An unseasonably warm evening greeted us for our last run of 2016 and my last run as the leader of the GoodGym pack. It was a bittersweet occasion; sadly our task was cancelled as the poor gentleman who was preparing leaflets for us to distribute was very poorly, so we used our back up plan of litter picking and went to clear a big area of cycle path and nearby streets.

Staggeringly, 31 people turned out for this run, which was simply fantastic given the time of year. Moreover, loads of us were sporting Santa hats, lights, bells, costumes or just big silly grins. Most of central Bristol was gridlocked as we ran, so hopefully we gave the car drivers sat in their cars something to smile about too! The highlight was our reindeer pack plus Santa - we had (thanks Emma for the list):
Alice as Cupid (complete with heart and bow)
Gary as Donner (without the kebab this time though)
Matt as Prancer (as he's so light footed)
Dave as Blitzen (complete with AWESOME lightning bolt tights)
Chloe as Dancer (wearing a fetching little tutu)
Caroline as Vixen (all in black so ninja deer)
Emma as Comet (the shootin stars on the leggings made the costume)
Paul as the big Ho Ho Ho himself (looking toasty in the Santa costume)
Debs as a slightly belated Elf (loved the hat, Debs)
And Mel as a Snowwoman (she mentioned that some kids wanted to follow us).

The pack headed off at a steady pace, with Mel and Dave being excellent back markers, and made our way over to an underpass for bikes in the industrial area of St Philips. Bin bags were grabbed, gloves were donned, and we split up in to a litter picking frenzy of activity. The park area I chose to head in to was reasonably tidy so we did the GoodGym thing of playing on the swings, slides and spinning thing.

25 minutes later and the place was well tidy. We headed back and finished up in Queen Square. As this was my last run, it would have been rude and frankly too nice of me to finish the run without some body conditioning work.. lunges and crab squats abounded, then tricep dips and press ups.

Then came the bit I'd been dreading... the farewell speech. I'd not prepared anything so waffled a bit, rambled a bit more, and generally tried to convey my massive gratitude to everyone who come or has ever come to GoodGym Bristol. There is nothing like GoodGym, and the people who turn up in the wind, the rain, the frost, on the hottest day of the year (2016 and 2015 were both years where we managed to run on the hottest day!), and in massive thunderstorms. The people who put up with smelly gloves, wonky wheelbarrows, plastic trowels and sometimes a bit of disorganisation.

It's you guys who have kept me going and loving our runs together. And then, to top it all, there were loads of other GoodGym runners who'd not made it out but came along to wish me well. And I got pressies - I LOVE my GoodGym rat on a bike t-shirt so much!!!!

Thank you, everyone.

It was a hot evening for a run but we still got loads of keen runners showing up!

Our mission was to run down the side of the mighty river Avon and pick up the litter that gets left by the tide.

It started off well - it was a flat run, quite long but uneventful and very pleasant. Then we found a tent on fire! We ran past it, given we had a different mission, however back marker Ben and also Molly decided to help a couple of passers by with getting the fire brigade to put it out.

Everyone else made it to the task in one piece although Debbie was stung by a wasp on the way too. We met up with Mark from Surfers Against Sewage and set to the massive task!

Ben and Molly caught up with us once the fire was out, and because of the length of the run, we sent a slower group back before the main group so in theory we'd meet up at the end...

After regrouping, we had to walk with our bags of rubbish to the nearest road - it was quite a way, so took a while, and then Dave led most of the runners back whilst I tried to pack 20 pairs of gloves in my rucksack - they came out but didn't want to go back in!

Ben kindly gave me a hand and then we set off together to try and catch the rest of the gang, but we lost them at a critical point. Eek!

Luckily Dave did a great job and got everyone back to the start where the slower group had been enjoying a silent disco.

What a run!

Big welcome to Frank, joining us for the first time, and congratulations to our latest centurion, Caroline for making it to 100 runs!

It was a great evening for a run as loads of lovely folk met up at Vivo Gym to do SOME GOOD!

We ran to the nearby neighbourhood of Barton Hill where we met with a splinter group of our runners who'd gone there early to ensure we had the flyers that we needed to distribute - thanks chaps!

From there we split in to several groups - one group headed off to Old Market, about a mile away, and the other group split again to leaflet several of the tower blocks in Barton Hill. I hooked up with one of the groups and we jogged off...

We got in with ease - the door was open for us, and we took the lift to the 14th floor, alternating floors with each other until we got to the very bottom. I have to say that the view from the top was great!

We then hooked up with one of the other groups and tried to find another of the places that we were supposed to flyer, but failed - how can someone hide a tower block? After losing a tower block we then lost another of our groups but after giving one of them a quick ring we realised that they were headed back to the start so we followed.

It was a really hot night and some of the runners were finding the length of the run a challenge, but we all made it back in one sweaty piece for a bit of a mexican jump squat relay and then a lot of stretching - two very cute kids decided that they wanted to join in so we opened up our circle and welcomed them! Their mums also joined in a little!

As it was Alice's birthday the day before and as she'd brought cakes, lots of us repaired to Vivo to sit by the river, drink and eat delicious chocolate cupcakes, a perfect end to a great run.

Somehow 32 amazing runners got together at Vivo gym (32? WOW!) and ran to help weed a park that badly needed it.

We got together at Vivo Gym, and after a quick round of introductions and warm ups, we got running. Running through central Bristol in the evening on a warm day can be an entertaining experience with lots of jolly people cheering us on - they're a friendly bunch in Bristol!

We made it to Portland Square in good time and met up with Simon who is part of a residents group who are keen to transform the square from a green spot in to a lovely green spot, so it needs a bit of TLC, and that's where GoodGym came in handy!

We set to weeding and also trimming some of the growths off the base of the lime trees in the square. We also met a Simon's dog as well as a massively huge dog too (he's in one of the pictures!). Luckily this week we didn't find any mice though.

After a good 35 minutes of hard graft, we downed (and cleaned!) tools and jogged off, leaving the square a little tidier (post litter pick too!) and less weedy - fingers crossed the residents can get some funds to plant some great bushes or similar and ask us to come back and help to plant them!!!

We got back to Vivo, had a good stretch and chat at the end - it was announcements but it kinda descended in to chat. Then there were drinks... then there was the suggestion of burgers, which some people did as well!

Smashing job ladies and gents, we did GOOD!

21 lovely people met up at Vivo Gym for what they thought was going to be a longer run to do some gardening in south Bristol... due to a mix-up in scheduling, however, it was not to be. Luckily fate had it planned that we had another task up our sleeve; one that was indoors and local, which was lucky as it was looking a little wet outside!

We split in to two groups. Group 1 ran with Chris to Colston Tower to help with a big amount of shredding and folder sorting (we know how to get the exciting stuff here at GoodGym!). They were inside. They stayed dry...

Group 2 went with me to head to the Amphitheater until Fraser mentioned that it was full of tents. And then it started to rain. We managed to find a bit of dry space to run in that was right next door to a gym on the Harbourside - it was nice of us to give those people stuck inside on their treadmills something to look at, wasn't it!

Even though we were not going to be gardening, I'd brought my bag of gloves with me as I had a 'game' in mind which involved 2 teams, 2 piles of gloves and a lot of sprinting. I was hoping for more cheering, but it seemed that people were choosing to breathe instead!

After about 5 minutes of this the rain eased off and we ran back to Colston Tower to switch places. Group 1 warmed up a little, and I was going to change the game (aka drill) a little but it started to rain again, so we repeated the same drill that Group 2 did.

After a lot of running, glove snatching and sprinting, we met up back at Queens Square where we found Group 2 doing some jump squats and plyo lunges, courtesy of Kevin - clearly a man after my own heart! Group 1 joined in and then we had a good old stretch at the end.

Great team work gang!

Skies were a little overcast as we gathered together at Vivo, but the light sprinkling of rain that followed proved short lived and was a refreshing change from the Shakespearean tempest that accompanied our last visit to the Patchwork project.

Welome Back, El

Following the usual round of introductions (great to see El back with us again!), newly trained run leader ('Godfather') Dave led us through some excellent warm-ups in Queen Square, ending with a skip across the grass (complete with Morecambe and Wise hand gestures) that surely made us the envy of the all the other occupants of the space.

Fig Wasp

After a fairly short run, the group were met by our good friends from the Patchwork project. This is a group that adopts unloved patches of land in Bedminster and Southville and clears them of rubbish and weeds before planting new trees, shrubs and flowers. This evening they had two such patches for us to work on - one an old favourite from previous runs and another new one a little further down the hill.

The group split into two and were soon hard at work. Equipped with trowels and gloves the team set to work weeding both sites and were soon generating more than the green bin could handle - even with Chris expertly compacting it all. A pair of shears served as a handy grass trimmer and soon the space was looking, well if not quite tamed, then at least on the road to domestication.

While we were working on the weeds we noticed a rather impressive fig tree against the wall. Emily informed us that each of the figs requires a fig wasp to pollinate it. Unfortunately the wasp’s wings and antennas are torn off as she moves through and consequently cannot leave and is digested by the fig. Poor fig wasp!

Hee-bee GGs The group on Clifton Street did a great job clearing weeds and managed to preserve the hebe

Bristol Half - coming soon!

The group photo taken, we all headed back to Queen Square, pausing only to lunge, step-up and tricep dip at some handy steps and walls along the way.

A final quick dash around the square revealed both that interest in the forthcoming Bristol half marathon is starting to build and also that running marathon-length cross country recce sessions at the weekend leaves you slightly less keen to sprint the last section (Matt!).

Mr Mavis

In other news, Chris's guinea pig Mr Mavis has a new love interest. Sadly the pair have been separated for now but then as A Midsummer Night's Dream shows us, the course of true love never did run smooth.

Thanks to Chris for leading the run, Dave for the warm up and Paul for the run report!