A fine weathered day led to a great turnout at GG! Leanne saw us all waiting and thought 'nah, those lot look too charming and fun' so went to join the walking crowd taking Laurie and the litter picking equipment with her. Martin arrived with his trombocinos which we all obviously identified on sight, and DJ Andy recreated his favourite 00's popstar moment. I gave the runners the choice of three distances and we settled on the middle one, Rich leading us out with such aplomb that Paul wondered when since his last task that we had started to hit it so hard! We paused our Endeavour at the Endeavour for comedy's sake.

The race was on against the sunset clock and we all worried about Ben when he took a tumble trying to do a heel click! Fortunately he was fine, must be something to do with the socks which Rob would be proud of.

We met up with the others and spied the womblers had already picked six bags! Still we have keen eyesight and a will to do good. As Heidi, Kate and I debated what art was (Banksy doesn't, GoodGym run report photos do) we got to work. As we got closer to the river and the new bridge, which looks lovely, we split into two groups. Drinks on Jess as she found £50 and Sallyann had already had those drinks with a pile of smirnoff bottles. Fay complained about having to take photos of the Hokey Cokey boat, but then leaped at the chance to photo me by a 'Fat earth dave.com' sign....funny that.

As twilight descended, Russell led us back to base for a 7km overall run - 1/3 of a great north run (entries now open!). Next week is painting the town red with our shirts and painting some benches so sign up!

On a fresh Wednesday evening we met at the uni and said helloo and welcome to new goodgymmer Kate! Peckham did their best to tempt her but she knew that Chelmsford was the place to be. Richard flew in, made everyone jealous of a perfectly sized sweat towel, and we discussed our zigs and zags to the football club.

Rich conveniently knew all the roads and headcount as my phone stopped working (sorry). It was lovely to see Ken back from his jaunt to Mexico and everyone got chatting about their travels.

Andy was missing Laurie and the warm weather (the thermals are officially back in action). The last 8pm+ sunset was two weeks ago and we'll all be cracking out the head torches soon!

At the football club we met Fay with some of the other volunteers along to help us and got some serious weeding done - well done everyone. The front was blitzed by most of the gang and Joe disappeared to the back of the building where the drains were playing home to gigantic spiders who were swiftly evicted.

The weather turned on us as we set off. If it ain't raining, it ain't training right? We're hardcore. After a group vote we decided to adventure through the woods to get home. Is this how horror movies start..? Nope, it was more like a comedy. Smiles all round, dinners debated, another good deed achieved.

A new location, a new task and a huge turnout!

Maybe it’s the back-to-school vibes around, or maybe everyone just wanted a good look at the meat and fish bazar over the road, but FOURTEEN of us turned out on Wednesday and ran 3.5 km to St Luke’s Church in Moulsham Lodge.

We welcomed a couple of new faces at the gym and they’ve already proven to be good ones. Robert outdressed us all – despite not even having a GoodGym top yet – with his snazzy matching socks and shorts in unloseable multicolour.

It was also Heidi’s first time joining us and she lay down the marker immediately in a Parkrun 50 top. She didn’t mention a post-Parkrun fry-up once, and she’s also doing the Great North Run this weekend with Robert. Folks, we’ve found ourselves a runner.

David was run leading and had represented us with Laurie at a garden party earlier that day. We’d been invited in thanks for some of the gardening work we’d done, so thanks to the organisers, and apparently the shortbread was “excellent.” They also met Rich’s dad, who is absolutely lovely and wasn’t surprised at all that Rich spends most of his time with us just having a chat. In fact, he was so lovely that it could steer a big decision: there’s still time to put money on baby Chatterjee being called Keith…

Walkers were out in force as we also welcomed Jane back to GoodGym. She definitely helps to keep her husband in line, and also managed to stop him getting lost somewhere behind Lidl.

With 14 people, weeding the paths at the front of the church (or the top of the church…?) didn’t take long, despite stopping for a photo break. They were cleaner than celebrity skin in a razor advert by the time we were done.

Neither newbie seemed scared by Joe brandishing a screwdriver and asking if anyone needed their cracks seen to – it’s like they’ve been here for years. Jess even suggested that be tonight’s headline. St Luke’s have already shared the photo and other churches in the area are already interested! Send us an email to request us, just put “GodGym” in the subject line please. And while we’re talking support, if you’re a Marksies Spender then you can link your Sparks card to us and we get some funding every time you shop there. Win-win!

Thanks for a great task, good luck up north to Heidi and Robert, and see you all next week!

Great turnout. Great group. Rogue task.

We arrived at the Old Factory excited for a long weekend upcoming and even more so for the return of Joel after a hiatus to welcome a new baby into the world. Andy actually made a great quip about Joel not coming since his first child, funny but harsh on the GG stalwart. We welcomed Elliot back from Portugal for his third run, Tina from a work crisis for her second run, and Nicole from a restaurant in Norwich which had a conveyor belt of cheese for her first run!

We jogged up to Broomfield allotment, with Joe taking immaculate photos of leaping goodgymers on route, eager to begin. We met Sallyann fresh off her starring social media role (see below) and Fay. However! Alas! Donna was no where to be found. (A case of crossed wires). So we got the four shortest GG'ers to pose by the tallest sunflowers we could find. Laurie was ecstatic to find out she towers over the national average by a solid half inch.

Fortunately the wonderful Pam stepped in to save the day and got us watering the plots for the older people at the allotments. I attempted my best Sir David Attenborough impression for Fay leading the watering can refilling in her usual role as head honcho. Pam not only saved the day but shared with us some of her tomatoes, showcased beautifully by Ben. Hopefully all the watering cans made it back to their various homes!

After we headed back to base we discussed the forgotten merits and benefits of the hovercraft, which Russell is trying to buy two of for Essex because....bants and such. Erin is abiding by the results of the GG poll and changing her DJ name to EK47 in tribute to Pistol Pete.

Next week we are off to Moulsham Mill to tidy their garden ahead of the garden party launch and this will be led by Angela, whose superb artistic photos can be spied in tonight's run report.