GoodGym is 10 years old and Happy Birthday and early retirement Mr R!

Wow, wow and wow again!

So I have the unenviable task of writing the most epic run report ever. I’m hoping that, now that John is retired, he may occasionally relieve me of this weekly joy so that you can all share in the magic of his humour and enjoy a whole new set of puns. I haven’t officially asked him yet but considering he has yet to say no to any of my challenges I don’t anticipate this request will break the trend! On this subject GG HQ do encourage you all to write the occasional report so don’t be shy in coming forward to volunteer :)

So….back to this evening. Where do I start? Let’s welcome the team! In no particular order but obviously the Birthday boy first. Drum roll please! Welcome to John and Belinda, Daisy, Anne, Barbara, Sue, Jay, Paul, fresh from his hols, Steve, Ros, Tamsin and Nick,

As you will see it was a great turn out at our alternative meeting point for our new task at Sea Lane Ferring tonight.

Rakes Progress

After the warm up run/ walk we linked up with David and his team from the Ferring Conservation volunteers who had already started the task for the evening of raking up the grass verges lining Sea Lane.

David took some time out to outline to me why this was important to the local community. The plan next year is to turn some of this area into wild flowerbeds which will not only look pretty but will also encourage the birds and the bees to pollinate and thrive. If the grass cuttings were left to mulch it would mean a build-up of nitrogen which would not be conducive to wild flower success.

The team were allocated rakes from Nick’s car which park ranger, Anthony, had kindly dropped off to our house earlier in the day together with gloves for those deciding to scoop rather than rake.

Luckily the grass cuttings were so dry that they resembled hay and proved perfect for some fine raking (makes a change from pruning!)

When we first arrived David had said we are aiming to get to ‘that’ bench which I could see in the distance. Given the volume and size of the project I don’t think we realistically expected we would but hope, optimism and energy prevailed and 30 minutes later and right on schedule we got to the bench.

We had a great finishing photo proudly flying the GG flag before a cheery farewell and promise to return.

Slave to the Strava

The group was humorously divided with Tamsin (in her best Jemmie voice) demanding burpees whilst everyone else happy to go with the plan (which, by the way included burpees!)

Being in a different location it meant we had fresh scenery for the run so we headed out in a westerly direction with the team naturally falling into different paced groups.

The front group were tasked with running up and down the stones on the beach eight times whilst walkers Nick and Belinda continued on, prospecting a rather nice art deco house that Belinda has her eye on!

The remainder of the team enjoyed an effective and enjoyable functional fitness circuit. 10 squats, 10 squat jumps, 10 inchworms, 10 burpees, 10 press ups. This was repeated (approximately) 4 times with some doing more than others (every picture tells a story!)

With a leisurely run back to the cars we had a final few fun boomerang photos with the flag before piling into cars for the next stage of our adventure this evening.

The Party Starts Here

As it was such a special night we had been invited back to John and Belinda’s Tardis (aka their home) for a triple celebration. At this point we were joined by Duncan, Natacha, Gill and Graham.

This has to go down as the best GG celebration we have ever had.We could not have been made more welcome or be better looked after. In a labyrinth of Dr Who and other niche memorabilia we were all transfixed with the character and detail of this amazing experience.

Belinda served drinks and especially prepared vegan and gluten free snacks followed by the most epic cake that we have ever seen. A homemade chocolate delicacy had been decorated with John’s exquisite mini GG super hero avatars that he had made.The attention to detail was simply jaw dropping. Each of us had a persona and an outfit to match.

As if this wasn’t enough, John had also made top trump cards with photos of each of our super hero characters together with number of tasks, cheers and good deeds done to date.

                                                                                      >One word! Speechless

Happy Birthday to You & Many Happy Returns (same time next year?!)

More cake followed in the shape of a delicious coffee and walnut Birthday cake decorated with candles. We sang, John blew out the candles and ate lots of cake with cakeman polishing off any leftovers.

We all had a such a wonderful time.

On a personal note I would have loved to have stayed to party longer but run reports don’t write themselves and alarms still go off at 5am on school days lol.

On behalf of all of us thank you to our hosts for an unforgettable evening. At the risk of an awful pun (which I’m going to say anyway) how on earth can we trump this experience?!

In other news

• Congratulations to Barbara, Gill and Graham on their Rewell Wood Relays. With a 750 total climb it sounded immensely tough. Kudos to you all.

• This Saturday is the #GG10 Super Saturday parkrun takeover. Sign up here https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/worthing-parkrun-volunteer-takeover

• Next week park run ambassador and GG trainer Mark Brocklehurst will be covering the group run and task at Bugcycle garden with our friend Nadia Chalk whilst I'm on holiday.

What a night. I’m feeling like the luckiest trainer ever. You guys rock!

See you in 2 weeks. Be good whilst I’m away :)

Julia x