What a start to the year.

Goodgym Colchester welcomed in 2019 with the usual enthusiasm and umph! Ten runners braved the cold and blustery showers to end the night running under the stars and shining bright themselves.

The evening began with news and congratulations to Ella who was 1st at Mersea Island Parkrun andHelen who came 3rd at Haverhill Parkrun. Brilliant work. Everyone who is signed up is looking forward to the Junior Parkrun Takeover and there is still time to come join the fun and bring a friend to see what GG Colchester is all about. Also the upcoming races locally, such as the West Bergholt 5miler, Colchester Half Marathon, and the international GG trip further afield to Sofia, Bulgaria were mentioned.

We warmed up with some bouncey fun and set off for the historic fountain at the bottom of North Hill. We lit the way along the bank of the River Colne with lots of chat and stories of festivities.

Last time we cleared leaves and Pam said that as a result the grasses have flourished. We set about filling bags with leaves and allowing this lovely fountain to be surrounded by greenery. Stuart used his initiative to make a branch into a brush and the jobs was done in record time as it began to spit with rain. Pam was super happy and impressed that we were out in the cold and wet.

With the rain in mind I remembered some super training sessions in my youth that occurred in car parks, so we did a car park circuit! The group showed strength, speed, power and static endurance as they did shuttle runs, partner squats, reverse lunges, planks, partner press ups and very amusing bunny hops (or human hops for those with niggling injuries). See the Facebook group for the boomerang videos! I would suggest that there were stylish bunnies, frogs, kangaroos and grasshoppers (all with great power and athleticism) amongst the group.

The photos how good the grass is looking at the fountain thanks to our help before Christmas and Pam would have us help,her every week if she could. We will be back soon for Colchester In Bloom but next week we go to the fabulous Level Best Art Cafe with a great starter session on Sunday after we inspire the kids at Junior Parkrun!

Thank you and see you soon.

Ten enthusiastic Good Gymers rocked up for their run this evening, on #WorldMentalHealthDay. We headed up to the allotment to do some tasks for Colchester in Bloom, and made sure to #RunandTalk all the way there and back! Pam set us to work on re-potting, cutting back, planting, watering, digging, and shifting paving slabs and compost about. Everyone worked really hard, and got a huge amount done. Extra kudos to everyone for doing this in the dark too! Despite our own torches, and extra lamps supplied by Pam, it was still hard to see, as we were moving about the site doing different tasks.

Before we set off, we wished everyone luck for their races this weekend - two 10 milers, in Tiptree and York, and no doubt the odd parkun will be bagged too (#DFYB). Happy running, and stay hydrated, because unbelievably, it's still quite warm at the moment!

And finally, remember to focus on your self-care, to stay on top of your own mental health and wellbeing - reach out to others if you need to talk, run with friends if you are lacking motivation, and rest if your body's telling you to!

See you next time, Helen 10, out.

The GoodGym gang gathered at Leisureworld at 6.45pm as usual, ready for an evening of running, punning, digging and planting. We congratulated Hannah on her marathon success, and Dan and Emily for putting their names down for some local races. It's not too late to sign up for the GoodGym Olympics either, so do check it out if you're interested! After a brisk warm up, and then a head count, we headed up through the park towards the town centre. Stopping to re-group as we went, we aimed for the subway under the dual carriageway, but were thwarted by an enormous puddle! So we headed back around a different route, and finally got back on track towards our destination - the Cannons, a residential development for older people. Rebecca from Colchester Borough Homes met us with brand new trowels, a big box of bulbs, and several watering cans, so we were well equipped for the task. Not only that, but we had maps supplied too, to help us navigate the communal grounds, and plant the bulbs in the best places where they could be seen by the residents. The group split up into teams, and picked different areas of the gardens to work on - some patches were more stony than others, so it was quite hard work, but overall we think we planted at least 100 new Crocosmia bulbs. Coach-runner Tav popped in to say hello to his coach Bill, and then we were off back towards the town, avoiding the soggy subway this time, and using a tiny bit of the Colchester 10K route, where some of re-lived our triumphant charge along the final kilometre, and a sprint round the athletics track to the finish line! Good luck to everyone who is running the 10K soon - we hope the training is going well! Ella won our competition this week for 'most colourful ensemble' displaying an eclectic combination of colours and textures that was quite something to behold! Chris offered a beautifully co-ordinated outfit of reds and purples, and Katherine shone in the grooviest headband category! Unfortunately we ran out of time for a fitness session due to the length of the run, but we made sure of some stretches during our cool down. Next week it's a task up at the food bank - join us for more Good Gym Good Times, a good chat, some giggles and that feel-good glow.

A great evening was had by 12 runners who as usual made a great impact on their community. The freezing temperatures have vanished (for now) and the red Goodgym T-shirts (and black) were back on the streets, including Carl who was sporting his new Goodgym T-shirt with pride!

A dynamic warm up and we set off on the 1.5km run to the Colchester in Bloom allotments after our usual 'numbering off' failure. As you may have figured out from the headline, there was a slight delay but WE ARE GOODGYM and after a quick photo-shoot our fitness session began with the town hall and jumbo in the distance making for a great setting to train.

We did some shuttle runs, squats and reverse lunges in partners, a quick dose of tree hugging before bunny hopping up the hill to begin our task.

The task was to dig 7 holes that were to 2 foot deep as well as tend to some plants the Hannah and Nicola did particularly well at!

The 7 diggers went to work with power, grace and spontaneous singing. It was most definitely a job well-done and the lovely Pam, of Colchester in Bloom, said that there is a lot more to do on our next visit.

Thanks to Ian for back-marking as well as sing a duet with Louise and the wonderful voice and Emily and her backing singing Fay!

After the session Frances Gwyther came along and we hope to see her join us after her 10 day trip.

Spring is coming and we can all be proud of the part we play in making Colchester look delightful.

Happy running and bring on the Colchester Half Marathon.

What better way to prepare for a GoodGym starter session than to stand on the finish line of Colchester park run. As I watched the participants young and old speed up as they neared the finish line, I noticed so many had beaming big smiles, testament to the sense of pride and achievement that accompanies the simple joy of running and knowing you have made it.

There was a real buzz around the finish line which I wanted to capture and carry into our GoodGym session. Three runners joined me, including Goodgym regular and parkrun marshal, Vanessa. After a quick warm up, we set off to Angela’s car to collect the river care equipment. En route Angela showed us where the Rangers station was and then we meandered our way back down the hill to the car park, chatting about GoodGym as we went.

The task was a rivercare favourite and we set off along the river picking up discarded bottles, cans and other rubbish as we went. We were small in number and keen to enjoy a run on the beautiful sunny morning so once we were finished we quickly headed back up the hill to returned the equipment to the Rangers station before setting off on our way! It was a glorious winter's morning, and we were treated to a crisp light that shone across the river, helping us to forget about our troubles as we ran and chatted. A special thanks to Vanessa for her lovely company and joining us on such a lovely run along the river path!