17 gallivanting goodgymers powered through the wintry end of October chill last night.

Welcoming Luciana for task #1, meanwhile Mel ticked off task #50 and Dan and Ruth partook in their swansong session (for now anyway), the circle of GoodGym life is real.

Our Random Weekly Question: "What's the scariest thing you've ever done?" From sky diving across the globe, bungee jumping in foreign lands, losing bearings in the dark wilderness, walking a knife edge mountain ridge, watching a horror film past your bed time, snorkelling in the deep, commencing a move to the other side of the planet, getting picked by and marched away by a stranger/freak, lost up the biggest mountain in Wales and cycling down The Blackwall Tunnel (do not repeat please!).

The good deed yesterday was completing the task we started a fortnight ago, moving fences and deconstructed playground equipment, to make way for the brand spanking new half-pipe. We had the just the right amount of brute force and go-getter spirit to wrap it up by 8pm. Bravo to one and all for your efforts on a fresh Wednesday eve.

With some proverbial fuel left in the tank, we executed 6 leg exercises to conclude our evening, I barely had to modify anyone's form, progress most certainly. Whack a podcast on and do these when you can, huge benefits for running (studies show 2 stength sessions per week equate to 1- 3% time improvement) and all other sporting disciplines.

Dan made a quite excellent cake to say farewell, we've come to expect this high level of baked good from him and Ruth. But this is not the only reason we'll be sad to see them leave to seek pastures new. Ruth combined hardworking day & night shifts in the hospital and was still a joyful and vibrant Wednesday stalwart, always worth a chat. Dan has enthusiasm on tap, he's probably the duracell bunny in disguise, one of those guys you want on your team . Between them, we regret to see you go but obviously wish you a superb adventure.

Not to forget Mel's big five zero either, our team psychologist, occasional drinker of 8.5% ciders pre GG and the gal with most explosive jump I done ever saw. Chuffed you're now back with the squad after a hard-fought thesis, congrats on the acclaimed black tee.

Right, next week we are at the local primary school sign up here

Till next week

B

With a sky awash in peachy pink hues, dancing off sweeping curves of futuristic arenas, it could only be Wednesday evening.

Back to business with 23 of us on the night, with sleeves already rolled up and chatter humming through the mild night air. We welcomed Jasmine to the fold for her first outing, Ros on her third, Chris on his second (albeit i'm doing this retrospectively), Cory back from a hiatus and Kev and Sharon returned from a tough few weeks in the midlands.

After doffing our proverbial caps to Mary and Rosa for smashing out some lovely lovely 21k's, we bowed over to Hilary, more inspirational efforts on her regular missions, feel free to ask her how to get involved. We forgot to say bravo to Victoria, her speed is returning quicker than it left post-partum, when will she be dipping in under 20mins at a Parkrun again? Soon is my guess (no pressure).

Weekly Question was very much of the random variety, "what's you favourite european city?" with a no repetition rule that no one took seriously. London to Budapest, Rome to Cardiff, Paris to Copenhagen, Stockholm to Belfast...[insert brexit joke here]. This almost became a pop quiz towards the end of the answers as we ran out of cities, maybe this could be a future thought for GGN? Advanced calculus next week.

Over to the awesome Ange and her simply sublime playground, makes you want to roll back the years. We moved an abundance of well, stuff, some let's call miscellaneous, but mostly 2.5 metre by 1 metre heavy iron fencing. As always there's some new fun structure being installed, yes the the massive submarine rescue boat thingy was not enough. So we cleared the way for a half pipe, that's a skate ramp for the uninitiated. As Tim said, and i'm sure you'll agree - "that's gnarly dude". It certainly is.

With some pumped up arms I heard a whimpering cry from your neglected legs, it's a frequency that only Running Coaches can tune into. So we all (enthusiastically) lined up for a 3 set pyramid. 2 x 40s, 2 x 30s, 2 x 20s. Enough running to better your form and top end speed, but not too much to make you hate me, the sweet spot. We all absolutely aced it, with everyone pacing their return journey like pros, there have been times where this was not the case, so nice one for the collective pacing improvements.

That's enough from me, well done for helping out and owning your neighbourhood, in a good way, not like the mafia, that's the bad way. See some of you on Saturday in Bruges, the rest of you have a lovely weekend and smash those Parkruns out of the.....park.

Till next time

B