In the aftermath of storm Bert, 16 GoodGym Yorkies breezed in to clear up the leaves in Glen Gardens. We started tonight's session with a round of applause for all those running at the weekend, particularly the brave souls (fools?) that made it to parkrun in the sideways rain on Saturday morning. You're all mad/legends.

We numbered off by saying the one thing that could tempt you to part with your money on Buy Nothing Day, and no surprises to learn that we are almost entirely motivated by food. Mostly chocolate and pizza! We then set off to Glen Gardens with Ed leading the way and Abigail and Laura backmarking.

At the task we were greeted by Ian from the Council's environment team who set us straight off to work on clearing leaves from the paths. There was only leaf blower though, so that job went to a very eager Abigail who was got her hands on the tool for the first time!

The rest of the gang made use of shovels, forks, rakes and leaf grabbers, collecting them up in ton sacks and shifting them to the composting area. Unfortunately it was only towards the end of the task that Amy finally discovered how to hold the leaf grabbers properly. Every day is a school day!

Before long it was time to wrap up the task and line up for Vicky's Mexican wave themed fitness session, pitting two teams against each other to see who could complete exercises the fastest. Ed and Rich's competitive spirit was on full show as the teams were neck and neck going into the final exercise. Unfortunately for Team Ed, Rich's team had a trump card up their sleeve in the fact that Martin is a ridiculously quick skipper (who knew?) and were awarded the victory by umpire Laura

Don't forget to get yourselves signed up for our upcoming sessions at the Groves this Thursday and the Santa Sleigh on Fri 6th

An impressive turnout tonight in very cold conditions!

We started by celebrating some phenomenal running at the weekend with Michal doing some Bob Graham training, then Ed and Rich escaping from Meridan and covering 75 and 121 km respectively!

Max then led the group out to Holgate allotments and Rich led a walking group.

Once we arrived Helen provided us with a barrow full of tools and we quickly got to work clearing a plot ready to be let. Despite the cold the ground was soft and we soon had the area clear.

After a quick photo we headed off to do some sprints to warm up. Everytime Ed shouted whistle, we ran faster. He decided this was better than blowing a whistle so rival whistles couldn't interfere with proceedings.

We then headed back to base where we sung happy birthday to Paul Kelly and were treated to some of Jenna's fruity flapjack.

7 GoodGymers met at Hob Moor for some pyramid hill reps. The monster, centurian and pumpkin from last week were sadly missing but we all completed the reps and ended with a social run around the field (and terrible photo shoot).

Remember, remember! The 4th of November, it's the Monday night Group Run slot!

Tonight we headed off to the Groves to help shift a load of bricks, as well as dig out some weeds and re-plant a few bushes. It was a smaller gathering than usual at the Priory Street Centre as a fair few GGers were getting a pre-task good deed in already, but we still had a decent crowd and welcomed back Anne who was returning for her 2nd group run. Give her a big cheer 🎉

Before setting off to the task we warmed up by celebrating the 24th anniversary of the premier of the film 'Dances with Wolves' and naming which animal we would like to dance with and why. There were some very interesting choices including a zebra, a platypus and Siegfried and Roy's white tiger (rather you than me, Graham!). Then it was off to the task ably backmarked by Abigail and Laura.

The other group had already made a good start and helped get the test of us up to speed on what needed doing. So we split off into those shifting bricks and those clearing weeds. Taskowner Tracy also got Ed on hand with a spade to dig out a few bushes that needed to either be shifted elsewhere or just removed entirely. This meant that I'm bot entirely sure what all the various groups were getting up to but excellent progress was obviously made as we managed to complete the task early, meaning we had more time for fitness (aren't we lucky!)

Vicky had created tonight's fireworks-ish themed sesh with people getting into pairs and completing exercises written on a down on a ticket (fit-tix?). The team with the most tickets at the end of the sesh would be declared the winner and tonight's prize went to Mitch and Charlotte who had completed a remarkable 32 tickets! Although anyone who has previously witnessed the speed of Charlotte's burpees won't be surprised in the slightest.

We then made our way back to base and said our goodbyes

It was medal Monday at GG as we celebrated lots of runners successfully making it round the York 10 Miler including Max who set a new personal best in his first 10 mile race. We kept the applause going for Max who was also celebrating his 300th Good Deed. Amazing effort. Give him a big cheer 🎉

We then warmed up and numbered off by listing our favourite buildings in honour of the birthday of the Guggenheim Museum. With suggestions including people's own homes, Durham Cathedral (but not York Minster?) and lots of love for Gaudi. It was then off to the task with Ed leading the way and Laura and Abigail back marking.

At the task we met Vicky who had already set the Govers and Martin off leafleting. They were joined by two other groups of 3 who were given very strict instructions to be back by 7.20 and take some photos (more on that later). The rest of the gang got to work painting the fence at a lovely shade of blue which happened to match Lyndsey's top perfectly. Who knew you a bright blue running top could act as camouflage!

As time ticked away, the painters realised they could get the whole task completed before the anticipated return of the leafletters so put in a big final effort to make sure no spots were missed before it was time to start the fitness session, little did they know (although they probably could have guessed) that the group of Max, Mitch and Nick would return almost 10mins later, sans photo.

But we didn't have time to wait for them as it was starting to get cold, so we started tonight's fitness session which was a ladder workout involving 30 seconds of an exercise followed by 30 seconds of rest, but adding in a new exercise on top every round. We started with step-ups on the tyres in the playground before adding in standing crunches, squats, tricep dips and of course finishing with burpees. Unfortunately we couldn't add in Abigail's new invention of the reverse star jump as there just wouldn't have been enough time to teach everyone how to do it. Maybe next week!

Then it was back to CVS but only after narrowly avoiding a wandering hedgehog on way out of Park Grove 🦔