17 ran to tackle a hedge for someone who couldn't manage it.

It was a double task day for Goodgym Chelmsford this Global running day, and we got stuck into the first task by helping the Ideas Hub to sort out a room in a nearby office ready for an event the next day. Tables were put together and chairs were moved and arranged, all after 6 flights of stairs! Great to see the return of Charlotte who is back from Uni and John who has not been for a while.

After our warm up task we set off on the run towards the main task, with a run through the high street and along the riverside path. We added an extra loop for those pushing the pace at the front and soon arrived at the hedge which had been enjoying the weather recently and was covering one window and working on the next. After retrieving the tools from the church we began chopping, lopping and clearing the hedge and surrounding vegetation to restore light to the flat. A good example of the sort of work we could do on missions for those who have been DBS checked, and something that can make so much difference to someone's quality of life.

Once the task was complete we set off back to the wooden bridge, and split into groups, one group running the three bridges and chasing group two who set off back to the hub! A great effort from both groups and we had a brief stretch in the rain!

I have posted the details of the Parkinsons event on Sunday on the facebook page here

and will add a discussion on our birthday party later today! see you this weekend or on next weeks run!

12 people ran to Gt. Baddow Scouts to clear their leaves.

A dozen Goodgymmers met at the ideas hub for the last Goodgym Chelmsford session of 2016. A big welcome to Lucy who joined us for the first time! After a quick catch up we walked across to the park to do a warm up, and it is great to see some excellent coordination on the arm swings. Once a little warmer we set off along the river and through an alternative subway for a pic, before arriving at the scout hut.

Gardening re-leaf

Some had assumed that leaf clearing would be a fairly short task, presumably everyone was looking forward to extra gym work, but on further investigation we discovered that there were probably more leaves than blades of grass! Gloves were distributed along with 6 different types of rake and lights were set up, so we got stuck in and soon had a huge collection of bags full of leaves from all round the grounds.

in the long run

We decided to split the group on the way back and make sure some of the speedier guys and girls had a good work out. with some taking the same route back, the others set off on a magical mystery tour. My distance estimation usually being so accurate, I may have added on a little more than intended but we all met back at the meeting point and ran the last stretch back to the hub together.

The last stretch

Once we had all arrived back we had a stretch whilst we discussed the session and tasks for next year. Do let me know if you have any ideas! We have a painting job for a week or two once we return in 2017 for the interact charity at Moulsham mill, and are sure to return to the farm at Hylands school before too long.

I hope you all have a merry Christmas and a great new year!

14 Goodgym Greats Gathered to help out the Ideas hub

A great turn out for a cold and frosty evening saw another task that did not quite go to plan.

The plan for this week was to lay a floor at the ideas hub so I met with one of our members John who is a carpenter and we discussed the way forward on this project. most of the way through 3 other carpenters turned up to help, and the decision was take to do the tricky cutting section whilst they were there so we could build onto a stable base.

Once the team arrived we changed from our usual warm up and moved the tables and chairs first so that the guys could begin. we then brought across the damp proof and underlay and went for a warm up so that they could get started.

Warm up in a winter wonder land? We decided to check out the Christmas lights that had been turned on the previous weekend so ran round and up the high street, to the bus station and back so we could get our now traditional subway selfie.

Back to base When we arrived back at the hub we found the quartet of carpenters deep into the preparation phase so we recruited volunteers for the painting that was also in the menu in the kitchen area. As we couldn't lay any flooring yet, we decided to put down some planks! front, side and backward planks were dispatched by the team with some excellent technique shown by (some of) the team.

We then went through a stretch masterclass and discussed common running issues and how to relieve them. After this the real learning began as Little Stars Circus gave us a demonstration of Aerial yoga! The team quickly displayed their skills and showed that runners can ave grace and poise! Having said that I think turning them into a hammock and having a brief snooze seemed to appeal the most to some of us!

And when it became apparent we would not be able to get stuck into the task just yet we opted to do our run session first and headed out into the cold once again. we left the painters at work and took off for a loop around lower anchor street with the speedier guys heading up to Writtle road and chasing us back.

We returned to the hub and as the painting was compete, and some runners called it a day and a few joined the painting group for their run through the park to the underpass and back.

Massive thanks to the crew who added a few more KM's to this weeks session, to John who did us proud in difficult circumstances and to the painting crew who did a great job. Also thanks to www.littlestarscircus.co.uk for their excellent demo!

Next week we are (probably) back at Hylands school farm so come join us!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/fitness-adventures-in-chelmsford

8 Goodgym runners enjoyed a fun fitness session

A late cancellation of the task left us with no job to do for the first time in Chelmsford.

We discussed the option of litter picking but as we already have pristine parks we opted for a little bit more of a fitness session, putting the Gym in goodgym.

It was good to see James back despite his busy schedule and John making an appearance too. Laurie offered to back mark and made sure Cat who was attending for the second time kept the chatting as fast as the running!

So we set off on a run through the park stopping for exercises at regular intervals. We began with some running drills under the viaduct where Claire helped with a high skips demo, before setting off to the "Dips" bench for the first set of exercises.

We took turns in doing dips on the front and press ups on the back of the bench before heading on wards for squats after the narrow bridge. We then gathered in Admirals park where Joel and *Caroline pushed the pace on the acceleration runs!

As we were there we ran a two hill relay with set one up to lamp post 2 and set 2 to lamp post 1, we happened to have 4 Red Goodgym Tee's present so they made up one team and the rest made up the other. I turned out we were pretty evenly split with the relay ending in a draw!

We then opted for a road run back to the hub re grouping at the crossing points and raced through the subway just to make sure the photo's were still blurry. On this run we found an envelope stuffed with cash! (which i have returned this morning!) The speedier runners finished with wall sits until the team returned for the warm down.

A quick stretch and a reminder we are working for our hosts next week so meet at the hub for some floor work and a run to follow. sing up here

see you there!

13 ran to Westlands primary school to plant trees

After some rain during the day, we once again enjoyed reasonable conditions for the session as 13 Goodgymers met for a tree planting task.

bonus task warm up

After our introductions and welcoming newbies Catharine and Vic to the team we were allocated a short bonus task of taking 5 tables from the ideas hub round to anytime fitness for their charity quiz night. We made short work of the almost half a mile of table carrying and regrouped to begin the run to Westlands school via an epic subway photo opportunity.

Life on the run

After wasting the photo op by not putting the flash on and getting more blurry pics, we continued through the park and on wards to the school. Despite one of the doors not being open we found our way out to the garden area and assembled for the task.

Can't see the trees for the wood

After anticipating digging huge holes for towering trunks, the trees were somewhat smaller than I had expected but we set about digging them into their new surroundings, following the trail of cones set out by the school children marking where to plant. The smaller hole digging enabled us to complete the task in double quick time and we set off back to the park for some exercises.

Exercises by moonlight

Despite the occasional light missing on our run back we paused at several intervals for squats, press ups, and dips. Inspired by the black board in Anytime fitness we added wall sits under the viaduct and finished with a relay just for good measure. A loop of the bridges and back brought a competitive end to the proceedings before a more leisurely jog the short way back to the hub.

Stretch and socializing

We completed our stretches whilst discussing our up coming social (Friday at the riverside Inn 7pm) our missions (beginning with set up for the Santa run 6th Dec) and races (The Santa run, 6th December). See you all on Friday!

11 super hot Goodgymers ran 9k to North Melbourne library

On a scorching hot Wednesday we welcomed Angela from the soon to be launching Goodgym Colchester to help us on the task. After a brief warm up in the park we headed off on the epic journey across town.

feeling Blue On arrival we set out the task of clearing the garden and painting the trellis where we found out the paint was blue! we also discovered that the trellis was very difficult to paint, but set to work to make is as blue as we could.

30 minute make over The rest of the team set to work clearing the garden of weeds and laying a membrane, which we covered with gravel. we even had time to fill the planters with compost.

Park life Even though the painting was troublesome the run was no problem. We split into two teams and Angela led some of the group for an extra mile or so, and threw in some race efforts for good measure. The rest of us took a slightly shorter route back to base, running through admirals park and back via central park.

it's all down stream from here Next weeks run is down the riverside path to Springfield Park Baptist Church for a garden clearance, sign up here!

See you all next week!