Bulb Planting Event 🍀

This evening Woking GG headed to Brookwoods Memorial Halls to clear an area behind the hall for a bulb planting event. 🌱

Wayne ran from Knaphill and got to the halls first we he met Steph who is the manger of the halls and who asked for our assistance. Wayne helped Steph unload her car with all the tools that were required for the task. The area was quite a large area and went back deep. Steph's parents also joined us.

With tools in hand work began to remove the brambles shortly after Nadia & Anne joined the group they both also ran from Knaphill but along the canal 🏃‍♀️. They got stuck in straight away by filling up the bags with the brambles that had already been removed. We were soon joined by Alys & Quinn 🐶, followed by Adam who ran from Woking, Julie & Lauren it was great seeing Lauren who is still recovering from an injury.

Whilst working away we got talking to Steph who told us that the bulb planting event was going to happen during Halloween 🎃 with arts & crafts and other activities ( Sounds like a fun event)

The Surrey 1/2 was still on peoples mind, the event, atmosphere, runners was just amazing and all GG Woking runners did amazingly well.

The sun was setting and Steph brought out Tea & Biscuits for everyone. The area we had cleared looked so different, it was now a great space to plant bulbs. 😀

It total we had done 14 bags 👏🏽 We cleared up said our goodbyes and headed off Anne, Adam, Alys & Quinn, Nadia ran back along the canal, Julie headed home, while Julie dropped Wayne off back in Knaphill.

Great job everyone, see you soon 😀

Surrey 1/2 Marathon & 5k

The day had finally arrived. All the training & preparation was going to be put into practice. 🏃🏻‍♂️

Goodgym Woking members were out in full force this morning taking part in this iconic race in our home town. The atmosphere and energy around the event village was amazing. In total there were just over 5,000 runners from all over the country.

It was great seeing so many familiar faces current and from the past. The weather was just right the storms that appeared overnight had moved away ⛈️

Wayne cycled to the race and got there early to take photos. He was soon joined by Anne & Rebecca. Wayne said a hello to his old mate Tony (Mr Carlos Ice Cream) who is at the park most days. We then saw Phil Katie husband he was telling us that Katie was getting her race number. Adam joined us looking fit & ready to go. We saw many familiar faces from other local running clubs that we all know Woking AC, Run Company, No Sweat Running. 🏃🏾‍♂️

Wayne headed off for one final visit to the Loo and on the way back bumped into Abi it was great seeing Abi taking part as last year while running the race she got an injury but this time she was eager to finish. Maya & her husband Andy joined us for a few pictures then we all headed off to the start line. Runners were going off at different times this was based on projected finish times. The 1/2 runners started first followed by the 5k runners. Nadia & Katie had signed up to the 5k this was Nadia first 5k race with her super fast new trainers 😀

Going through the start line the amount of people that were lined up along the road heading out was amazing the cheers and support was unbelievable 👏🏽 going out of the leisure center and through Westfield the crowds were incredible Flags, signs, a brass band was something else. It was great seeing family and friends along the route cheering. Just past the 10k mark Maya had caught up with Maya they had a breath chat before Maya put her foot down 🏃‍♀️💨

There were a few water stations along the route & WC's which were very handy as Wayne had drunk way to much liquid earlier 😀

The toughest section was the out and back seeing runners run the opposite way was tough, but seeing friends along that section cheering was just the boost we needed. As we approached the last 3k the end was insight. That final push with the crowd roaring and pushing you through was crazy crossing that finish line felt amazing.

We had all come in at different times. Nadia & Katie both did amazingly well with fantastic times in the 5k race. James & Adam smashed it. Wayne was very pleased with his time for his 1st 1/2 marathon. Maya set a new PB at 1/2 marathon 🎉 Abi finished with an amazing time while Rebecca had a great run. And our queen Anne followed up from her San Francisco marathon with an incredible run.

What a day what an race, you should all be proud of what you achieved, you are all amazing and make Woking GG what it is a fantastic kind hearted people.

Rest up enjoy the rest of the weekend and see some of you next week 😀

All Saints Church

A Big Welcome To Liv & Olesia And Their Colleagues From The Hilton Hotel Who Joined Us This Evening

This evening Nadia, Katie, & Julie met at WWF to run the 2k along the canal to the Church. While waiting a group of 10 Hilton staff appeared. Liv & Olesia & their fellow Hilton colleagues introduced themselves. The Hilton Hotel will be opening its doors on the 31st October and this lovely group joined us for tonights task 😀

The group ran along the canal to the church where they met Adrian who was delighted in seeing so many people and quickly got the group going with washing down walls and painting the ceiling on the upper level 🎨

Wayne arrived a little late from work and was shocked to see so many people. Wayne went over to the new members and introduced himself. Liv mentioned that they will be coming to regular tasks and love the idea of helping out in the community, Liv is also training for the Cardiff Marathon 🏃🏻‍♂️

Next week we are we are meeting at WWF and will be running to a property in Horsell to carry out a gardening task.

This Sunday if anyone is available to volunteer at Junior Park Run Please sign up. 😊

Spreading Goodgym Cheer

7 GoodGymers and a dog ran over 35k to deliver GoodGym leaflets around Woking. Road closures and traffic delays meant a later start than expected but the great turnout made speedy work of delivering leaflets about GoodGym to the houses surrounding Woking Park. We even accosted people running past to take a leaflet on the basis that if they are running anyway they may as well be running to do good and join our community. Plus who can resist taking a leaflet from Anne? Hopefully our efforts will see more people who want to get fit while doing good join our wonderful Woking GoodGym community. 😀

Well done Katie as ever to for running 5k to the task and to Adam for slowly building back up his running and visiting the gym afterwards. Quinn helped Alys along and Nadia shared her fitness wisdom including "running is like brushing your teeth, if you only do it once every 6 months your teeth will fall out". Kirsty and Rebecca are neck and neck in their competition to reach their 50th good deed. We all enjoyed a sociable run in the humid August weather. Good work team! 🏃‍♀️

Alys (and Quinn), Clare, Claire, Julie, Nadia and Anne were welcomed by Claud at the RSPCA in Chobham before tackling the invasion of brambles and nettles in the dogs's compounds.

The main gate being locked, Claud showed us the way to two other dogs's compounds where our help was needed. Nadia had warned us she was delayed, so Anne offered to go back to the car park and show her the new route. Unfortunately for Nadia, Anne, being jet-lagged -good excuse to diminish her complete lack of orienteering-, could not remember the way to the new compounds where the rest of the team was already clearing the borders of unwanted plants. Thank goodness, Alys came to the rescue, so the day was saved!

We all got stung by nettles, pricked by thistles and scratched by brambles, but managed to make quite a difference to both areas and filled up 3 big bags. Well done to all!

On Sunday, a group of us will help at junior parkrun, will you join in? Or you could run with us next Wednesday when we will be "leafletting" to advertise the good work done by GoodGym!

In the meantime, enjoy your runs!