags, comparisons were drawn to scenes from the lion king - with Rachel’s rendition of the circle of life proving highly motivational!

“Can anyone remember how the lion king theme tune goes?” Rob inspiring an afternoon song from Rachel.

Starting to get a little weary and more importantly hungry, all were pleased to make it back down the hill to Ilkley - not least new good gymmer Harry on discovering he’d escaped a parking ticket!

Thanks all for attending - hope you enjoyed and we’ll arrange another hike soon!

Alex

20 incredible runners and one amphibian joined forces to give some trees a temporary home

For some reason last week feels like an absolute age ago, so it felt good to be back amongst the red heroes tonight. We welcomed one new runner Frances, who got proved straight away that she's one of us by providing our frog-based pun (more on that later). Welcome Fran! Go and give her a cheer!

We started out with some news, letting everyone know about all the awesome stuff that been going on in the last week, including a big kitchen clean, a big parkrun trip and an awesome hilly training session! The fun doesn't stop there either, with a parkrun at Potternewton park this Saurday to celebrate international women's day, and our first social hike on Sunday organised by Alex. Check the event listings for more info.

Tonight's run was to take us back to Growing Better where we've been heading to quite regularly. They always have big ideas but we're never quite sure what we'll end up doing till we get there! We started out with a quick warm up, which was a brief preview of the running drills they'd be doing in the fitness session later (but of course they didn't know it at the time)!

The run down was more eventful than usual, with Joe admitting that he's been out for a 'practice run' yesterday to make sure he was up to GoodGym after not running much recently. Suzi was lamenting the lack of half-time oranges during a GoodGym group run (so if anyone wants to bring refreshments for her sake then feel free! Finally Riv had just got her layers all wrong...

"I'm so hot, I think I need to take my thermal off! Can I just take my clothes off at the lights?" Riobhne just stopping short of causing a scene!

Luckily everyone remained fully clothed and we arrived at West Leeds Activity Centre ready for a fun session of surprises. The first surprise was a cute little frog (or toad, we weren't entirely sure) that came out to say hello when we were all gathered round to find out what we had planned. Dorota had two main tasks for us, the first was to build some compost bins, but after showing us their existing ones that we wanted to emulate, she realised she didn't have strong enough rope, and so this task has been pushed back to next week.

The main task for the evening then, was to plant a huge number of saplings in big bunches, to help keep them alive until they were ready to plant them properly. Carol decided they were actually Mandrakes (from Harry Potter), which mean the bunches now came with added screaming!

We headed over to the allotment area and got to work! The trees didn't need to be dug in particularly deep as this was just a temporary solution before they found their 'Forever home'. Dorota explained where the trees would end up.

"We've just got an additional site at a Farm near Harewood House, so a lot of the trees wil end up there, ans we're also working with three schools in Kirklees" Dorota, task owner.

As we were running low on tools, a few people broke off to rearrange the ground covers which had been thrown around in the recent storms. It also gave Riv the chance to discover her "favourite stick" (see photos for evidence!) Suzi also had a lovely moment where she felt really connected to the trees she was planting.

"I thought this tree was called Hazel but I realised it's just a type of tree" Suzi, showing that we're always learning at GoodGym!

After all the trees were planted, we had time for a quick session, consisting of 30 metres of running drills with walk-back recoveries. We focused on form, fast feet and getting a good spring from our strides which should really help our running form. The drills were:

• High knees
• Heel kicks
• High knee skipping
• Side skips

There was some really great work on show, with everyone really committing to the drills (with varying success rates!) The side skips in particular take a little practice, so we'll definitely do these again soon.

After we were all wrapped up, we said our goodbyes before starting the long slog back up the hill. Katie and Carol took up back-marking duties, and everyone took it fairly steady on the way back, where we all regrouped and finished off with a quick stretch.

You were all on excellent form tonight, with everyone getting stuck into the task, and too much silliness for me to include it all in the report! See you all next week!

With the stormy weather threatening to stick around, sign ups for tonights run were looking a little thin, but some clear skies and a break in the wind meant a cracking 26 people came along to get involved!

With just a few minutes before our meet-up time, it was looking like this could be our quietest ever turnout, but thankfully it was just some heavy traffic, and there was a late surge of GoodGymers to bolster the ranks. We welcomed one new runner tonight, Darla, who picked a particularly chilly night to come along for her first taste of GoodGym! Nice one Darla!

Tonight also saw Adam miss his first ever Group run since our launch leaving taskforce keen-bean Katie as the only ever-present (Ok I've been there every week too, but I don't really count).

Our task tonight was to deliver the remaining leaflets for St. Gemma's Hospice, to let even more people know about the great things they do in and around Leeds. The plan was to split into three groups, all heading for slightly different target streets, to deliver as many of the leaflets as possible.

We warmed up with a little bit of mirroring to get us moving, but also to help us think about our co-ordination and reactions. We slowly built in intensity and had a few curveballs in there, such as working only one side of the body or standing on one leg.

We then split ourselves into groups and were on our way. The Meanwood crew were away first heading off into the Sunset (or more accurately heading towards the Sunsets - Sunset Road, Sunset Avenue, Sunset Mount etc). Their route was definitely the furthest and included some pretty tough hills, so they were keen to make a head start.

The other two groups had a slightly more leisurely start, but were soon on their way. Once we all arrived at our locations and worked out our plan of attack so we didn't miss any houses or, even worse, leaflet the same house twice, we set about our task. Having leafletted before, most of the group knew exactly what to do, and some had even come prepared.

"You need to have your trusty wooden spoon" George, waving around his utensil excitedly.

It isn't clear if George has now made this his 'leaflet delivering spoon', or he goes home and stirs his spag bol with it, but either way I think we'll be seeing the spoon again!

As I tried to run around between groups to see as much of the action as possible, it was great to see the teamwork on display with lots of chatter about which houses had been ticked off already. As it was by now pretty dark, the small groups of two's and three's were usually heard before they were seen. Newbie Darla was immediately getting involved, and Minnie in particular took charge of her small crew, making sure they didn't get lost in their maze of a route. Despite the risk of getting lost everyone seemed to be having a great time.

"I love the leapfrogging! It's so much fun!" Rach D, getting a bit too excited about posting leaflets.

There was lots of racing in front of each other to be the first to a house, which just goes to show you all want to make your own fun! Over in the Hollin lane group, they were battling with the long driveways, hilly steps, and just generally struggling to find the postboxes in the dark! In what should probably become our motto as a group from now on, Rachael C (accidentally, I think) summed up the whole GoodGym spirit.

"We may run out of leaflets, but we will never run out of enthusiasm!" Rachael, apparently doing her best impersonation of Mel Gibson in Braveheart.

With all the leaflets delivered, everyone made their way back to base. After a quick debrief and a a stretch, we were all on our way.

Don't forget there is a Community Mission on Friday, a parkrun meet-up at Fountains Abbey on Saturday, and a Hilly training session on Sunday! So much for you all to get involved with.

Thanks for another great session, see you all next week, if not before!

This was our first ever leafleting task, which meant lots of extra logistics and guesstimating runners' speed and posting efficiency, but thankfully it all seemed to work out OK in the end.

Before setting off tonight, there was loads to celebrate. The January challenge was over and an incredible 70 Leeds GoodGymers combined to complete a whopping 194 good deeds, which is absolutely amazing. This placed us 13th overall in the GoodGym area league table, which is incredible considering we've only been going for just over 4 months.

Riobhne reached her 10th Good Deed (and was nonchalant as ever about it). Great work Riobhne! We also welcomed Rachel to a group run for the first time since she hit 50 Good Deeds, which meant the grand unveiling of GoodGym Leeds' very own Cape of Good Deeds. In a tradition started by GoodGym York, we like to celebrate our runners amazing achievements by making them look like the superheroes they are for one night only. Our very own cape comes complete with sparkles and superhero mask. You wore it well Rachel!

It was also great to welcome one brand new runner to the group tonight, everyone go and give Emily a cheer!

With all of the celebrating out of the way, it was time to get on with the tricky business of delivering leaflets! We had already split into four groups, with each crew aiming for a slightly different area. Rachel and Liz's group were staying close to Hyde Park, Adam was taking his crew to Headingley, Katie and Heather's team were heading for the bottom end of meanwood, while Aron's gang was pushing on to the centre of meanwood.

The leaflets were all about raising awareness of some of the fundraising events that St. Gemma's Hospice put on during the year. St. Gemma's is the argest Hospice in Yorkshire, and one of the largest in the country, and earlier in the week, Pete from St. Gemma's had explained why the events are so important.

"St Gemma's needs over £10m each year to cover our costs, and about £6m of that needs to come from fundraising." Pete, task owner, St. Gemma's Hospice.

With the leaflets distributed, and the warnings to look out for dogs ringing in everyone's ears, we were off! A few runners looked slightly strange carrying their trusty wooden spoons almost like relay batons, but they were clearly in the know, as this would hopefully help them to avoid any nasty scrapes or cuts in letterboxes. The routes had been planned so that 3 off the groups would actually set off in the same direction before splitting up later on. The run took us down the super-steep North Grange Mount, which is definitely on the cards for hill reps once we get to summer!

By now, we'd all separated out into our individual groups, and found our way to our first delivery points. The highlights of the evening included:

• George getting so excited about delivering leaflets that he gave himself a nosebleed.
• Riobhne getting so excited about delivering leaflets that she ran into a tree.
• Rob finding a stack of leaflets after we thought we'd finished, and then getting excited because it meant we could deliver more leaflets.

From the sounds of things each of the groups found their own rhythms and techniques, with some choosing the leapfrog method, while others chose to take opposite sides of the street for a more pure experience of solo delivery. Some runners were discovering the perils of the impossible to find letterboxes (obviously they receive their mail by carrier pigeon, or Harry Potter-style with owls dropping them at the breakfast table), while other runners were just appreciating the beautiful houses and gardens.

"I liken the lichen" new runner Emily getting into the swing of things with puns on the run.

As well as delivering leaflets for St. Gemma's we had a few posters to deliver for the Children's Heart Surgery Fund, advertising their Wear Red Day. On the way back from our various routes, we stopped in the various pubs, cafes and shops to ask them to display a poster, with Rachel's superhero cape proving a real crowd pleaser!

With well over 1,000 leaflets delivered, we all returned to base for a bit of a debrief. It sounds like everyone enjoyed it, although some came away with mixed feelings.

"It just felt like we were robbers the way we were running away from the houses in the dark!" Katie.

With that we finished off with a stretch before heading to the pub to swap stories and celebrate our many accomplishments.

The Strava Flyby of the route is really fun, you can see everyone heading off in completely different directions and speeding up and slowing down as we stopped at each house to post. You should definitely check it out!

It feels good to be back in the swing of things, with an amazing 23 runners braving the cold and windy conditions to join our run to help out Growing Better.

We welcomed Callum on his first ever group run, so he definitely deserves a massive cheer. Monika and George were completing their 10th Good Deeds so they deserve a big cheer too! We also celebrated reaching 150 members which is unbelievable in such a short space of time! That's a whole lot of people ready to get out there and do good in Leeds!

We warmed up with a quick round of 'Aron says' before heading out on the run. Liz took up backmarking duties, with Katie leading the way, and Aron and Adam looking after the middle of the group.

After enjoying our first ever dry run to Growing Better, we got straight on with the tasks at hand. They were:

• Sawing some pallets in half to create a barrier around the allotment
• Digging a trench and fixing pallets into position
• Planting saplings on the bank

Everyone grabbed their tools, and while the sawing crew got on with cutting up pallets, everyone else made their way across the soggy field, which luckily didn't claim any fallers this time! Aron was busy showing off the new lights which hopefully you all agree make a massive difference.

We had a super friendly little helper tonight by the name of Flavia who helped point the floodlight where it was needed, and handed out saplings.

" She really wanted to see you guys in action, she didn't believe it was true!" Dorota, task owner

Some of the group were having trouble working out exactly what we needed to do, and there was some discussion about how carefully the saplings needed to be planted:

"Do we put them in perpendicular to the bank or do they need to be upright?" " I think the trees just work it out for themselves..."

I guess we'll have to wait and see if the trees do indeed work it out for themselves, but it's really great to be planting a whole load of new trees, even if it felt like we barely made a dent in their stock of over a thousand! The trees should really help to take up some of the water from the area, which in time will make the field less boggy, and help the allotment too.

Over at the allotment, the gang were discovering that all that digging and fixing the pallets into place can be pretty hard work!

"This is like a proper core workout!" Julie, Leeds GoodGymer

We've had several attempts at fencing off the allotment, and each time we go back it's amazing to see that it's all still in place, and looking pretty secure! Even this awful weather we've been having hasn't made a dent in the fencing. Dorota is convinced this is going to be really important for helping to keep the weeds out of the allotment, and to stop brambles from encroaching on the space.

With a big pile of pallets cut in half and moved, some more fencing fixed in place, and a huge number of tree planted, our time was up, and we made our way back up the hill, and finished back at the Book Club with a quick stretch.

You'll all be happy to know that we're not heading down to Kirkstall next week, which means we don't have to run back up THAT big hill. Unfortunately this is Leeds, so heading the other way means we will have another big hill to contend with! It's all part of learning to love the hills!

Thanks again for another wonderful evening, you're all great. See you at parkrun for volunteering on Saturday, if not see you next week!