17 people ran 8k to Stanhope Community Garden to weed and tidy the area

Tonight we welcomed Charlotte for the first time to GG Brum. It was also nice to meet Brendan, Fiona, Rea and Andy who came last week while I was splashing around in the sea!

We set off to Stanhope, armed with gloves ready to get stuck into some gardening. As we arrived the group did one sharp hill sprint......little did they know this was just a warm up for later.

Once at the task, our job was to weed, weed and more weed. Also put some rhubarb leaves on the compost heap as apparently it makes great compost! Garry picked plenty of the rhubarb to take back to maybe make a pie or even better some wine!

Once done with the task and messing about with rhubarb, as it was rather warm tonight (Sam got himself fanned down by Rob with a rhubarb leaf!) I decided to change from the flat interval training to some ‘Kenyan hills’!

Killer sess

Now this is tough.......basically it involves running hard up the hill but also hard back down, with the idea that you naturally recover Running downhill anyway.....trust me the Kenyans know best! The task was eight minutes of pain! Aaron made the early Running, followed by Brendan, Andy and Hannah. Rea was very light on her feet showing great form. John showed great endurance finishing strongly. Kate helped pull Charlotte along on her first session, certainly a tough introduction! Fiona was excellent digging in showing a great arm action. Altogether though it was a great sight to see, everyone working hard as a unit pulling each other along. Personally, I think that could have been the toughest GG Brum fitness session to date, so top work everyone :-)

Once done we still had another 3k to get back to 1000 Trades and Garry and Karin had the added challenge of completing it with bags of rhubarb! Anyway, we all got safely back with some very tired bodies.

A special mention to Andy who is now heading off to Valencia for work, so unfortunately won’t be with us in the near future, best of luck to you, enjoy the sunshine :-)

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

14 people ran 7k to do a litter pick for the Canal and River Trust

We welcomed four newbies to GG Brum tonight. We had Deb and Paul from GG Bristol who had just got off a plane from Bucharest after doing the half marathon there and seen as they landed in Brum, came along! We also had Nicola who joined us for the first time and Kate who came along and talked to the group about plogging on the canals which involves encouraging people to pick up litter while out running on the canals, which was rather appropriate as that was exactly what we were doing tonight! It was also great to welcome Catherine back for the first time for a while.

watching out for terrorist geese

We headed to the canal armed with bin bags, litter pickers and gloves. Once down there we split into four groups each picking the litter on a different section of our adopted part of the canal. Laura, Lee and karin even found a beer in a tree, therefore a 'beer tree'! We managed to steer clear of the rather vicious Canadian geese who have recently had their babies, so aren’t to be messed with. However we did seem some more friendly ducks with their little ducklings further along the canal which helped Richard produce this weeks ‘pun’. In total our litter picking filled seven bin bags, top work!

time-trial

We then headed to Millennium point for the time-trial. With Deb and Paul’s ‘half marathon legs’ they ‘sat this one out’. But what they didn’t do Running wise they certainly made up for with cheering everyone on! It must have really helped as we had nine PB’s out of our eleven time-trialists! Some were doing it for the first time but it’s still a PB! It really was a great sight to see. Richard and John raced each other hard, both just outside six minutes. Richard pushed that hard he collapsed in a heap after crossing The finishing line. Hannah put in a great performance pulling Rob a long all the way round, only for him to outsprint her in the last 100 metres! Trip him up next time Hannah ;-) Kate had a great run on her first GG run. Laura smashed her pb by an incredible 17 second and Nicola put in a top run. Catherine pushed all the way in her first run back. As ever everyone was amazing with the effort they put in, it was fantastic to see, next month can we have Paul and Deb back to help me with the cheering, please, please!

Once done we headed uphill back to 1000 Trades and on arriving back I’m sure you would all agree it was a great evenings work!

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

12 people ran 10k to Birmingham Mission

Tonight it was great to welcome Hannah and Aurelija to the group. It is fantastic to have you with us. Tonight’s pun is brought to you by Garry, more on that later!

Uh oh!

We set on our way to Birmingham Mission, Aaron led the way with Rob and Liam not far behind. On arrival we were greeted by John as usual, but unfortunately this time it was bad news. There had been a little incident outside the centre and therefore we were advised not to come in. The couple of local constabulary present, sort of gave it away. Oh well that’s only the second task cancelled in sixteen months of GG Brum so we aren’t doing to bad. On the positive side we could now do a slightly longer run then originally planned.

The group set off down the canals all the way to Aston Lock before leaving the canal to run through Aston Uni campus and then arrive at a brand new ‘hill venue.’

Loooooong hills

Now tonight’s hill was a virtually un-used road that ended outside the law courts. It seems the law in some form or another was following us around tonight! The hill wasn’t particularly steep but it was quite a long one! I set the group eight minutes of continuous sprints up the hill with a jog back down recovery.

What a great effort by the group. Aaron led the way, before Hasnain took up ‘the running’. Hannah put in a sterling performance showing a fantastic technique with an arm action virtually Mo Farah esk! Liam put in some top work. Garry was sprinting hard all the way and Aurelija put in some excellent work on her first GG outing. As ever the whole group pulled each other along, it was fantastic to see!

Once done the group found the steps outside the law court very welcoming, so that was this weeks group pic! That was when Garry came up with the pun….maybe something to do with the fact I didn’t run the hills, though my excuse is that I have the very important job of run photographer 😉

After the group had got their collective breaths back somewhat, We had a steady run back to 1000 Trades.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.