It's no yolk, this evening's run was egg-ceptional! First we welcomed our newest hatchling to the group, little Allegra - it was great to see David and Angela, too. Angela was egg-stremely impressed with how much the group has been growing recently. We also welcomed Kate to the group, joining us for her first Goodgym outing, and Beth visiting from GG Wandsworth.

Congratulations were given to those that attended the Little Bromley 10k on Sunday and well done to Ian and Susie for getting egg-cellent PBs.

After a quick game of knee-tag to get ourselves warmed up we made our way to Firstsite, with Ian leading at the front and Michelle back marking.

Upon arrival, Eddie greeted us and was egg-static about the number of GGers there to help. We made our way to the room we would be painting, but as there was such a good turn out, Eddie hatched a new plan and opened up a second room to be painted, but in a slightly different shade of white! We scrubbed, we sanded, we painted and we rolled and Eddie was left shell shocked at the amount of work we were able to get done in such a short amount of time, a task he wouldn't have been able to get done on his own. Once tidied up, many of us enjoyed a cup of tea before heading outside for some egg-ercise in preparation for the upcoming Goodgym Olympics.

We started with a 'Not-quite-100m Sprints' and then moved on to what we were really egg-cited about... egg and spoon racing! We raced forwards, we raced backwards and we even hopped, but there were very few eggs dropped. Watch out Goodgym Olympic area teams, you have competition! That said, I saw a few people cheat at egg 'n' spoon, but omlettin' it slide...

After that some of the group peeled off to enjoy some egg fried rice and other delicious non-egg based foods at the Noodle Bar, whilst the rest of us made our way back to Leisure World.

Many thanks to our egg-spert punners Ella, Tav and Fay, for giving fine egg-samples of puns, it was egg-sactly the egg-stravagence this report need!

As always, it was an egg-cellent evening Rollin' with my homies...!

What's the verdict, would one egg pun have been un oeuf?

What better way to prepare for a GoodGym starter session than to stand on the finish line of Colchester park run. As I watched the participants young and old speed up as they neared the finish line, I noticed so many had beaming big smiles, testament to the sense of pride and achievement that accompanies the simple joy of running and knowing you have made it.

There was a real buzz around the finish line which I wanted to capture and carry into our GoodGym session. Three runners joined me, including Goodgym regular and parkrun marshal, Vanessa. After a quick warm up, we set off to Angela’s car to collect the river care equipment. En route Angela showed us where the Rangers station was and then we meandered our way back down the hill to the car park, chatting about GoodGym as we went.

The task was a rivercare favourite and we set off along the river picking up discarded bottles, cans and other rubbish as we went. We were small in number and keen to enjoy a run on the beautiful sunny morning so once we were finished we quickly headed back up the hill to returned the equipment to the Rangers station before setting off on our way! It was a glorious winter's morning, and we were treated to a crisp light that shone across the river, helping us to forget about our troubles as we ran and chatted. A special thanks to Vanessa for her lovely company and joining us on such a lovely run along the river path!

The Goodgymers of Colchester gathered on a chilly evening ready for another evening of running and being all round good eggs.

Kudos was handed to Helen & Ella for super performances at two different parkrun venues on Saturday, before we headed outside for FUN warm up including a game of "knee tag" with star jump forfeits.

Then we were off, led by Ian on a short run to the Middleborough Water Fountain Garden to carry out a task for Colchester in Bloom. Our ETA didn't quite tie in with Pam who was bringing rakes, brushes and bags. So the opportunity was seized for an impromptu interval session of equal effort/recovery between the trees.

Pam arrived and gave us instructions to clear the fallen leaves - but not the bark - from around the plants and to pick up any litter in and around the garden area. As usual, everyone set about the task enthusiastically and within 30 minutes we had several huge bags of leaves and twigs ready to be collected by Pam.

With our good deed done we head just around the corner from the garden to take on the altogether more daunting Balkerne Hill. Hill repeats in train formation - sprint from the back to the front - and Balkerne Hill is a long hill - fabulous effort by everyone!

The return run was completed with a Wall Sit Challenge - who could be last man or woman standing (or sitting in this case) Wonderful strength and resilience from the whole group, especially Christine & Bob who were the final two to fall at around 4 minutes........ and couldn't really walk properly afterwards!

Don't forget if anyone can make the Chelmsford Starter Session on Saturday they'd love to see you!

Next week's Colchester Group Run is to Colchester Foodbank - you can find more details and sign up HERE

Tonights photos are courtesy of Christine - Thank you.

13 runners ran 3k to help their local community in Colchester

The rain didn't deter our Goodgym runners tonight and we welcomed Emily to her first Goodgym run.

With everyone discussing what we would spend our winnings on if we were to have a big win on tonight's lottery draw, Tav led the way to Firstsite where we were greeted by Eddie. The tasks were to tidy the grass edging on the footpath, pick up bricks that had made their way across the green space, cut back the twigs from around the tree bases and pick up litter - we definitely had plenty to keep us busy! Everyone did an excellent job and Eddie is always very appreciative of the work Goodgym does to help keep the site looking good.

Before leaving we did a circuit training session that focused on our legs - there were certainly a few funny walks after our Goodgymers started the run back to Leisure World!

Once we arrived back we did our stretches and concluded that any big prize wins tonight from our shared lottery ticket will be spent on a new expensive head torch for Ella, a Goodgym group holiday and doing something charitable. After all, we are all about doing something good for the benefit others.

Well done to Tav who did his first coach run this week and had a good time discussing common intrests, such as birds, with his new coach. Don't forget to get your DBS checks done so that you can join in with local mission runs or to arrange a coach pairing.

It was agreed that there will be a social organised for the 31st January at The New Inn - make contact with Ian if you would like to join.

16 runners ran 5k to help their local community in Colchester

Welcome back to GoodGym everyone, and Happy New Year! We congratulated Ella and Chrissie on their brilliant parkrun pb's at Christmas and noted that Ian, Michelle and Bob (to name but a few) had all done lots of running over the festive season, well done folks!

It was a great turnout for the first GoodGym group run of the year - and we ran to one of our favourite sites - Firstsite. This time we didn't get to smash anything up, but we did get to do a huge amount of work in a short time, helping Eddie the site manager to keep the contemporary art gallery's grounds looking beautiful.

It was still rather windy, from the after effects of Storm Eleanor, which had brought down some branches onto the grass in front of the building, and stirred up lots of leaves everywhere. So Eddie split us into three groups, and we set to work. One group sawed up the branches, another group cut back and tidied the foliage, and swept leaves, and the third group were assigned a patch to clear over by 15 Queen Street, bagging up leaves and litter.

Firstsite was fully booked with various groups leading sessions inside, which looked intriguing, and we also made a note to return to see the Grayson Perry exhibition properly.

Once we'd finished our tasks, we re-grouped and headed off to North Hill for a couple of hill repeats - great for fitness but also great practise for our local parkrun, which is rather hilly! We tried to focus on using our arms better, to propel us up the hill, as this can make it easier. We then headed back around the park to Leisureworld for some cool-down stretches and a chat before making our way home.

Clad in hats, gloves, and some rather natty new headtorches, a group of 10 intrepid runners did not let the bitter cold put them off last night.

We started off the night talking about the amazing Mission Possible this weekend, where teams of three will be taking on a mass volunteering effort, spreading good all over the city! Good luck everyone, see you in the pub afterwards...

Braving the cold, we stepped outside and dived straight into our warm ups whilst discussing who we would ask round for dinner. Charlie Brooker, Stephen Hawking, David Beckham and Alan Shearer were all lucky enough to score an invite.

The night's task was at the Waterman's Centre, and independent charity which aims to bring art to the local community. It was just under a 2.5k run, and we set off briskly. 20 speedy minutes later we were there, ready to get stuck in.

We were handed shears, bin liners and brooms, and tasked with the job of clearing leaves and cutting back the branches in the car park. It was quite a labour intensive job, which was good, because we needed to keep warm. Half an hour later and several bin bags later we were done. Or were we?

No, we were not. There was the small matter of hill sprints to do. Now, after talking about the possibility of hill sprints for several weeks, if not months, we had to take what we could get. The small incline in the carpark would have to do. In pairs we tackled five reps, keeping our chests high and taking care to pump our arms but to keep them at a 90 degree angle behind our body. You all looked like superstar athletes.

The run back was smattered with some lovely conditioning exercises, just to keep things exciting, and we stopped just short of the Town Hall to do our final bit of fitness. In two teams we assumed plank position, passing the golden satsuma along the line. When the satsuma got the end, somebody shouted 'burpee', and the whole team had to do said burpee, increasing by one each time. Team Jo, Michelle, Jeremy and Andy won the challenge and as their prize, took home the two fought-over satsumas. Lucky them.

During our stretches we realised we have only two runs left THIS YEAR. Let's make the most of them, starting with our penultimate one next week. Stay warm until then :)

It was a blustery evening in Chiswick last night, but that didn't stop the 13 runners who knocked out a speedy 6.4k to help out a local charity that supports those with longterm mental health issues.

But first of all we welcomed three whole new lovely members to the group, let's hear it for Ieva, Aysha and https://www.goodgym.org/runners/emmanuel-oyelowo. Give them a cheer!

We also had a another special reason to celebrate last night as it was Will's 50th ever good deed! What a superstar. That's a lot of running, and a whole load of doing good. Well done, Will.

After all that cheering we headed outside to warm up with some dynamic exercises, during which we found out which animal we would all be. There were a couple of cats, a squirrel, a grasshopper, a bird of prey, a rat and a, erm, dragon.

For the first leg of the run we set off at a good pace, stopping only for a few jumping jacks and squats to keep the group together. With an 8 minute mile, we were doing well, so pushed it even faster in the second and got to the Friends of Cathja shop in record time. Waiting for us there was terrifying Bruce the Dog, complete with natty red kerchief, and Karl and Rin who run the shop, which raises money to be able to support local people with mental health illnesses that rely on their help.

Our job tonight was to shift a load of mattresses and furniture from the front of the warehouse to the yard outside, and we got straight to it. Ieva and Emmanuel moved furniture and swept, Matthew, Adam and Andy got those mattresses moving, and Ross could be found teetering on top of a pile of boxes and tables sorting out all the stuff the shop could sell. Meanwhile the rest of the team was efficiently shifting and carrying things to the yard and bin area. 20 minutes later, we were done.

Apart from the grueling HIT session ahead of us, that is. We waved goodbye to Bruce and the shop, and ran the short distance to Waterman's Park where we found a nice spot to work hard. Five hard exercises each for 20 seconds, followed by 15 seconds of high knees, a short rest, then starting again. It was tough going, but the idea is that short, high intensity, high effort bursts of exercise are fantastic for burning fat, increasing cardio capacity and endurance. While that was enough for most of the group, Andy, Adam and Will stayed behind to complete Will's 50th challenge, which involved three sprints, 25 push ups and 25 press ups, before running to catch us up on the way back.

It was getting windier, which as Michelle pointed out was just good resistance training, and after a good steady run back to Chiswick Town Hall, we stretched out what was a fantastic but tough session. Then, because we had truly earned it, and it was a celebratory night after all, pub. Well done everybody, and welcome to the group for those whose first run it was. Hope to see you all next week for some more doing good, a shorter run, and of course a whole load of squats.

Last night in Hounslow started with party rings, marshmallow cakes and by welcoming lovely new runners Audrey and Saule to the group. Give them a cheer, Hounslow!

After a run down of the week's news, a reminder that the Christmas party is going to be on the 8th December at the Battersea Arts Centre and a quick talk about the task, we moved outside to brave the cold and do some dynamic warm ups. And also to find out what everybody's favourite crisps are. All the important stuff.

With our heart rates up, and having discovered that we love skips, kettle crisps, vegetable crisps for the health conscious, and tortilla chips, we were ready for the off. Tonight's task was just over 2.5 k away, and we took the outward leg nice and steady, just stopping for a few wall sits and quick jumping jacks.

We made it to Ealing Road Baptist Church, which also acts as a food bank and homeless shelter, in no time at all, and were greeted by one of the men who uses the shelter. With Jeremy and Saule taking on the toughest job in the very dusty cellar, Andy, Natasha, Will and Audrey started on the various tasks in the food bank. Jo (whose high point of the night was discovering a chocolate unicorn - did anyone actually see where that went?), Jennifer, Remy and Alex tackled the cleaning jobs in the kitchen, hall and bathroom. There was also clothes to sort for the community, including a rather nice cape (we think) and lots of other little jobs that the team smashed through super quickly.

Which meant more time for the core blast. Hurrah! We were lucky enough to be able to take advantage of the lovely warm room to do our fitness session tonight, rather than yomping about in the mud outside. So we thought we better make it count. With two sets of five exercises aimed at working our abs - essential for efficient running and helping to prevent injuries - we spent 15 minutes doing planks, crunches, reverse crunches, Russian twists, bicycles and much more. Who is feeling it today?

With another 2.5k run in front of us, we hit the road and used the long straight section to the half way point to do some fartlek. This speed work is tough, but great training. We ran the last section as a team to finish off the night with some stretches and a well-earned pat on the back.

Next week we're tackling some tasks at a charity which supports people with long term mental health issues, Friends of Cathja. Sign up here to lend a hand.

Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us, happy birthday dear Hounslow, happy birthday to us!

That's right, the Hounslow group is officially ONE. We have taken our first wobbly steps into the world of doing good, and have the quads to prove it. Last night was truly a night of celebrations. We cheered Andy who shares his GoodGymiversary with Hounslow, and Will who was also at the first ever group run. We welcomed the lovely Jeremy to the group for his first ever run - throw a cheer his way, Hounslow! A huge well done to Remy who tackled the horrendous-sounding Luton half and showed that race what for.

After a discussion on the best thing about birthdays - cake, friends, joy, cake, gin, gin and wine,having a whole week off work, cake and more cake - we did our warm up and set off for William Hogarth School. It was a short run there so we did it fairly nippily, looking forward to our indoor task. Unfortunately, when we got there ready to do some flatpack assembly, we found that Ikea had literally not delivered, so we were tasked with raking the outside area which was providing a nice home for many, many leaves.

Undeterred we got stuck in, filling up no less than seven black bin bags to the brim with those leafy pests. Great upper body work out, team. We stopped for a quick photo underneath the apt 'celebration of work' banner and then hit the road again. It was so nice of Hounslow to put on a fireworks display for our first birthday just as we finished the run, and it was only right that we stopped for a quick rest to enjoy them.

But not for long - we had a birthday fitness session to do! We divided up into three teams and played a game of Ana(erobic)grams. The idea was that everybody collects letters by doing exercises - one tuck jump for every good deed, high knees while naming Hounslow tasks, guessing the number of good deeds, planking if you were at the first ever run, high fiving someone whose name began with 'R' and many more - until all 15 were collected. Then came the great unscramble. It really came down to the wire, but it is my pleasure to announce that in first place, winning a round of drinks, was.....the Chizzee Rascals! Way to go Andy, Will, Natasha and Claudia.

All that was left that a trip to the pub for the quiz - kudos Team BetterGym for coming SECOND! - and to eat some cake. Except it didn't quite happen like that, did it? Least said, soonest mended - but check out the photos for the full story.

It's been a cracker of a year, Hounslow. Here's the the next, and the one after, and the one after that. And a huge cheer for all your brilliant personal achievements over the past week.

200 flyers, 7 keeno runners, 6k and a whole load of guilty pleasures made up another cracking night in Hounslow!

We kicked off the evening with a few bits of news, including plans for our long run on the 3rd December and cheering Remy to half marathon glory on the 2nd December. Not forgetting of course that next week is our very FIRST birthday and we shall be celebrating with a great task (putting up flatpack furniture), a birthday-themed fitness game, and a pub quiz that we are going to smash. There will almost certainly be cake.

We then took ourselves outside for a warm up and to find out everybody's guilty pleasures. Although we should never feel guilty about pleasure, of course. TV shows (trashy and decidedly not trashy) featured quite highly in between high knees and heel kicks, including Outlander, Gilmore Girls, Made in Chelsea and Love Island. To which the latter particularly Ella had showed an impressive commitment. Sunflower seeds and bad action films we agreed were more noble pursuits.

We had a speedy run down to Waterman's Art Centre - a great independent charity that aims to inspire people of all backgrounds through creativity and provide art for all. Almost 2.5 k later and we arrived at the reception desk to find a pile of 200 flyers for an upcoming Digital Weekender waiting for us to distribute. This event in a couple of weeks is crammed full of fun and fascinating free sessions, so do check it out.

Now, we had done this before for Waterman's with mixed success, but this time we were going to do it better. We had already mapped out an area that we were going to hit up, so quickly made our way there. Splitting up into two groups to cover both sides of the street, we got ourselves into formation to put a flyer through every letterbox. Soon we were operating like (a bit rusty) clockwork. We covered about 2k in this way, encountering some menacing barking and some beautiful houses, and soon found ourselves empty handed and back at Turnham Green for our fitness session.

This week were CODE CRACKING. Yes, it was complicated, and no, it probably wasn't explained very well. The idea was that two teams had to each crack a 6 number code. Each number related to a certain exercise and could appear more than once. Each team had to guess the correct sequence but to find out whether they had, they had to do each exercise. A square bracket meant it was the right number in the right position. Phew. I said it was complicated. Still, it was no match for Ella, Andreea and Natasha, who just in the nick of time managed to crack that code and were declared the winners. I mean, there wasn't an actual prize. But they won an overall sense of satisfaction, and that is priceless.

After a few stretches and a cool down we revelled in our post-run, post-goodness endorphin high and called it a night. Great work team. Bring on next week!