18 runners met at Leisure World to celebrate Goodgym Colchester’s 3rd birthday.

Run leader Tav started with our usual round up of news. The main topic being that Goodgym Colchester has turnt 3! And for our task we were going back to where it all started, The Food Bank.

In other news, Olympians were applauded for their efforts at the weekend. Egg and spoon and sack races were completed with gusto and a good time was had by all. Tav came first in both the 100m and 800m races and Ella came 2nd in the 5000m earning a PB of 20:34 too! Overall Colchester came fourth place for the shield! A mission was also successfully completed at the weekend, which saw goodgymers volunteering for junior Parkrun and then cleaning up the area afterwards following a concert the night before.

Dan Norkett celebrated his 50 good deeds tonight and we are starting to see the black t-shirts catching up with the red! Chrissie is a newly anointed member of the Taskforce and we are looking forward to new tasks coming our way. One potential new task was hinted at that would involve Goodgymers cleaning a boat, which is likely to be a GoodGym first!

Big news on the night we pruned and sprinted around Colchester town centre. Firstly we welcomedPaul to our merry group and I hope you enjoyed our sometimes peculiar but effective way of getting fit and doing good...

Secondly our hero of 21 good deeds, Dan cycled from John o' Groats to Lands End with just a sleeping bag and few pairs of socks! Epic.

Thirdly on the agenda was the Olympic team consisting of me, Ella, Jade and the Susie who stormed and destroyed North Hill during our sprint training. (As did everyone else - I am jealous that I could not join in). I never predict sporting outcomes but it is a certainty that Colchester will return heroes through racing and baking.

As I mentioned after we dead-headed the baskets in Vineyard Street, Crouch Street and Balkerne Hill we made our way from Pam's house to the home of hill sprints - North Hill. I asked for maximum effort up the hill and total recovery down and that is what I saw. After that we went to the quiet and tranquil Castle Park to stretch and and be mindful before saying goodbye...

Until next time mi amigos.

What a sweeping success it was tonight! A lovely evening and a hearty 8km's under our belts.

It was good to be back in the Goodgym groove and catch up with the news after missing Bob's 100th good deed last week! There are many areas reaching milestone birthdays, such as Brighton and Chelmsford and our 3rd birthday is fast approaching...party time! Emma and Catherine both completed the West Bergholt 5 miler in style.

Off we set for a scenic route to John Lampon Court, following the river and heading past Old Heath Recreation ground. We met Barry, a resident, at the door and he kindly showed us the equipment and we set to work with a little bit of Dick Van Dyke's singing to inspire the sweeping!

Litter was picked, weeds were dispatched and pathways were swept. Barry, who knew little about Goodgym, was very grateful and we too thanked him for his time and help. We surely made a great first impression!

On the return route we took the familiar and shorter choice but clocked up another 3km. Holly had never run that far and Beth had eaten deep fried pickled onions as a warm up snack...so well done both of you!

We did some stretching and Emma did a handstand! Next week we will show that we #loveparks .

*Tonight we completed a double with our second task for Colchester Borough Homes. *

The group gathered at Leisure World and welcomed Sophie for her first run and task with us. Welcome to Goodgym!

The news was exciting as usual with loyal runner Dan completing the tough Colchester Stampede 10k, Bryanne smashing 100 obstacles at Nuclear Races and run leader Helen getting an award at work that celebrated excellence.

We had a quick talk about the Co-op East of England partnership as well as the Jo Cox Foundation with Global Sharing Week coming up.

Off we went into the Essex sunshine to warm up in the glorious park and make our way through Colchester town centre, admiring our Colchester in Bloom handy work on the way, to Nancy Smith Close. The team were raring to go and with 22 runners, who Rebecca from Colchester Borough Homes was delighted to dish out the tasks to.

At the front of the homes a team of 7 runners planted and weeded, in the court yard and car park the rest of the team weeded and planted beautiful flowers. We swept and tidied all over too. See the photos, the results are fabulous. Being a warm spring evening one resident came to see hello and admire out finesse with trowels, brushes and dust pans!

With the task done we trotted off to Abbey Fields to have a bit of fun on a small hill, doing a 2 minute continuous relay with partners. Then we returned to Castle Park to enjoy the sunset and spend a few minutes in the sensory garden. A number of us were astounded by sound waves with a strangely amplified point in the garden. Kudos to any one who can explain this phenomena.

After stretching we strolled back through the park, picking up litter on the way, but talking about fishing and bird life in the case of myself and Bob.

Good times. You lot are brilliant. Remember the 12th June is social night! Oh and check out the Craig David poses in the pictures! Just "7 days" till the next run and task!

...but black T-shirts are earned after 50 good deeds!

Tonight felt like a celebration of the coming together of running and helping. The collection of medals on display was epic with Goodgym Colchester represented in Colchester (10k), Suffolk (30k for Helen), Maldon mud run (400m for Sophie) and Sofia (21k). BLING! Not only that but the there is an increasing amount of fetching black t-shirts on display. It is amazing that so many good deeds are happening in Colchester. In fact we managed 91 good deeds last month and do not forget the coach runners.

Not only that but it is mental health week and the chance to talk to each other, do some exercise and feel great.

We set off in the sunshine for one of our longer runs to John Lampon Court. Warming up in the most dynamic way we ran from river to hill to recreation ground and beyond. Charlotte met us and distributed the tools - brushes, dust pans, litter pickers and gloves. Last year we had the same task and we set to work improving the court yard, seating area and front porches as well as litter picking and tidying the front of the property.

The difference was notable and the appreciation from one resident was clear after she asked us to remove some weeds she could not do herself. That is Goodgym.

We warmed up again on Old Heath Rec and jogged into the sunset, stopping to do a little partner fitness work before stretching and heading for home.

Well done everyone! You are all champions.