9 Goodgymmers ran to Broomfield Hospital to plant some beds

Not everyone was put off by Ken's return and the cold weather, so 9 hardy souls set off to Broomfield to help get the hospital beds in order. The flower beds at the front of the hospital that is. No lying down or changing sheets for us, but a long line of plants to be put in.

Fortunately the ground had been dug over and was nice and soft so everyone whizzed through the task, probably in an effort to keep warm!

We were told some exciting news about forthcoming projects that we will be working on in the new year, then we set off with Ally and Henry leading the charge for home.

A nice stretch down whilst we discussed how great the run was going to be next week as Rich was leading a soon to be confirmed task, then we retreated to get a bit warmer!

I have to say it was really nice running with the group again and seeing some familiar faces and a few new ones! I hope to cantch up with you soon!

This was a group run with a difference!

10 runners met at AR Uni ready for an exciting fitness session, then a special invite to Chelmsford Cathedral for a Christmas carol service arranged by Mencap.

We started the fitness session by preparing ourselves with some warm up exercises and headed off to the ‘Avenues’ a short run away.

There are seven Avenues, with 1st Avenue being 425m long and decreasing to 7th Avenue at 235m, a popular place to do efforts. It was a group jog up 1st Avenue and a 80% effort down 2nd Avenue and so on until we got to 7th Avenue. Great efforts by James, Paul, Ally, Laurie, Henry, Rachel, Henry and Catherine up and down all of them.

The faster runners had to run back up the avenue to the last person which was Rich mainly, except for 7th Avenue…!

Now, 7th Avenue is a Strava segment so everyone was challenged to run down the avenue as fast as they could to see how we as a group did, Rachel stormed off and got a crown for her efforts! Rich blasted through everyone to get to the bottom but way off the crown, he now so much wants!

After a short rest to recover we headed back to the Uni and then onto the Cathedral for the carol concert. As Ally got to the underpass first, she had to do a wall squat until the last person got to her.

Time to exercise those vocal chords with Christmas Carols.

A very special thank you to Grace for inviting us, it was a really uplifting concert with amazing singing and a fantastic brass band. We normally never see anyone when we do a task at Mencap so it was really great to see everyone who is involved there, the performances by the members of Mencap were excellent a real privilege to see and hear them.

Next weeks task is to Broomfield Hospital led by Ken, make sure you sign up early.

On a cold Wednesday night we met at ARU ready to get into some goodgymming to warm us up....

Before i begin the run report a big shout out on all those who helped at Chelmsford parkrun last saturday. From what I hear it was the first time that all the tokens matched up, nobody ducked out of the finishers tunnel and there were no complaints. Well done to all those who volunteered. Also, a few of us took part in Chelmsford 10k on sunday with Laurie and David getting PB's and Adam completing his first 10k run. superb work guys, Well done.

Tonight we were to go to one of our favourite places , InterAct . we've been going there for a few years now and we have seen it grow and and transform into such a wonderful place that does so much for teenagers in the community. Creating a safe and enjoyable place for them to come and socialise with others. If you'd like to know more, please take a look at their website www.interact.org.uk

The jewel in the crown is their beautiful garden which is a lovely quiet place that you can relax in and flowing through the middle of it is a winding pathway covered in wood-chips, which is where we come in.

Our task was to give the pathway a top up of wood-chips to keep it looking fresh and maintained. We left ARU and after warming up we made our way through the high street and arriving at InterAct. Susie had organised for huge pile of wood-chips to be delivered and using wheel barrows and shovels we set about spreading it over the pathway.

With gloves on and head torches blazing, the pathway was soon given a healthy covering of fresh wood-chips. As I've said above this garden is such a beautiful place and by us helping to maintain it means that it can be used and enjoyed by all those at InterAct through-out the year. So on behalf of Susie and everyone at InterAct a big thank you for coming tonight.

Although as you all well know at Goodgym, all we need to make us happy are biscuits MMMMMMMmmmmmmm, buiscuits . And with Susie knowing us so well she had left a tin of biscuits and some drinks. Thank you , Susie. They were just what we needed to fuel our run back.

We left shortly as to keep warm and then soon arrived back at ARU where we stretched-off and chatted about our upcoming social on Thursday.

We are going the pub quiz at the Golden Fleece. (check our event page for times)

Again thanks for coming and keep running happy

Rich

*12 runners ran 6km to Mencap to help out with some cleaning *

Tonight, we had a treble of exciting news - Joel wore his 100 good deeds t-shirt AND new trainers (although he didn't want to show off!), Rachel and James G completed the Billericay 10k on Sunday, and Rachel, James G and myself have all now completed over 1,000 km in 2018! Well done everyone, even Joel for just getting a new outfit.

We warmed up a little and set off to Mencap. Arriving ten minutes early, there was nothing for us to do but extra laps. Rich led us on a lap round the block, but we were still too early. Rachel and myself knew how close we were to hitting our 2018 target, so we led a 200m up the road and back. This saw us arrive in perfect time to meet Kevin from Mencap.

We were shown to the chairs and cleaning equipment, and I read out the very specific directions to clean them. The door bell rang, and Adam arrived in perfect time to get started. Joel led with the vacuuming, and everyone else followed with the creamy Cif and water. Ally and Henry were overwhelmed by the cleaning product and method, and we all hope that they haven't ruined our relationship with Mencap forever.

Once finished we set off on a slightly longer route back through Moulsham and Central Park, arriving at ARU just before 8pm.

Don't forget - we are going to the pub quiz at the Golden Fleece on Thursday 22nd November from 7.30pm

Next week we are heading to Broomfield Hospital with Gerry run leading.

Thanks for coming everyone, and see you soon!

Laurie

5 runners ran to Broomfield Hospital to plant

After meeting at Mildmay Gym, and discussing a lack of news this weekend, we remembered that Rich had completed some sort of triathlon at the weekend. Well done Rich! We also didn't remember until after the run that Fay got a PB at parkrun this week. Well done Fay!

We set off to Broomfield, with the David leading out and Laurie backmarking. Once we got to the hospital we were greeted by Richard, and we apologised for the low number of runners. Richard asked us to plant some hedging along the side of a path near the MRI unit. The unit was only built this year, and people often take a shortcut across the grass. Richard hopes to encourage people to use the path by planting hedges. He also outlined plans to make the whole grassy area more attractive, which obviously we hope to have a part in.

Once we got started, it was a GoodGym run report writer's dream. With all the discussion of bushes, the depth and width of holes, and forking, there were too many puns to keep up with. David asked, 'Is my hole deep enough?', while Ally asked 'Is my hole too wide?' and Fay mused over 'a good forking.' We still managed to take our work seriously, planting some larger bushes along the side of the building, and smaller bushes on the side of the path. We even got some complimentary words from passers by.

Richard said we should go and have a look at the sunken garden in its complete state, so we did. Even in the dark it looked beautiful, and we were really happy to have been a part of its creation. We said our goodbyes to Richard, and Joseph thanked him for introducing him to his first proper go at gardening. We will be back for plenty more in the future!

Thank you all for coming and making a difference to one of the green spaces at the hospital. Next week David will be leading us to help Mencap, with location and distance to be confirmed.

See you next time,

Laurie