Our final group run of 2023 had to be a festive fancy dress to the Warwick Drive lights!

We set off from base, with Santa hats and tinsel galore, and our spirits high and a couple of wonderful newbies to the group!

We took an undulating and leisurely 4km to the bright lights of Warwick drive where we met more GoodGymers ready to join in the festivity.

The houses were decked with the finest Christmas lights and decorations, and it was a who's who of running clubs and cycling groups!

We took a pause take in the lights, sip mulled wine, hot vimto and munch on mine pies and Hannah's delicious cookies before dashing back to base.

On what felt like the very first task of Spring sunshine, 7 energetic GoodGymers had a spring in their step and were ready to take on a leaflet distribution task for Woodbank Community Food Hub.

The wonderful folk at Woodbank Community Food Bank have an array of exciting events on over the coming months and needed to get the word out on the street to the community.

5 of us met at our Life Leisure base and covered a solid 3km run meandering to the leaflet drop start point to meet a fellow 2 wallking GoodGymers.

We welcomed newbie, Kat, to her first task. She got stuck straight in, impressing us with her speedy delivering!

Sarah gave away her wooden spoon delivery trick - thanks GoodGym Trafford! And we had a great time chattering and catching up.

As dark fell, we embarked on the journey back to base with empty bags and a sense of achievement!

To shake off our legs, the festive season and dark nights and welcome any newcomers, our group this week was to take a leisurely Run Talk Social - a chance to catch up, enjoy a mindful run with friendly faces, (illuminated by leftover Christmas night lights) and learn more about GoodGym. And generally BLOW off any festive cobwebs.

We met at base in the howling wind and torrential rain, all eager (haha) to kick start good habits and get back into routine. We chatted our way around a blustery 5 kilometer route - mixed with road runs, puddle jumps and beautiful halls before returning to base feeling refreshed, and very wet!

One of our wonderful regular tasks is to deliver the brilliant Heaton's (Cheadle, Didsbury and now even Chorlton!) post to the local community, with smiles on our faces and weighted rucksacks on our back!

Our target area of Peel Moat is nestled in the heart of Heaton Moor and gave us a good 1.5 mile run from our Life Leisure Houldsworth Village bass to the delivery start point.

Just as our run was due to begin, along came the torrential storm - rain, rain and more rain!

Did we let it stop us? Absolutely not! not!

We dodged puddles, lept over lakes and embraced the wet dog look with great enthusiasm!

On our run, we welcomed back Rob, Pete and Lauren from their Summer travels and our new recruits (now regulars) YingXin and Emma joined us once again.

I think we absolutely STORMED the task!

Last night's group run saw 5 GoodGymers returning to the beautiful Mile End Meadows to help The Friends Of Mile End to cut back the area and make it more accessible for residents to use.

Mile End Meadows is tucked away, nestled between a housing estate and has a secret entrance, unbeknown to passers by! We were met there by Pheobe, from The Friends, who gave us a history talk of the area and how it had been used over the years.

We were met with raspberry canes, plum trees, apple trees, blackberry bushes, and even a magnificent cherry tree...although the birds had devoured what was left since our last task!

Our task was to cut and prune back the shrubs and brambles to make pathways for the trees to be accessed.

We also welcomed back Jen for her second Goodgym group run and welcomed YingXin for her very first session with us! Both absolutely stormed the 6km total run and we hope to see them back for more!

A fruitful evening's work done!