Oh, boy! At GoodGym Worthing tonight seven runners turned out for a lovely summer’s evening run, they were of course met with rain and a gloomier evening than normal (something to do with an eclipse, not of the heart, and it wasn’t raining in my heart).

It was lovely to welcome back Anne for her second run, and Alex – I didn’t bribe him to come again honest!

A big shout out to Gill who completed the 2 Tunnels Ultra in Bath on Saturday – you were missed tonight buddy!

After a gentle warm-up we headed off on a steady 2.5km run towards our task at Buddy’s Café which is a wonderful café and drop-in centre in Worthing for those with special needs. Nick led from the front whilst Beth back marked to ensure no-one was lost en-route.

Once we arrived at the task we were welcomed by Debra who explained that she would love for our GG team to prune a large tree that was overhanging the fence. Everyone armed themselves with loppers and began making light work of cutting the branches back level with the fence, within minutes huge piles of branches appeared...It’s so easy.

Alex down-tooled in order to tackle a particular tricky tree branch with his hands and ensured he was victorious in the Man v Tree tug of war competition. Belinda, Duncan and Anne continued with the lopping while Sue and Beth began chopping-up the ever increasing pile of branches into the gardening bags. As always, there were some tough to reach branches so Nick maximised his height using the very handy stepladder he had dropped off to the task earlier.

Nick was a step ahead with his plans

By the end of the task there was a marked difference in the appearance of the tree and there were two large gardening bags that were very much full to the brim with cuttings; Beth had unsurprisingly very willingly offered to jump in the bag half way through the task in order to maximise the bag capacity.

We posed for a few group photos and then said our thankyous and goodbyes to Debra who was incredibly grateful for our hard work before heading off on our 3km run back to base.

What a difference! It’s unrecognisable from half an hour ago!

Obviously a Monday group run wouldn’t be complete without a fitness session (despite a few wishing otherwise) so we had a quick stop off in Homefield Park for some sprint lap circuits led by Beth. One full sprint circuit was followed by a Parlauf sprint circuit which was of course made into a competition...so who could get back to the start point first?! Well it was a close finish between Alex and Duncan, with Alex just edging out Duncan for the glory.

Red faces, heavy breathing and faster heartbeats, and the murmurs of "bring back Julia, all is forgiven" were both seen and overheard so Beth decided to stop with the task master fitness session and begin the final short leg back to base before a quick cool down and stretch.

Many thanks to you all for your hard work put into the sprints and on the task tonight. Every week it amazes me how fast half an hour goes on the task and just what you can achieve in that time!

Pruned to perfection

You’ll be pleased to know that Julia is back next week for the Kamelia Kids weeding/garden tidy-up task and fitness session. Why not sign-up here for next week’s bank holiday group run?

p.s. well done if you spotted all the Buddy Holly songs.

A warm welcome to GoodGym Worthing

It was a delight to welcome you all to GoodGym tonight . Special mention goes to our new recruit Anna who joined us for her first ever GG task and group run.I was also really pleased to see Sue return for week 2 together with our trusty regulars Gill, Belinda Roisin, Beth, Michelle , Duncan and Nick. Please look out for a big GG cheer coming your way.

Pier pressure

Nick led the warm up to the pier and round it ! Check out your strava and see how you walked / ran on water tonight. Gill and Nick also paused to stop and have a photo oppportunity in the new stain glassed window on the pier.

Anchors away

We had a warm and incredibly happy welcome from the friends of Anchor Gardens Frieda , Jillie and Steve together with park ranger Keith , who , between the 4 of them organised the 'where and whens' of the task. We split the group into 3 groups of

• Weed prune and define the shrubs (Gill , Sue, Roisin and Anna )
• Shingle shovelers from the lorry (Nick and Belinda)
  
• Shingle shuttles in the wheelbarrow (Michelle , Duncan ,Beth )

Between them, my trusty group shifted and raked 1 ton of shingle . An epic achievement to feel very proud to be a part of.

Water and a wave

With a few photos ,some much appreciated water provided by Gillie and many expressions of thanks from the Friends of Anchor Gardens the group waved goodbye and headed off towards Brooklands . It was an out and back along the prom ,around the lake and finishing in Beach House grounds.

Buddy burpees

We finished the session with a fitness session comprising of some sprints together with a buddy pyramid circuit which included a combination of cardio and strength exercises. Duncan and Nick managed to win by the skin of their teeth . Enjoy the glory as they may not be so lucky next time :)

GoodGym bulletin board - dates for your diary

Saturday 19th August GG Worthing mission. Monday 21st August Mencap - Buddys cafe . Pruning a large hedge followed by a fitness session led by Beth! Bank holiday Monday 28th August - Kamelia Kidz front garden tidy up Sunday 3rd September 4pm Possible Good Gym 6 month shin dig / parrtty ( doodle poll to follow in the weekly fitness email )

I hope that you enjoy reading the report and looking at the photo memories. Please remember that if you view the photos on a phone they are likely to appear chopped off !

Have a great week everyone, Lovely buzz in the group tonight admidst a hive of activity.

Much GoodGym love to you all

Julia :)

*The sun shines on GoodGym Worthing

On a sunny and breezy evening we all convened at Splashpoint for a pre run chat and catch up . It was especially nice to welcome some familiar faces back in the shape of Elisa ,Roisin and Duncan together with 3 new ones, Sue ,Alex and Martin . A special mention to my top regular duo Belinda and Gill who were unavoidably detained at the last minute . You were both missed . A huge GG cheer is coming to all of you good people :)

*Dying to get there

Wowser ! After a warm up round through the town the group arrived promptly and eagerly awaiting our first visit to Heene Cemetery in St Michael's road. We were given a warm welcome from Sue and Peter who are organisers of the friends of Heene cemetery and also from our trusty park ranger , Duncan.

*There was a lot of soul searching and 'raking the dead ( grass)'

There were plenty of tasks and plenty of people this evening which was a joy for me to be part of. We set about raking the recently strimmed grass with plenty of wheelbarrow shuttles to dispose of the grass. This was combined with chopping up previous pruning activity as well as sieving soil for back filling of the graves which have subsided in time.

*Everyone, including the locals entered into the spirit of the task

There was the usual warm glow from everyone this evening and absolutely no grave talk whatsoever :) Beth was up to her usual antics climbing in to a wheelbarrow for a ride with Nick encouraging her!

After a busy and fruitful 35 mins we finished with some group photos , applause and thanks before setting off for a run back along the seafront culminating in a fitness session in Beach house gardens.

• Stars in the making

The fitness session was short but sharp this evening with a series of lamppost and tree sprints together with some slippery mountain climbers , star jumps , squats and plank work with some dodgy hip mobility moves thrown in for fun.

Many thanks to all my team this evening ! Another wonderful GG experience .

You all make my Mondays ! Looking forward to the next one already and I hope to see you all there.

Julia

:) :) :)

Community gardens receive tlc from GoodGym Worthing

After a quick warm up along the prom on a summer evening in Sunny Worthing my small but elite team headed in the direction of Denton gardens where we had our usual cheery welcome from Park Ranger , Keith.

We gave a warm GG welcome to Lucy today who was visiting for the evening . Thank you for your hard work , banter and energy.Please accept a GG cheer from us all.

The team immediately got going on the task which included weeding and pruning a stretch of overgrown flower beds

Making a dent in Denton Gardens !

The weeds and puns came at such a pace that Ranger Keith was having to work hard to keep up with the piles of debris we created in our wake !

Queen of the bindweed

Gill is 3 weeks away from doing her Lunartic marathon and even struggling with a dodgy back after a hard week of training she turned out for GG . Not only did Gill do some fine pruning but she simply owned the killer bindweed tonight . A huge and loving GG cheer to you lovely lady.

Beth gets ready to 'Raf' it at Wimbledon !

After a day of watching her most favourite person on TV Beth turned out for a leg stretcher and good deed before she was heading up to SW19 to camp out in preparation for her next Rafael experience. As you will see from the photos,once again, we had to go looking for her in the depths of the flower bed !

Bon voyage Duncan !

Just a few short hours before Duncan heads off to NZ, he turned out for his last GG task for a month on holiday. There's a nice photo of Duncan so that we don't forget what he looks like !

A fun and friendly 5 k

After a tidy up and wave goodbye to Ranger Keith Nick led the run with long legged N R G weaving through the streets of Worthing encouraging a pacey sprint back along the seafront to GG base at Splashpoint Leisure Centre.

Gill and I also took a look at the wild flower progress at Beach House gardens that we did and we were delighted to see it looking so lush and pretty. Hopefully Splashpoint beds will not be far behind !

Stretches ,well dones , happy holidays and some quality press ups from Lucy finished off the evening nicely!

Thanks team . You always make my smile bigger on Monday evenings !