We were joined by new GoodGymer Chris for this week's group run, and he fit straight in as not only a keen runner, but as someone interested in the social nature of GoodGym - arguably one of our best qualities!

David led us out with pickers in hand to our task destination of the Chelmer Navigation. We met Fay and Sallyann raring to go as usual, and got on with picking various items, or not picking in the case of a bottle containing some disgusting liquid.

Myself and Erin got a good arm workout carrying the bags of litter, whilst Andy expressed his amazement for Joe's central London Monday 5k in just under 20 minutes, and Ben took up posing responsibilities for the evening with a photo by the navigation.

Thanks everyone for helping to keep Chelmsford clean, and see you soon for more good work!

Laurie

Our original GoodGymer Ken surprised us tonight with his presence and his return to running after a couple of months off, and we were pleased to see our newest GoodGymer Nisar for his second run with us.

There was some initial shock at the sight of Andy's bare legs on a cold January evening, but he was joined by Martin's similarly bare legs and Ben bare arms, while the rest of us had approximately three layers on...

Joel led us out and Leanne kept Andy company backmarking, whilst our lovely Fay and Sallyann set off walking to Springfield Basin with the equipment. We reconvened and also spotted Angela in her snazzy glasses, and very slowly made our way to the canal.

Distractions ensued, in the form of grot spots for those of us dedicated to the task, and a discarded football for Rich. Big thanks to Joe for documenting our own Christiano Richaldo, and more importantly, taking photos of the rest of the group.

We walked a surprisingly long time to find the right bin to leave our heavy bags by, and made our way back.

Well done everyone, two huge bags of litter taken off the streets, and an amazing way to end the January Challenge! You have collectively done 82 good deeds, and 2,303km, going way over the 45 good deeds and 1,000km we set ourselves!

Hopefully see you on Saturday at parkrun, or maybe Sunday for the quiz.

Laurie

Cor blimey it is cold isn't it!

6 of us met at the gym and ran down to Wharf Road to meet Sallyann. We grabbed our pickers and meandered around Springfield Basin. It was surprisingly clean and tidy so we took the opportunity to reenact the image on one of the barges we saw. Absolutely bloody nailed it. We chatted about Valentine's Day plans and relived some trauma from Joe's past. So wrinkly...

As we trotted around it was getting colder and mistier so we wrapped up early and headed back. Sadly Joel took a tumble on the way but we are hoping he didn't perish on the way back home.

Laurie and I also got Popeye's on the way home after all the conversation about takeaways. Delicious.

9 runners ran 5.5km to clear weeds for Essex Waterways

I was excited to see four task force members attending in our shiny new Saucony Goodgym tshirts, and of course the rest of our lovely members ready for the run and task.

Rich led us on the quickest route to meet Louise at Springfield Basin, with a car boot full of water and tools. Louise showed us our first of many tasks: scraping weeds from the grout in the paved area by the water, and also ensured that we were clear that we were not to fall into the water.

Each person selected a shiny new tool, a particular favourite being the claw-type implement picked by Tav and Charlie. Joel, James and Charlie made themselves comfortable on the floor, whilst Andy, Rich and Joe demonstrated their bending and squatting, and Richard chose the strategy of pulling out the largest weeds first.

Overall, a great first task for the runners and the tools with Essex Waterways, and we look forward to many more!

See you all soon,

Laurie