Yorkies you are all legends for turning up tonight for our first group run of 2026, in sub zero temperatures! 🥶

It wasn't easy leaving the warmth of our new meeting place in the Ackhorne, but we zipped up and made our way out. We had a pre warm up warm up to keep warm, then welcomed newcomer Daniel (to York anyway), and celebrated Excellent Ed's 500th good deed and adorned him with the cape of good deeds. 👑

We named and numbered off by saying our goal for the year. Many involved not getting injured or getting a PB. We also had racing for the first time, being less late and cooking from a recipe book!

Without further ado we set off for Glen Allotments. The ground was too hard for the original digging task, but the ladies there did a great job in finding us alternatives. We had woodchip spreading, 🪏 , weeding 🌱 , prepping for a dead hedge 🪵 , and litter picking.

Our work was rewarded with some delicious flapjack before an energetic tabata workout to get warm.

We then headed back to base and a few stayed behind for a liquid refreshment at the pub 🍺

Well done gang! you're all superstars and have added to our January target!

🏆 A mega (post-COVID record-breaking) 40 people attended tonight’s group run. We kicked off December with a bang and donned our Christmassy cheer for some present-wrapping fun.

💪 But first, it was time to celebrate some excellent Goodgymmers. James T was named GoodGymmer of the month for his sterling work leading clothes swap and book sale tasks very regularly. Then we had not one but two PBs to celebrate from the weekend - Charlotte with a 5k and Matt with a 10k at the Abbey Dash. Amazing stuff everyone!

🎄 Next up, we had a Christmassy warm-up in the shape of (an abbreviated version of) the 12 squats of Christmas (a different exercise for each day of Christmas). Pete led the walking crew while Ed led and Laura backmarked the runners to Park Grove School.

🦁 Vicky met us there with our instructions - to wrap whatever was in front of us. For some people, that was incredibly cute teddy lions, for others it was keyrings.

🍭 And for others (not for the faint-hearted), it was pass the parcel. Wrapping up to 30 layers of paper and making sure there was a lollipop in each layer (cue lots of double-checking for lollies) was quite the challenge, but one that was impressively tackled by Team Parcel.

🍫 And if that pass the parcel wasn’t enough, once we’d finished wrapping, it was time for Vicky’s special fitness pass the parcel. With a different fitness challenge for each layer and the ultimate reward of a Crunchie for the winner, it was the perfect way to finish our task (especially for Alex who won the golden Crunchie).

☔️ Although the rain had held off on our run out, it wasn’t so kind for the return journey. The walkers therefore made the sensible decision to head straight to the pub where lots of the runners joined afterwards for a meeting to discuss the January Challenge. And with some exciting plans being made, there’s lots to be looking forward to (and some more fun group runs in the meantime).

👏 Thanks to Vicky for a really fun task, and to everyone for coming along.