Following a fabulous weekend filled with GoodGym Community Missions and Parties, the vibe was positive and upbeat last night with lots of chatting and laughter amongst GG'ers. Good friendships are starting to form now, with some GG'ers finishing off conversations that they had started the previous week. Considering that we only launched 4 months ago, with many GG'ers not knowing each other, it just shows you how welcoming the group is; that anyone of any ability is welcome at GoodGym Swindon, as long as they can run a little bit and chat at the same time! A big Christmas thank you must go to the Volunteer Run Leaders for making this all happen; for their continued enthusiasm and commitment to GG. There are three Run Leaders; The Scientist, Crazy Legs and currently injured but back in the New Year, Back Marker Bird, who I very much look forward to working with again in 2019, to make GG Swindon bigger and better (if that's possible?!). My aim for the New Year is to establish a Task Force; to support the Run Leaders and ease the pressure . There is lots to do and think about when organising a Group Run, so if you're keen to help out and you have completed 10 Good Deeds, then please do consider joining the Task Force. It is guaranteed to be rewarding and FUN of course! A little bird told me last night that Mike is part-way through the Task Force online 'training'...! I do hope so!

So, what happened last night? Well, we had a big turn out, with 17 GG'ers helping out at Pinetrees Community Centre to help wrap and pack Christmas Giving Boxes. It was good to see a new face; Lynette who is a friend of Sharon, the owner of four horses and has recently finished couch to 5K. It was also good to see Lily again, who hasn't been seen since October. Lily has been missed! And it was good to hear that the lovely Helen is now Mission Verified. Wonderful! Let's bring on those Mission and Coach Runs in 2019?

I have to say that the Icebreaker during the pre-run briefing was fun last; GG'ers were asked what their first jobs were? Sam ate a lot of cake; Andrew had a paper round; Richard worked in a shoe shop in Stevenage; and, Stuart (number 13) was paid less than 50p per hour to read 'adult' magazines all day (!) What a mix!

When we arrived at Pinetrees, we were met by the lovely Bernice Mack, Community Assets Manager for Central Swindon North Parish Council. She had our cardboard boxes made up ready to be wrapped and filled by GG Swindon! Birthday Girl Alethia, Jenny (who had been child minding all day and was keen to join us last night for 'a break') and head cold Tracey all decided to meet us at the task, not able to run for various reasons. It was good to have the extra pairs of hands as there were a lot of boxes to be wrapped and filled; the only dilemma was the lack of 'sticky back plastic', but this was soon overcome thanks to a 'sticky back plastic station' on the top of the cafe counter (thanks Stuart!). With GG'ers working in small teams to wrap the boxes in Christmas paper, it soon became apparent who was more skilled at this job (Kay) and who needed some extra guidance (I'm not naming any names here)! Some great team work meant that this job was finished in no time at all, giving us an opportunity to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Alethia while we waited for Bernice to deliver the food items. By this stage, everyone started to feel hungry, particularly as there was a discussion about the Lemon Drizzle cake that Alethia had made that day. I could see Crazy Legs eyes WIDEN with thoughts of CAKE! Unfortunately there was no cake on offer when the food was brought from upstairs to downstairs, but...

...a mountain of mackerel, boxes of biscuits and packets of pasta instead!

There was a production line going on with Tracy and I at the end deciding on which box deserved the luxury chocolates?! What a decision! And what fun we had that evening. A very rewarding task knowing that we have helped so many in the local community receive a hamper this Christmas. But the night was not yet over; we had to run back to the Oasis of course. And we had one of Crazy Leg's drills to look forward to in the BMX park! And what a workout that was! Charles did mention that Crazy Legs likes to do this with her Run Along Gang, that she likes 'breaking' people! We will all feel it tomorrow that's for sure!

So, what's happening in the next few weeks?

• Christmas and New Year! There will be NO GROUP RUN on Tuesday 25th December or Tuesday 1st January. Still feel like running on New Years Day? Then why not pop along to Swindon parkrun at Lydiard Park at 10:30am that day for your running fix followed by a post-run coffee in the Forest Cafe? New to parkrun? It's a free, timed 5km sociable run; you just need to register and print out a barcode beforehand. For more information, please visit the Swindon parkrun website

• Our last Community Mission before Christmas is tomorrow at 6pm, Darkroom Espresso. The Scientist needs your help to set up a Christmas Party for the City of Sanctuary. Don't forget that you don't need a DBS check and you don't have to run to a Community Mission, although running at any time is recommended! Interested? Click here for more info and to sign up!

• Our final Group Run before Christmas is next Tuesday at the usual time and place. We will be running to the Gateway Church in Westlea to help sort toys; what a great task to look forward to ahead of the Big Day?! Christmas fancy dress is highly recommended next week so don't forget your santa hats (Helen?), your fat Santa suits (Emily?) or your Christmas jumper (Richard?!). It's going to be FUN so make sure you don't miss out by signing up today!

• Our first Group Run of 2019 will be on Tuesday 8th January; we will be heading to Swindon Advocacy Movement (SAM) to help with their office move. Why not bring a friend, perhaps someone whose New Years Resolution is to 'get fit', 'lose weight' or to simply 'have fun at GoodGym?!' Don't delay; click here to sign up today! We want 2019 to be a spectacular year for GoodGym Swindon!

• Finally, please consider using Strava when you're exercising; you can connect whether you are running, walking, cycling or even 'working out' in the gym. We can then all give you a great big cheer after your workout and it will also help you to earn some GoodGym badges!

Another great turnout for this week’s task with a nice mix of regulars and new faces. A very warm welcome to Ros, Annie, Joe and Owen.

Ros just completed her run leading training with England Athletics and will be joining the run leader pool in the near future. Brilliant news since unfortunately Lewis is still out injured, get better soon! It was great to see those who have not been able to come for a while back with their red t-shirts on. The report writer admits a very large smile at the sight of Helen jogging in (late) 😊

For our intro this week we learnt what DIY tasks were on people’s to do list. Turns out we have quite a lot of DIY to do but are too busy doing GG to get round to completing it, especially in the bathroom.

Up we went to Pinehurst, tapping the Beatbox on the way to meet Alex Jackson from the Parish Council and collect the bags. Then started the game of find the rubbish as it turned out that Pinehurst was much cleaner than expected. We started to suspect that another GoodGym group had beaten us to it, surely not Slough, Sheffield or Stockport but maybe one of the local walking groups perhaps?

There was talk of packing up a little early and heading back to the community centre to give blood since there was blood donation going on but we did finally detect the detritus, locate the litter, corral the clutter and recover the rubbish. Must be the comedy animal rubbish bins that encourage tidiness.

We made time for a pyramid fitness session round the trees 1,2,3,2,1, before heading back down to the Oasis. Well done one and all. Remember to look out for those Task Force emails in the next few weeks as people soon reach the 10 milestone and we need votes on social dates which has been posted on Whatsapp by Kirsty. Link to Whatsapp group if you have not yet joined, just click here!

Emily 'Crazy Legs' will be leading the group to the wonderful venue that is Toothill Farmhouse to do some indoor painting in the warm with tea and biscuits! Does this sound like your cup of tea?! If so, please join us and sign up here! No good at painting? Don't worry about it; everyone is welcome. Just don't spill paint on those red GoodGym t-shirts!