13 amazing #GGwinterwarriors came out in the cold and foggy evening, ran 4 k to deliver leaflets for Age UK Exeter and had lots of fun!

A very warm welcome to Naarani and Chloe who joined us for the first time! It was great having you along and we would love to see you soon again! Congratulations to Helen who has now completed 20 good deeds! Great work!

We started our evening with some warm-up exercises outside the Phoenix (our brilliant starting point). Our first exercise involved checking how well our body clocks work. We closed our eyes and jogged on the spot until we thought 1 minute was up and then sat down. It was harder than it sounds and the guesses for when 1 minute was up varied from 23 seconds to 57! After some more jogging in circles, high knees, heel kicks, lunges and more we were ready to start running!

Our very Christmassy Lisa back marked as we made our way over to St Leonards, our task location for the evening. It was lovely to once again run through the town centre which was beautifully lit up by the Christmas lights and also great to hear everyone chatting and laughing as we ran.

Our task this evening was to complete the leafleting for Age UK Exeter that we made a start on a few weeks ago. Like the GoodGym, Age UK Exeter works hard to combat loneliness and isolation among the elderly. Something that many elderly particularly miss is having someone to share a meal with and Age UK Exeter is therefor running a campaign called #EatTogetherExeter. What a fantastic task helping them get the word out about this!

As it was a very dark and foggy evening and we didn’t want to get spread out over too big of an area, we divided our group into two. One half leafleted whilst the other group worked super hard on some Sally Squats. We then made our way to a new area and swapped the groups over so that no-one missed out on the brilliant squats! I hope you loved them just as much as I do!

Such fantastic effort both delivering the leaflets and smashing the squats! You guys are the best!

Once the task was completed we made our way back to Princess Hay where we did some party games for our fitness session. It's Christmas after all! I think it is safe to say you can get very fit doing party games too.. Especially when they involve Black Burpees, Red Run-Card Challenges and Tinsel-Tag!

All that laughing definitely worked your core muscles too!

We then jogged over to the Phoenix for some stretches followed by some refreshments in the bar; a perfect way to end the last session of the year.

It's been fantastic to start up the GoodGym in Exeter and brilliant to see the group grow and become a real community! You are all part of that and I want to give you all a HUGE shout out for all the brilliant stuff you have achieved over the last few months! I can't wait for more in 2020! Lots of GG love to you all, have a great Christmas and a happy New Year!

Dates for the diary

• No group runs over Christmas (24th and 31st).

• In January we start off in style with a community mission on the 4th, doing a take over of the marshalling and volunteering for Exeter Riverside Park Run. What a fantastic community mission! Join us!

• First group run next year will be on Tuesday 7th January. We will run and deliver leaflets for Ride On, a small charity that works to make Exeter healthier and cleaner by offering bike maintenance courses, cycle training and cycle route information. It will be a great run, the task owner will join us for the full run session and there will be some little surprise prices at the end! Sign up here

• There will also be a community mission on Saturday 11th January, helping HospiceCare with a Christmas Tree Collection. There will be info about that soon on the website.

Such a brilliant evening celebrating what the GoodGym has achieved in Exeter since launching in August!

• 17 group runs- Sooooo much doing good and getting fit!
• 3 Community missions- wow guys! Amazing!
• 1 training run- long distance running across Dartmoor in hail and gale!
• 1 race- Haldon Jingle Bell Run, you all smashed it!

And now it was time to let the hair down and kick the knees up for a Christmas bash!

Still buzzing from our race earlier in the day we gathered at the Christmas Market by Exeter Cathedral and enjoyed some drinks, shared our best GG memories and run stories. A few of us then moved on to have some drinks and some delicious Pizzas at the Stable. Such a lovely evening! You guys are the best! I had such a good time I even forgot to make you do any Sumo Squats at any point ;-)

20 fantastic #GGwinterwarriors came along for this AMAZING CHRISTMAS RACE on the beautiful hills of Haldon!

It was a cold and early start but ever such a beautiful morning when we gathered on Haldon to take part in the Jingle Bell Run. Amazing to see so many of you there and with such brilliant outfits, including reindeer antlers, tinsel, holly, Santa hats, flashing Christmas lights and a great variation of Christmas leggings (some leggings more interesting than others he he he.. No names mentioned here!).

At 9 am we set off running, some doing one 5 k lap and others 2 laps and a total of 10 k. Now, we had been warned it would be a hilly run, but I think we were all slightly surprised just quite how hilly! The run basically went downhill for half and then straight up a very, very, veeeeeery long and steep hill. I bet you were all happy about all those hill reps I have made you do in the group runs over the autumn, preparing you for this!

Despite being a touch hilly it was a stunning run, following beautiful trails between the pine trees and with stunning views over Exeter and the estruary far bellow. Also amazing to see everyone giving it all they had! Such AMAZING effort by all! Lots of smiles, laughing and cheering taking part throughout the run in true GG spirit too!

At the finishing line we all gathered to cheer each other on, sharing sweets and treats before heading over to the cafe for a well deserved coffee and some Swedish pepparkakor. Thank you Jo for bringing these! I will save the rest for the group run on Tuesday next week, where I hope to see you all! But first.. see you in a bit for our Christmas drinks! Yay! What a brilliant day for the GoodGym Exeter!

Finally, a big thank you to CityRuns for such a well organised race, such lovely volunteers and marshalls keeping us safe and on the right track throughout the run!

11 runners turned up in Exeter quay this amazingly sunny morning to help Plastic Free Exeter with a litter pick. Tom W joined us for the first time. Great stuff! We hope you enjoyed it and will join us again sometime soon!

We all made our own way, running (some straight from yoga training!), cycling, jogging or walking to the quay, where we met up with volunteers from Plastic Free Exeter, to take part in the litter pick. We quickly got kitted out with litter pickers, bags and gloves and set off searching for litter. The weather was absolutely gorgeous; the sun booming from a clear blue sky! Amazing after all that rain in the week!

To begin with we mostly found small peaces of plastic wrappers, but we made sure we picked them all up, as we had been informed that these micro plastics spread really easily out into the sea and that it is important to pick up every bit of plastic, no matter how small! As we continued our walk along the quay we met some very friendly geese and swans. We also came across more and more litter...

Towards the end of our walk we found an area with prickly bushes and realised that the ground underneath was covered with bottles, cans, wrappers, plastic cutlery, takeaway boxes and all sorts of rubbish. Francesca even found a par of matching shoes! Shame they weren't running shoes.. could maybe have been useful to someone in the group! We also found a metal shopping basket (perfect for carrying the shoes in!) and Tom T found a glass full of green liquid with a straw perfectly placed in the middle.. It almost looked ready to be consumed but I am glad no-one decided to give it a go!

After an hour of litter picking, chatting and having a great time together, we walked back to the starting point to hand in 4 bin bags full of litter! Not bad at all! Some group photos followed and some price-giving for the weirdest peace of litter. Our very own GG runner Lisa got a prize for having found a pair of boots and a Christmas cracker! Congratulations!

Even though it is a bit depressing seeing how much litter is being chucked away and how much plastic there is lying around, I had the best of time walking around in the sunshine with you guys, doing good and getting fit!

Next Week we have our first really long run coming up so please feel free to share this with friends who like longer distances. We will run a total of 10k to Ellen Tinkham School and help them improve access to a classroom for children who are visibly impaired. This feels like a very important task that will benefit the children so much! Sign up here, I would love to have you along!Remember to bring a headtorch if you got one. Please also wear some layers so that you don't get cold whilst working at the task.

Can't wait to see you all soon again! Happy running till then!

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY GOODGYM!

17 runners got a fantastic leg work out during the 6.3 k run to help Wonford Planters with various gardening task. What a fantastic way to celebrate the GoodGym’s 10th anniversary! We had Dean, Andrew, Lawrence and Tom joining us for the first time. It was great to meet you and we hope you will come back soon to get fit by doing good with us again!

The Sky’s the Limit

As part of the GoodGym birthday celebrations we had a big GoodGym flag with us on the run this evening. Our challenge was to take the best photo we could in front of a local landmark and we choose Exeter Cathedral for this. As we all think the sky's the limit for the GoodGym we made sure our flag was flying pretty high! Check it out!! (Disclaimer: No-one took part in any dangerous climbing activity to place the flags on the cathedral...) We also had some great fun with our flag in other parts of Exeter, including our task location in Wonford, Princess Hay square and outside the Phoenix Art Center.

Party Game

In order to really get that birthday feeling we just had to incorporate a party game to our warm up session! After the usual high knees, heel flicks and skips we played a few rounds of “Squat, Squat, Goose”. It was great fun and certainly got us ready for running.

Working those celebrating legs

As always we stopped at regular intervals to re-group during our run so that no-one got lost or left behind. The re-grouping gave us time to do some great leg exercises. We did wall squats, jumping squats, lunges, jumping jacks and sumo squats. All these exercises will make you stronger as runners and reduce the risk of injury.

A lot of our Exeter runners have listed that their personal goal is to improve their running speed. To help with this we did some speed intervals. Great to see some red faces matching the red t-shirts again, it showed you gave it all you had! GREAT WORK everyone! A big thank you to Lucy who back marked this evening.

Doing good

At the task we met Jenny and a few other members of Wonford Planters, a small volunteer gardening group. The group was created in 2016 when cuts to local authority funding led to green spaces in the area becoming overgrown and unkept. Wonford Planters have since then been working hard to improve the area by preparing flower beds, cutting back hedges and keeping the area nice and tidy, so that it can be enjoyed by local residents. A fantastic initiative and great for the GoodGym to get involved with!

Our task involved gardening in a roundabout. We worked hard for 35 minutes with the following:

• cutting back shrubs
• weeding
• planting spring bulbs
• sweeping the ground

It was amazing how much we got done by working together! Great effort! One member of Wonford Planters said:

You have achieved as much as we usually do in a month! And that shrub over there has not been seen in years, now it is completely visible!

Birthday drinks

At the end of the group run we carried out some important stretches. A few runners then gathered for some birthday drinks in the Phoenix where we had a look at the amazing GoodGym book that we have been sent as part of the 10 year anniversary celebration. It is full of personal messages about the GoodGym and really lovely read. We even managed to find an Exeter quote in it! I will bring the book to the group run next week again if anyone else wants to check it out.

Party isn’t over yet...

Don’t forget we have our first community mission coming up on Saturday 21st at the Westbank in Exminster. This is an amazing opportunity for you to plan your own run and still get that feel-good-feeling from having carried out a good deed. The Westbank provides amazing services in Devon and beyond and it will be great for us to help them out with their allotment and garden area. You don’t have to run the whole way there if it feels a bit too far. There are lots of places along the canal path where you can leave your bike and run the rest, or you can run one way and catch the bus the other way. We really can’t wait to see you there and as this is part of the GoodGym 10 year birthday celebrations we will obviously have some birthday cake too! Sign up here, it will be fab!

Next week

Next week we will return to the Wonford planters for a second session of gardening tasks. By spending two weeks in a row with them we can really make a difference! Sign up here to come along! Your help will be very appreciated and we will have lots of fun!

To finish with- it is truly amazing that people have been getting fit by doing good with the GoodGym for 10years! It is also amazing that YOU now are part of that! By running and working on different tasks together every Tuesday evening you are making such a difference. Let's keep up the good work! A big thank you to the Westbank for funding us in the area and to the Phoenix for being our starting point.

18 runners ran 5.2 k to help the Mincinglake and Marypole Allotment Association with one of their amenity plots. This included digging a pond and creating a bug hotel! We had two new runners joining us this evening, Maeve and Anna. We hope you loved it and will be back soon again!

Getting fit

We ran a total of 5.2 k this stunning evening, some mixed flat and hilly bits and we had a beautiful sunset to enjoy for most of it! One of the hills that we climbed was quite long and steep so we went through some hill running technique, especially the importance of not leaning into the hill but to keep your chest up and drive your hips forward. This makes breathing so much easier and also enables you to pull your knees up high and to get those quick and light steps in.

Living in Exeter you just got to learn to love hills!

Whilst we were re-grouping we managed some squats, lunges, triceps-dips and press-ups. A big thank you to Sarah who back-marked so that no-one got lost or left behind!

We also carried out a core session this evening. We did ten different types of core exercises for 30 seconds each. By keeping your core strong you will become a well balanced runner, you will keep a good posture even when you feel tired at the end of your runs and your speed will improve. Absolutely brilliant effort everyone (even those of you who tried to hide away from the core session ha ha ha)!

Doing good

At the task we were welcomed by Simon from the Mincinglaka and Marypole Allotment Association who explained that they are aiming to develop the amenity plot so that it can be enjoyed by everyone at the allotments. We worked for 35 minutes with the following tasks:

• Digging a pond
• Rolling a metal barrel up a hill for recycling collection
• Cutting back overgrowth
• Creating a FANTASTIC bug's hotel by piling up logs and branches (check it out in the pictures!)

It’s amazing how much we got done! 18 of us working for 35 minutes is equivalent of 10.5 hours of work! This clearly shows that you are all are making such a difference by coming along and getting stuck in with all these tasks together on Tuesday evenings! Such great work everyone!

Next week

Next week we will run to the Wonford area and help the Wonford Planters, a small volunteer gardening group, with some gardening tasks in the Burnthouse Lane estate. It will be a lovely run and we can make a real difference in this area! Don't forget that next week is pretty special as it is the 10 year anniversary of the GoodGym so we will have the big GoodGym birthday flag with us for some nice photos. Sign up here to come along!. It will be great!

Community mission

We have our first community mission coming up in Exeter soon! So exciting! Make your own way to the Westbank in Exminster on Saturday 21st September where you will meet other GoodGym runners and work together with some gardening tasks in their allotment. This is a great way for you to plan your own run and still get that good feeling of having carried out a good deed. The Westbank is 5 k from Exeter quay and the run along the canal path is lovely. You always cycle or walk some of it if running 5 k both ways feels too far. There is also a regular bus service between the Westbank and Exeter city centre, leaving every 30 minutes from just outside the Westbank. Tell your friends and family about this and sign up here to come along. There will be birthday cake too as this is part of the GoodGym 10 year birthday celebrations!

Lets finish with a big thank you to Phoenix Art Centre for being our starting point and to the Westbank for funding us in the area! To all runners who took part this evening- YOU ARE ALL AMAZING! You ran so well, worked so hard on all exercises and you made such a big difference by working together at the task! See you all very soon for some more fun and getting fit by doing good!