Once again we were back at school, this time 8 of us set to paint the rainbow and cheer up a part of the world.

Setting off from Grandcentral LifeLiesure, we had our usual warm up session then started a rather long run 4km to BroadstoneHall Primary school. We were at the school a few weeks ago to paint the undercoat this time we were adding some colour. We were greeted by the head teacher Simon Langley, who had been busy before we got there and had already painted the tops of the gazebo's a rather fetching pink, good job sir!

Simon had been really organised and got all the paints and tools need for the job ready, we just needed to get the job done, and get the job done we did. And it looked lovely, really colourful, magic in the early evening light.

This weeks run we were joined by Megan from BBC5 to see what we were all about, so we all had to put on our posh voices for the mini interviews. She did a great job of painting and took the run in her stride, Thanks Megan for coming along, really looking forward to listening to the radio piece when its aired. It was great to see Simone and Hannah back with us, this time Simone managed to paint more of the gazebo and less of herself, which was a bonus! Anne however was a differnt story and was also a very fetching pink colour!

Thank you to all the Stockport Goodgym crew, the school gazebo looked awesome, full of colour and vibrant, a lovely area for the kids to sit and had lunch or play, cant wait to see the reaction of the children after ninja night painters that have been, we are like the tooth fairy, just more colourful. As ever we got lots done in a short amount of time, and it really did look great. This week there we had to run back and so had not time for school sports day fun, however a new "thing" we are going to do it a exercise at every set of lights we have to wait at...........great idea from Ivo (founder of Goodgym) its one we will now being everyweek, hahahaha.

Dont forget that next week im not here, you will have the lovely Liverpool Goodgym run leader Char, look after her, and have fun!

Happy running folks,

Lisa x x x

Wow guys, FAB job this evening, that was a whole heap of bags we filled! Massive thanks to Anne, one of our task force for finding a area that really benefited our help this evening.

We set off at the usual time, after a little warm up! from Lifelesiure Grandcentral at 6.30pm. 9 fabulous runners attended this evening and collectively we collected a big heap of rubbish.

The run was only a little one, but the effort was HUGE. 12 bin bags of rubbish were collected, and tonights random items were a bucket and a vintage holdall with snails in for the ride.....

The area we cleaned was just past our start location, it was a lovely green area that looked like no one had appreciated for a while, many work places surround the area so hopefully it will be used more with the sun out this week. It was great to see all the spring bulbs pushing up from the ground, and now instead of having random beer cans and crisp packets around them the flowers can bloom happier and the area can thrive.

We completed the run next to Hollywood park, with its mega stairs I thought it would be rude not to use them to our advantage for fitness purposes, however there was already a super fit crew sweating it out doing weird backward squats down the stairs, it looked painful, and odd......So we went further down and had a little circuit session, all together there were 8 stations, each for a minute, with rest when needed. Everyone worked to max effort, so well done, especially to Callumn who joined us for the first time tonight, it was his 21st birthday and so thought he would celebrate in style with us, what a honor! Thank you. He is also in his 3rd year of a journalist degree and is going to do a article on what we get up to on weekly basis, and how beneficial community fitness is, fame at last Stockport Goodgym crew?? Talking of fame, see the photo added thats been shared on social media by the latest ParkRun group in the area, Fletcher Moss.

Well done to everyone who attended the Fletcher Moss ParkRun on Saturday , I was truly sad to have missed it ( well done Anne on your PB!) however there will be more things in the pipeline for us to join in with.

Have a fabulous week runners, stay Awesome! Happy running,

Lisa x

8 runners met and ran 6km tonight at Goodgym Stockport. Setting off at 6.30pm fro Lifeleisure Grandcentral. We had a little “hooooorah” for our resident tourist Matthew Thorneton-Field from Goodgym Liverpool, tonight was his 50th Gooddeed, so we ate cakes and biscuits (any excuse!) and made him have a daft photo……. Well done Matthew on your 50th deed and thanks for sharing it with the stockport crew, it wont be long(ish) until we will all be wearing black t-shirts with pride.

Tonights deed was all about Chelwood foodbank. The task was set in 2 halves, we ran to the local foodbank to donate food we had collected, and then we ran to a business estate to drop off some flyers. The flyers were for the Wonderful Linzie, who manages Chelwood food banks.

She is trying to raise as much money as possible to fund a trip to Peru with a group other people doing the same, but this is no ordinary trip, the trip will be raising awareness and many funds to keep Chelwood food banks going. Linzie is a heartwarming and passionate character who will be overcoming fears and taking on a huge personal challenge, and all this to help promote and support the local food banks in Stockport.

You can help in various ways, by emailing Linzie:mlinzie@chelwoodfoodbankplus.org Or going to the social media sites, FB: @foodbankstockport Twitter: @chelwoodFBplus

And if you would like to donate to this amazing charity you can do by going to the donation website: www.wonderful.org and searching “Inca trail”

Also if you are interested int he trip yourself check it out at www.eventbrite.co.uk and search Chelwood, there are plenty of smaller runs and walks to get involved with, its a great way to raise money, support your community, meet great new people and keep fit all at the same time, whats not to love?

Tonights run was a adventure, we ran, slipped on non slip mats, ate biscuits, celebrated, ran, head butted a massive bee, hurt ourselves, sprinted and laughed……….great session folks!

Until next week, happy running, Lisa x

Tonight 10 runners (11 listed for Lynne!!) ran a mighty good distance up some long a windy hills to get from the start location of Grand Central to the fabulous venue of St Elizabeths church in Reddish.

The weather wasn't the kindest, so we had to ramp up the kind level and spread some Christmas cheer around the church.

Once we arrived looking windswept, we were greeted by the lovely Caroline who was quick to hand out the sweeping brushes and instructions!

Once armed with the brushes, dusters and cloths we were happy.

Jobs to be done were sweeping the floors, dusting a huge amount of windowsills and beautiful windows and more, we were in our element.

We cleaned to Christmas music like little elves, and like Santa himself I gave our little gifts of cups of tea and coffee and some chocolates. All was good.

If ever your in the area, I highly recommend having a visit to the church, it really is a spectacular building, with amazing stained glass windows, and the church itself has many events, from soul nights to fitness classes.

After we competed our task, off we went running back, up and down the hills and through the wind.

This was Goodgym Stockport last run of 2018, and WHAT a year its been, its the year we started, and its been amazing so far, not only have we improved our fitness levels individually, and helped the lives of our community, we have also made friends in one another, we’ve had socials and laughs and there is plenty to come in the New year………..we are planning on running both Manchester half marathons next year, and theres already some good tasks in the pipeline!

I would like to take this time to say THANK YOU, and I really mean it, its a pleasure to lead each and everyone of you, you are inspiring and wonderful people, and I cant wait to see what amazing things we get up to in the new year as a team.

Thank you for being part of it.

Until next year, happy running! Dont forget to kick back, relax and enjoy yourself and possibly add a few little runs over the festive period.

Merry christmas, you filthy animals,

LOVE LISA X X X

Heeyyyy! Another fab week with GoodGym Stockport.

This week we wanted to give our festive hats a shake off and do some good in the town centre of Stockport, with it being #GivingTuesday we wanted to give to the whole community and what a better way to do it by cleaning up the market place and surrounding areas?

This week 7 runners met at the usual spot of Lifeleisure grandcentral at 6.30pm. We started off with a hip opening and all over body warm up to prepare us for the fitness session I had planned…..

After our warm up we tootled into town with a skip and hop, conserving some energy, it was a lovely local and relaxed run. Once at our location bags and gloves were dished out and everyone set to cleaning the mean streets of the market place. After round 1 of a clean up we had a fast fitness boost to keep the air flowing, we did some speed stair drills and some conditioning work.

Round 2 was a another litter pick and general clean up, as this was happening I also popped in the WellSpring Homeless shelter to ask about the task we flyered for a few weeks back, this was the “Rucksack Project” where a selection of practical items are donated into a bag and given in. The project is this Sunday Dec 2nd from 10-4, so if you have collected anything useful or want to go help them out on the day then go do it.

We then completed the session with a loop of 5! This was a similar fitness session we had earlier on in the year, there were plenty of options of running around the market area 5 times and 5 sets of exercises to complete between the runs. If your thinking of joining us at any point, don't let session put you off, its not as gruelling as it sounds (or looks from the photos!) there are always options/alternatives to accommodate all levels of fitness.

It was marvellous to have Deborah join us all the way from Bristol, her energy, enthusiasm and passion for Goodgym was inspiring, well done on all your achievements over the past 5 years Deborah, and I hope to meet you again, and thanks to Matthew from Goodgym Liverpool who had met her the night before and gave such fab directions and advice, I LOOOOVVE the community spirit of Goodgym.

Lastly, a massive GOOD-LUCK to Mr David, our resident back marker and general dude for his upcoming marathon on the 8th Dec, enjoy every second of it, remember to keep chilled and pull back with the runs for the next week, cant wait to hear all about it at the social on the 11th.

Oooooo one more thing, don't forget the challenge I've set, “12 RUNS OF CHRISTMAS” this requires you lacing up your trainers, wrapping up warm and getting 12 runs in no matter how short or long from Dec 1st to the 25th……….

Have a awesome week you lovely people,

Happy running,

Lisa Hamilton xx