14 ran on a river care test run

A healthy 14 runners met at the ideas hub with no newbies for the first time in ages. So a fairly familiar crew were pleased that the weather had been kind once again and the rain decided to stop in time for the session.

We had been approached by Rivercare who do some great work with or neighbors at Goodgym Colchester, to see if we can look after an area of river in Chelmsford. after an inspection a couple of weeks ago we decided we would do a trial run and head along the river to see if there was a good area for us to look after. we had identified a possible site and so headed off to cross the wooden bridge by the records office to begin the litter picking. a jog up to the next bridge (which we also crossed) showed little litter picking opportunities, so we ran a couple of sprints to complete the warm up. we then followed the river away from the cycle path and still found little to collect so opted for plan b and ran down to the "bunny walks" to see if we would have more luck there.

So a couple of kilometers later we arrived at site 2 and proceeded to collect what little litter we could find as we moved towards the university. Once there (just across the bridge...) we just happened to join the university "Trim track" where we decided to have a go at the exercises provided and we all hurdled the hurdles and traversed the climbing wall, on our way through the many challenges presented.

A steady run back and we were soon stretching outside the hub. great work by all if we largely found that Chelmsford is exceedingly well looked after throughout our parks and river ways!

Next week we are back at Our Lady Immaculate school to help repair some storm damage caused by Doris. it is a short run so suitable for all but will allow for more fitness fun!

see you there!

9 runners painted at The Ideas Hub

Part 2 of painting at the ideas hub and we got into the task after a quick plank warm up. We painted all the panels we didn't manage to get to last week and added a second coat to a few more. Everything is looking very bright and white!

On a Roll-er

Really pleased with everyone's efforts especially newbie Kerri who was soon chatting with the group and painting like a pro.

life on the run

After we covered almost everything we could see white we cleaned up and set off on a nice steady running tour of Chelmsford. a loop round the bus and train station so we could get some blurry subway pics and on wards to the University before heading back.

Check the facebook page for news o the social and we still need ideas for races we can do together! see you next week!

12 Goodgymmers went to Hylands school farm to clear some used straw

This week we headed back to Hylands School farm, a firm favorite with the Goodgym Chelmsford Crew to help fill the skips with more farm waste. As the route took us through the park we stopped for exercises along the way to make sure we were fully warmed up for the task. Press ups, dips and wall sits were all easily dispatched before we took on the long "slope" up Waterhouse lane.

Despite a slight addition to the route we reached the farm raring to go and quickly got stuck into the task. Barrow after barrow were filled and loaded into the skips, and in no time the skips were too full for us to load any more. This did leave us a little time to confirm that the turkeys were still in residence and have a chat to some of the Goats and some new "Posh" Chickens.

Our excellent and speedy hard work also meant we were able to add a little Admirals park hill relay to proceedings on the way back.

A big shout out to Rachel and Joel who completed their first 10k last weekend and to Laura who joined us for the first time.

see you all next week!

7 Runners ran to Hylands School farm to reduce an unsafe muck heap

After our into speech and a big welcome to Hassana who joins us for the first time we set off for our warm up in the park. A stop under the viaduct was perfect for some flexibility exercises to get us going before continuing on to the School. We seamlessly navigated the route to the task where we met Jessica who runs the farm, where she briefed us on the task ahead. We paused for an introduction to some of the animals and wellington boots were issued to some of the team, before we began the task of shovelling our way through the now unstable muck heap! The “mostly straw” heap was quickly revealed to be a slightly inaccurate description but we pressed on regardless and made a huge dent in the heap and the surrounding area, loading the waste in to two large skips.
With a large area cleared and a reasonable depth of the heap removed we retreated to get cleaned up and had a further chat with the goats and turkeys before we split into two teams and the girls set off on the way back through the park. A few more minutes tidying up and the guys set off in pursuit! As we entered the park we thought the advance party had made it all the way back to the Hub, but we found them demonstrating perfect wall sits under the viaduct! (which they said they had been doing for “ages” whilst waiting for us!) A steady jog back and some stretches completed another great task, decidedly fun despite the subject matter!
Big shout out to those who helped at the santa run at the weekend, to Richard who ran his 10 mile race in his Goodgym tee and to Apryl who ran her 99th marathon. One more task next week before our break, hope to see you there!

13 ran to Westlands primary school to plant trees

After some rain during the day, we once again enjoyed reasonable conditions for the session as 13 Goodgymers met for a tree planting task.

bonus task warm up

After our introductions and welcoming newbies Catharine and Vic to the team we were allocated a short bonus task of taking 5 tables from the ideas hub round to anytime fitness for their charity quiz night. We made short work of the almost half a mile of table carrying and regrouped to begin the run to Westlands school via an epic subway photo opportunity.

Life on the run

After wasting the photo op by not putting the flash on and getting more blurry pics, we continued through the park and on wards to the school. Despite one of the doors not being open we found our way out to the garden area and assembled for the task.

Can't see the trees for the wood

After anticipating digging huge holes for towering trunks, the trees were somewhat smaller than I had expected but we set about digging them into their new surroundings, following the trail of cones set out by the school children marking where to plant. The smaller hole digging enabled us to complete the task in double quick time and we set off back to the park for some exercises.

Exercises by moonlight

Despite the occasional light missing on our run back we paused at several intervals for squats, press ups, and dips. Inspired by the black board in Anytime fitness we added wall sits under the viaduct and finished with a relay just for good measure. A loop of the bridges and back brought a competitive end to the proceedings before a more leisurely jog the short way back to the hub.

Stretch and socializing

We completed our stretches whilst discussing our up coming social (Friday at the riverside Inn 7pm) our missions (beginning with set up for the Santa run 6th Dec) and races (The Santa run, 6th December). See you all on Friday!