Happy New Year!! Was the cheer from the 12 on mass, doing the dash, in a flash, with a whole heap of sass! That's one big welcome back from Goodgym Brent. POW POW

On the most FREEEEZZZIINNGGG Evening of recent months, 2017 was kicked off with a ferociously frosty start. But not letting that swine Jack frost stand in our way, warming up the atmosphere was the beaming faces of the courageous crew who bravely stepped up to the plate, for the first Goodgym Brent of the year! Horrah

Joining me on week one was a gallant gang of fabulous familiars; Dan the (only) man, Foxy french Isabelle, Lovely Liz (fresh from smashing her 5k goal time woo hoo), Clare Mouse in the house Moscrop, The one and only Les-Sharpes, and Debs and Tabitha (aka Sister Sledge). Joining the ranks were also three sensational newbies Lois, Karen and Beth, all just as motivated to kick start the year with some awesome Goodgym community spirit and fitness fun!

Task Master

So after housekeep and welcomes the crew set to work on the task at hand and paper-chased their way into January with a leaflet drop and healthy trot around the glorious borough of Brent. Encouraging the masses to crack a smile and join us for the weeks to come of community do-gooding and working off the Christmas puddings.

First Celeb spot of the year

With our sights set on the track for the night (The Queens Park 1 mile challenge) the team continued weaving through the streets while sprinkling the Goodgym message. Not 1 mile from base did we stumble across our first celeb sight of the year, 'Friday night Dinner' TV actress Tamsin Greig who we accosted on her doorstep with our leaflets and POW POW positivity. With her hands otherwise engaged carrying a dangling child she shouted Put the leaflet in my mouth so Lois happily obliged!

Show business

Once the 'Show biz' spots were behind us, we got down to the real business of the night, the ready made track - One mile circumference of Queens Park. Lining up the troops timer at the ready, just about to begin, we were joined on mass by another runner, excited by the positive vibes we were pushing out like a tornado. So, never missing a chance to recruit, we joined forces with our solitary runner - Toby, who joined just in time, for stop watch special of the one mile challenge. Delighted to join the club he stepped up to the plate with the rest of the team and it was THREE, TWO, ONE and their off!!

Dozen get better than that

With our gang of 12 rolling deep the dash went off in a flash and before long the athletes were gunning down the last stretch in impressive form! Every single runner coming in under 9mins with the first in place just shy of 7! Amazing!!!

Homeward bound

Breathless and steaming (literally steaming) a quick stretch and catch of breath and the team were off once more. A gentle cool down run took us the last mile back to base, with chats and laughter in the air. So much fun to be had that we barely even felt the cold, that was until back at The Queensbury we all walked in dribbling down our frozen faces. LOL

It was an absolute pleasure, a first week back I shall treasure! See you next week to continue the New Years' Runsolution to a life of passion and purpose.

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

It's another Wednesday thankfully which can only mean one thing-GoodGym !

We met as usual at Leisure World and were joined by new member Emily.

Welcome to her and we hope she enjoys many evenings with GoodGym in the future.

This was the first time our beloved leader Angela wasn't there since we started back in August,but I'm sure we can forgive her just this once...

Would it be a case of while the cats away the mice would play......?

She was replaced(if that's possible) by Axel from GoodGym HQ and after a brief warm up the 15 wonderful GoodGym people headed to St Leonard's church in Lexden.

We went through the Kings Meadow,then up Balkerne Hill(a chance to practice our hill technique),along Crouch Street and then along Lexden Road which I think is one of the best roads to run on in Colchester as you can get a decent pace up , has a nice wide path for a group to run on and is well lit.

We arrived at the task after a enjoyable run .We were ready for the evenings task of leaf clearing.

During the task there was the usual banter(some directed at Tommy but we all love you really Tommy!) and chat.We had Tommy running up and down the hill to empty the sacks of leaves,trying to get him to go quicker every time.

Everyone worked hard while we were there and in no time we'd made a massive improvement to the path leading up to the church.

The church in question is a special place for Angela & David as it's where they were married.

On a personal note it is for me too as my Dad's ashes are interred in the Garden of Rest at the back of the churchyard.

After the task we ran back to base via the same route we came on with different groups setting off at different times.

Well I same the same route as I understand Tommys group were briefly heading towards Stanway !

We all arrived back at base for the usual warm down .

Thank you to Axel for looking after us tonight.

Another excellent evening of GoodGym.Well done to everyone.

Looking forward to next Wednesday evening mafter which we will be having our monthly social at the New Inn.

Ian Bown