On one of the wettest days in GoodGym Liverpool history, a badass team of 9 gnarly runners squelched 4km to help out at Central Youth Club.

Our original plan had been for a 4km run (8km in total) followed by some intensive gardening, but in the morning, the community organisers we were meant to be helping rightly called things off. The ground was already sodden and 5mm of rain was predicted between 6pm - 8pm, i.e. bang smack during GoodGym.

After a frantic search I finally found an indoor task willing to host us last minute, with a not too long run. The task was to paint the stairwell at Central Youth Club, around 1.8km from our base. Perfect!

With the rain already falling in bucketfuls I wasn't expecting many people to show, but was pleasantly surprised as a super seven joined me at base. After a quick warm-up indoors we braved the outside. It was a case of "On your marks, get wet, go!" (Thanks Tim!) with the weather giving us everything it had. Luckily for me, GoodGym people are Good People and when we arrived at the task totally soaked, Rowan, who could hardly see through their wet glasses exclaimed, "That was refreshing!".

We stripped off our wet coats and set to work. The brushes and rollers were nearly as wet as we were and so we struggled at first, but after being given a bundle of old towels, the quality of our work began to improve.

Kudos to Ruth who missed us at the base but still joined the run, arriving to the task just 2 minutes after us and equally drenched but still smiling. As Tim punned, "We didn't want to be Ruth-less!".

We did our best to work in a very narrow stairwell, while feeling very soggy. And spent 35 minutes getting a fairly decent amount of painting done.

Needless to say, I decided that we could skip the fitness session tonight and instead we ran the most direct route back in very wet clothing and with trainers squelching all the way.

These brave runners deserve a GoodGym badge for facing adverse weather, or a medal. We'll take both please! Massive big up and thank you to those who came to this week's Group Run - seriously well done.

Next week we're praying for sunshine and have a walkable task. Read all about it here.

The perfect 10 runners ran 5km, completing a task supporting Central Youth Club - in record time!

Liverpool's youth clubs are over-stretched and under-resourced, so here at GoodGym Liverpool we do what we can to help them out whenever we can. Central Youth Club is just north of the city in Kensington and is a newbie friendly distance to run. While residents of London's Kensington have a life expectancy of 83 years old, in Liverpool's Kenny resident's can hope to make it to the average expectancy of just 70 years old. Yep, that's a staggering 13 years difference!

We've helped out at Central Youth Club an number of times, working to tidy up their facilities. The task this time was a bit different - they needed GoodGym to deliver the centre's newsletter to local homes. Always keen to help fight stereotypes about young people, we were glad to take the task.

With 200 leaflets to deliver, the team made super fast work of it, with a little bit of healthy competition adding to the speed.

Everyone was brilliant tonight but special kudos to Rowan who led their team to victory. And of course a HUGE shout out and massive well done to Mat who came clad in his new black GG tee after clocking up a mighty 50 good deeds.

Once all the newsletters had been delivered we ran back to the youth centre and made use of their floodlit Astroturf pitch. After a not-the-most-fun sort of task, I treated the team to a silly game rather than a hard workout, which we called "The best runners...". I have a feeling we'll be playing it again soon.

Well done you top ten!

Next week is week one of two when we'll be clearing flower beds at Jubliee Sports Bank. Bring your headtorches and your gloves and get signed-up here.

Until then, happy running <3

A huge team - the excellent 18 - ran nearly 4km and helped to keep the facilities clean at Central Youth Club.

It was reported earlier this year that Liverpool has the third highest rate of young people who are not in employment or education (NEETS) in the country, with the rate at it's highest since 2012. That's one of the reasons why GoodGym Liverpool is proud to work with so many of our city's much needed youth clubs.

On a dark, chilly night Central Youth Club was buzzing with activity and a fair amount of curiosity about the team of broom-wielding red-shirted do-gooder who invaded their centre. Met by Youth Worker Bianca, we were soon put to work cleaning litter and leaves off the centre's two AstroTurf pitches, as well as clearing bags full of leaves from the front of the building.

It was lovely to have such a big team and special shout outs go to newbies Amy H., Christine L., Rachel M. and Sam B. who all did a fab job. It was brilliant to have you on board and we'd love to have you join us again soon.

It was also a treat to see GoodGym giant Beth once again (who has clocked 647 good deeds, and counting!). We also announced tonight that Beth's "home" branch - GoodGym Lambeth - will be coming up for the Liverpool Half Marathon in March, and we're excited to welcome them. Are you ready to rise to the challenge? Get signing-up for the race and talk to me if you need help with a training plan :)

After tidying up the centre, a balance and agility fitness session didn't quite go to plan, but hey, laughing is good for you, right?! And then it was all downhill back to base. Great work team!

Next week we have an EXTENDED session, allowing us more time to run to Penny Lane Development Trust. Improver runners looking for a challenge, this is a great week for you. Those daunted by the 9-10km roundtrip, if you want to meet us there and run back drop me a line and we'll work something out. Don't forget to let me know you're coming by signing-up here.

Until then, happy running, Char <3

Our mighty 11 runners ran 4km to help out Liverpool Central Youth Club, making tidy work of a litter pick!

On a very gray evening, a dream team of runners were a flash of red that brightened up Liverpool in more ways than just by way of their matching tops. Rather, our team brightened up a dirty and potentially dangerous alley way, brightening the evening of concerned youth workers.

Even with a surprise hill, the team ran a fast pace along the 2km dash from our Hope Street Hotel base to Central Youth Club (which is not so centrally based to the north of the city centre between Kensington and Everton). We were greeted by youth workers Pauline and Tracy who welcomed us with a whole load of litter-pickers and rubbish bags. There is an alley that runs alongside the youth centre and the young people sometimes need to go down it to collect stray footballs etc. No one seems to take care of the area, so it ends up full of litter and potentially dangerous and sharp items. Our task was to tidy this area and make it safe for the young people who use the facilities.

The team split up with half the group going straight down the alley and the other half picking up litter from the front of the youth centre. John and Eimear even cleaned up the other side of the road and found a discarded shirt and an old pair of trainers (they weren't New Balance so we binned them!).

Shout out to Leo who helped out as our back marker AND came up with tonight's run report title pun. Good to have you back fella!

Six bags full of litter later and we were on our way. We stopped off in a small park to run a few fun drills including skipping, quick feet running and gentle sprinting. As usual, it descended into tyranny and chaos, but it got everyone's heart pumping and hopefully gave the runners something to think about. The run back to base was even faster, with the team running almost as if in formation! An overall great effort this week folks, well done.

Next week is bank holiday so no doubt it will rain. Luckily for those who want to make the most of their days off, we have an indoor task. So delay your bank holidays chill times and come run with us first - sign-up here!

See you next time, Char <3