Greater than good - Our hero

On this epic night I epically forgot to mention and celebrate our very own John who completed his 50th good deed this evening. I would like to say a massive thank you to John for all his energy, time, good humour and well meaning grumpiness over 50 weeks of Monday evenings. John's incredible talent and generosity with his craft making has made many of our GG team very happy. He also acts as my grammar police on a Tuesday morning .Thank goodness he has given up his day job !!

John is also a serial volunteer for parkrun having volunteered an amazing 72 times and also run multiple parkrun's 142 times. He is a perfect example of how well GG and parkrun work in perfect synergy together . In the words of his partner in crime and trouble and strife Belinda 'not bad for someone who doesn't like volunteering or running'

I'm working hard on the love of running. Watch this space.......

Date for your diary

We will be having an official celebration for John's 50th once dry January has finished as we all know how much John loves drinking beer. So this special event will be on Monday 3rd Feb at Chipwick and will involve beer drinking. However drinking beer is not a mandatory requirement to come along and raise a glass in celebration.

Eating humble pie - will there be light at the end of the tunnel ?

Now that over half the run report has been dedicated to John I'm hoping he may, one day in the dim and distant future, forgive me for (temporarily) forgetting his 50th. Knowing John this is likely to be a source of banter for evermore!

RED January week 2

I hope you are still with me....

It was wonderful to have another record turn out tonight ( anyone would think its January! ) 18 Goodgymers convened at Worthing Leisure Centre. It was great that we had such a well balanced group of walkers and runners who could support each other at whatever pace they chose. Well this was my ideal theory and it worked well in part 1.....

Drum roll and special mention to Tara,Jess and Alice who came back for week 2. Hurrah and thank you! We hope you had fun tonight. You certainly looked as if you all worked hard!

With a target of 8000 tasks and 100,000kms over 57 areas we have our work cut out in Worthing to stay on the all important GG gold leader board ! Currently we are in 17th position and in the bottom 3. If we don't increase our good deeds and mileage we are likely to be chucked off onto the silver board. To be honest for the size of our area we are doing absolutely brilliantly but hey, its a pride thing right ?

Taking one for the team

Usually all my kilometer's would significantly contribute to our total but with 2 fractured ribs ( how careless) I really do need you all to step up your mileage to cover me please. If you all do around 10 km extra during January this would cover me and get you fitter too. Thank you all in advance. I will buy you all a drink after dry Jan:)

Back to tonight - A splash and dash

With typed up route instructions and a clear as mud verbal briefing surely nothing could go wrong tonight?! Walkers and runners set off together on varying routes but all carefully planned to arrive at Field Place within a minute or two of each other. Guess what ? It worked !! Phew part one complete and intact. We even picked up a stray Jay on the way.

Tonight we were on week 2 and coat 2 of painting at Field Place. The team immediately got stuck in to the task. With a large turn out and not enough brushes and rollers we improvised and I took 4 willing participants downstairs for an impromptu fun HIIT session.

GGrelay'able as ever- Quack quack

With some pumping tunes courtesy of my recent spin class play list I split the 4 willing participants into 2 teams with 2 of them running laps whilst the other 2 did functional bodyweight moves such as squats, squat jumps , burpees, duck walks, ladder runs, russian twists and cross crawls. This was a continuously moving exercise so fairly challenging but done with good spirits.

After all these exercises and laps were completed we rotated the team and 4 more willing (?) participants entered the fun chamber. This continued for a few more rounds ( take a look at the photos) before time was up and it was tools down for everyone. painting was almost complated and the team turned a green room into a more neutral modern magnolia colour. With one more visit this could not only be completed but add to our RED January total. Keep an eye on the website for further details.

Thanks to storm Bernard I decided to spare the team the joys of fitness on the track in the wind and rain and instead we stayed inside for a PE session.

Everyone who was fit, able and willing completed the HIIT relay session in teams of 2 before we embarked on some fun games in 4 teams of 4 people . This involved jumping with a green pilates ball between the knees followed by hopping and running. Considering that I did emphasise that it was for fun and definitely not competitive, the noise, effort and uproar that followed seemed to suggest otherwise!

Despite this part two safely completed :) YAY!

All's well that ends well

With the rain briefly stopping we took the opportunity to go out on part 3 = the final run. With another clear as mud briefing and very strict instructions about no one being left on their own 3 groups set out.... and thats where it all went slightly wrong.

However on such a happy night lets not dwell on the details! Somehow, no one got lost and everyone got home safely !

Red January week 2

COMPLETE ( phew )

See you all next week. stay strong with those new years resolutions :)

Julia xx

Happy 2020 and WELCOME to and back to GoodGym Worthing

Wow its a new year! After a strong finish to 2019 we have started in style with our biggest turn out since my 100th good deed celebration last year.

Massive thank you to my outstanding regular core team. Tonight of all nights you came into your own with your loyalty and support. You really are THE BEST!

A very warm Worthing GG welcome to our newbies Alice, Jess. Tara and Clare . We have never had 4 new people all in one evening so it was so lovely that you all came along. We all hope that this is the first of many visits to us :)

Task force member Belinda was in charge of welcome's and signing in . After the usual banter and briefing the group set off on a warm up around the track before heading to Field Place for a nice cosy indoor task which is such a much sought after luxury for GoodGymers at this time of year. The good news is that all our tasks are indoors in January so no need to find solace on the sofa on Monday nights!

Field Place is one of Southdown Leisure's Charitable Trust sites. Our very own Duncan is CEO of the trust. Duncan was also the leading light and driving force behind bringing GG to Worthing nearly 3 years ago. We have alot to thank him for!

The writing is on the wall

At Field Place we had been tasked with painting 2 meeting rooms upstairs. Armed with masking tape, paints and brushes the team set about this good deed with their usual mischievous good humour and energy. Duncan decided to set in paint a new partnership opportunity slogan between Fit 4 and GoodGym . These are only two of many of his loves in his life. I'm sure we could all name at least one other ( parkrun ?!!) Any others apart from scouting ?

Got it taped

Surely not much mischief can happen with Jay in charge of the masking tape but then, isn't mischief his middle name and isn't Good Gym his stage for entertaining us all? I think tonights great photo selection say it all

With all the team beavering away with brushes and rollers it was lovely to see Alice, Jess. Tara and Clare giving it their energy, attention to detail whilst full of smiles on their first task with us.

A blot of fuss about nothing

So John spilt paint on the carpet and Duncan told on him - Such is the banter in GG Worthing. Its kind of like school but much nicer and much more fun :)

Tools down until we return next week and off the group went back to the track. In the circumstances, my original epic fitness plan was slightly amended ( don't worry everyone you will get it next week instead)

Track and Field ( Place)

3 groups set off in groups for some speed work around the track interspersed with some functional fitness moves including squats, lunges, star jumps and burpees. You may be interested to know that I'm not the only one that can hardly move today. Who votes Nick does more burpees this year?! Stretches put the lid on the evening's activity. Not even the drizzle could dampen the spirits this evening.

RED January

This is the month where every good deed and every mile count so please do ensure you record all your activities on Strava. I'm going to add in some extra good deeds too for a couple of weekends so that, here in worthing, we can get over the line and achieve the GG goal of 8,000 good deeds and 100,000 kms in January.

Special thanks to Ricky who took his watch for a ride in the car and gave us an extra few miles on his journey home last night :)

Next week I may be in the walking group but I will definitely be there. Cant wait to catch up with you all :)

Here's to fun, fitness filled, warm and glowing 2020 . Bring it on !

Lots of GG love

Julia X