29 people ran 8k to tidy the garden at Stanhope Community centre whilst being filmed by ITV

Tonight, it was great to welcome a big group of runners from Kingsheath Running club on an ‘away day’. Thank you to all of you for coming a long, I hope you enjoyed it! After a few interviews with the 'film crew', Pat from ITV Central and some filming of us leaving 1000 Trades we were on our way. We did a steady 3k to Stanhope, meeting Pat there, who filmed the group doing a hill sprint up to the centre.

Godfrey Green fingers

Once arrived Monica gave us a warm welcome, and the group got on with tidying the garden, we spent a whole 20 minutes, filling 6 bags full of weeds! Whilst this was going on Pat continued to film the group and more interviews took place.

The run back

After we were done, and a few bars of Rocky Road later kindly provided by Monica we were on our way, with Mr Cameraman taking one last shot of us disappearing into the Birmingham skyline. We stopped on a quiet road were the group did some interval work, completing six tough heart racing efforts! After these were done we ran back to our ‘infamous hill’ were we do our hill work (that’s back next week!!) and we split into two groups, one group going slightly faster, sprinting up the hill then pushing hard up the steps in front of the town hall and then keeping the tempo up for another 400 metres or so. We then took a steady run back to base, but again keeping the tempo high. Great job everyone! Thanks again to all the Kingsheath crew, hopefully we will see you all again soon and keep your eyes out for ITV Central bulletins tomorrow, we are likely to be on the box at some point! Next week we will be out doing good again sign up here.

14 people ran 6k to clear rubbish from a driveway into a skip for a homeless hostel

It was great to have a virtually tropical evening for tonight’s run. It was great to see first time GoodGym’er Sandy at tonight’s gathering. After the intro, we were on our way, running through the city centre, passing the bull ring, down the steps and on to Highgate. Nearly at the hostel we added in a couple of ‘lung busting hill sprints’ before arriving at our destination.

"What a stink!!"

The task was to move all the rubbish which included mattresses, Tv’s, chairs amongst other items into a large skip. Unfortunately, there was a little surprise, a big plastic bin was full of water, which spilled over the drive, causing one hell of a stink!! I think the water must have been in there since the 19th century!! Oh well Goodgymer’s are not fazed by this sort of thing (though I did think for a moment a few might pass out!), so we took it in turns in going back and forth to the tap to fill a bucket with water and swill the ‘stinky’ water away. There you are an extra work out! Once the task was completed and the skip couldn’t take anymore rubbish we were on are way back.

"Time to burn"

On are way back, again we incorporated a few sprints on the hills, James showing great determination powering up those hills and Phil showing his 400-metre runner speed. After that we ended up in St Paul’s square we got those thighs and bums burning with some lunges and a 1 minute wall squat and we even threw in a few tuck jumps to get that heart racing! Chan showing a great technique, Charlotte getting nice and deep with those lunges and Suki offering great encouragement as always

We then finished up with a short jog back to base, finishing with the all important stretching.

Next week we are going to be cleaning a gym at the Salvation Army, it would be great if you could join us sign up here

Ps. Thanks to Chan for the couple of ‘task photos’ top man!

13 people ran 6k to clear rubbish and weeds from around the Girl Guides Headquarters in the city centre

A rather wet night didn't deter 13 GoodGymers doing good in Birmingham on Tuesday night. On only the second ever GoodGym Birmingham run it was great to welcome new faces Suki, Sophie, Phil, Anjali, James and Katie. So after meeting at our new base of 1000 Trades in the Jewellery Quarter we set out on our way to the Girl Guides Association.

"Weather for ducks"

As it was the kind of weather you would love if you were a duck, we took the canal towards the Mailbox to see if we could spot any of our feathered friends. No such luck, too wet for them maybe?!

Once arriving at our task destination we did a great job in clearing the car park and surrounding area of rubbish and weeds at super sprint speed! We even had a bit of time to do some 'squat holds' to get those bums and thighs burning.

"Hills, Hills, Hills"

So in no time at all we were on our journey back, this time we went through the city centre, stopping by the post office to do 6 minutes of killer hill sprints! We had 'Phil the Power' leading the way, Eva showed great technique getting up on to those toes, Sophie had great arm action driving her up the hill, John showed power in those thighs as he powered up the hill, but every single person put in an absolute fantastic effort and it was amazing to see! Next time maybe we will go for 8 minutes?.....

We then finished up with a steady run back to base, finishing with the all important stretching.

Next week we are going to be clearing rubbish into a skip for a homeless hostel in Highgate, it would be great if you could join us sign up here