13 runners ran 7km to dig the foundation of a path at Harthill Youth Centre's new community garden.

Finally, a sunny evening in Liverpool and our fabulous 13 set-off for a run to the Wavertree area of the city. 1km into our run and an uneven road surface unfortunately lead to a runner taking a tumble, [updates suggest that our friend is doing fine and will be back up and running very soon :)] so we took a time-out to deal with this and to ensure that our team mate was okay.

Shout out to John, Lyn and Jan for their support and care in dealing with this incident.

As such, we arrived at the task a little later than we'd planned but this amazing team of runners jumped straight into action. Over 20 minutes they worked solidly to clear weeds and grass to prepare the ground for a path that will lead around Harthill Youth Centre to a planned new community garden.

John and his team at the centre were really impressed with how fast our runners worked, treating us to bottles of water and slices of orange for sustenance. John has agreed to us coming back to finish the job in a few weeks.

The return run was gladly less eventful and I was inspired by how well everyone kept pace, especially up a long incline.

Extra shout outs go to newbies Anne-Marie, Emily and Karen who fitted right in with the team and to Philip, who has moved up the country after being part of GoodGym Birmingham and was a dynamo path-clearer!

Next week is bank holiday Monday, and as it is becoming our tradition, we'll have a longer run that day – around 9km. We'll be leafleting for cancer support charity Sunflowers and since the task isn't as time restricted, if you're an improver runner looking to challenge yourself, I really welcome you to come on this one. For those less keen on the distance, the following week's task is just 2km from our base - so perfect for beginners. Sign-up for both tasks here.

Good luck to everyone taking part in the Liverpool Spring 10km on Sunday. If you’re not running, why not come and give us a cheer? #RedThunder

Until next time, Char <3

14 people ran 11k to FareShare to organise a food order

Tonight, it was great to welcome two newcomers to GG Brum, both Evelyn and Rob, it’s great to have you involved. They both chose a top night for their first group run, it was to be the longest one yet. We have been to FareShare before, but with the night’s drawing in we had to take a slightly different route this time, avoiding the canal, making it around an extra 1k in total. After the introductions Aidan, fresh back from his trip across the Atlantic to America kindly offered to back mark and I led from the front

Time to chill

Once arriving at our task destination, everyone was on the hot and sweaty side, the temperatures are quite high for the end of October, been a Yorkshireman this is good though……it saves on heating bills! Anyway, what better way to cool down than a nice big walk-in fridge! Everyone got in and with Chan missing Rob (the original) did the honours of taking the selfie. Once that was done it was on with sorting the order. Everyone mucked in carrying food to the van were Aaron organised it. I took plenty of photos including a few good 'mug shots'!

it’s a bit late

We were a bit late leaving the task as it was a slightly bigger food order this time, but we were keen to get it finished so the group were happy to get back to 1000 Trades a little later than usual. Anyway, we all headed back together, everyone worked well on the run back, as after the run there, then the task the group were likely to be ‘feeling it’ by the end, apart from Aaron who said he felt better on the way back! Sam pushed hard all the way back and Morwenna ran strongly. Abbie also put in some great work for her first run with GG for a few weeks and a special mention must go to Evelyn, who really did get thrown in at the deep end on her first group run, but she did fantastic! So, that was that, 11k in total, officially the longest GG Brum run since we started in January, so well done every single one of the group! Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

15 people ran 5k to do a litter pick or our adopted part of the canal

On a mild evening we set off in the light to the canal. We soon, split up into four groups each group using their litter pickers to collect up the rubbish on a different section of our GG Brum adopted part of the canal. The group spent a good 20 minutes collecting rubbish before all meeting up to dump the bags off at Aston Lock, for our friends from the Canal and River Trust to collect on their 'rounds' tomorrow.

Intervals followed by circuits!

It was now pretty dark so the group did some interval work on a nicely lit part of the canal. All the group pushed hard, Ken showing some top work in the middle of the pack. After that we ran a bit further before stopping underneath Snow hill station, were the group did a set of reverse dips on the canal lock gate for those ‘bingo wings’ followed by around a 100m sprint to some steps, before sprinting back then doing some press ups. Paige showed great work with the dips with Aaron, Lee and Annie looking like they should sign up for the military with some top press ups!

One for the bum

Once that was done, we left the church and headed for St Paul’s square were the group did some more circuits. This involved running a fast lap around the church followed by a set of tuck jumps after the first lap and then a set of killer burpees after the second lap. Rob and Sam led the way around the church, Garry did a top set of tuck jumps, Philip and Hannah put great effort into the burpees. Then after all that, it was time for the bum exercise, 3 sets of 45 second wall squats with 15 seconds recovery, now that’s a tough finisher, but as I say it is great for that booty, so if it’s painful to sit on the bog tomorrow you know which exercise to blame! We then had a short run back to base and that was that!

Next week we will be out doing good again, possibly with some weary legs after this Sunday’s Birmingham Half/Full Marathons! sign up here.

16 people ran 5k to sort clothes, organise tinned food and feed the homeless at the Birmingham Mission Care Centre

Tonight, we welcomed three newcomers to GG Brum! Step forward Ken, Dave and Aaron. Thanks for coming chaps! Tonight, we were on our monthly visit to Birmingham Mission. Annie kindly did the back marking and I led the way. Once there we were warmly greeted by John who said there was a lot to do tonight, so the group were split three ways. One group went in the kitchen to help serve the food and wash up, one group helped sort the clothes and another group sorted the tinned food by itemising it all. The task took a bit longer than usual, especially all the clothes sorting, but as Dave said the strap line ‘many hands make light work’.

More rain?!

Last week most of the runners got a soaking on the way to GoodGym, tonight it was on the way back. The wet stuff was falling pretty heavily as we left the care centre so it was probably just as well the task took a little longer! But a bit of rain didn’t deter our runners anyway! We headed off at a good pace. Before stopping at the bottom of a hill to do a bit of HIIT training. A nice mix of lunges, tuck jumps and high knees running got those hearts racing and metabolisms fired up! Then the group did a ‘sustained effort’ rep……a hill climb, straight into stair climbing in front of the town hall, once at the top a sprint to some crossroads. The group put in some great work. Dave led the way with Neal chasing him down. Simon and Philip worked hard all the way, Abbie, Kate and Morwenna pushed each other, driving hard through the rain. Once done we pushed on back to 1000 Trades and that was another run done 😊

GG Birmingham race

Remember it is our first official GG Brum race this Saturday, the Cannon Hill Parkrun, meeting at the bandstand at 8.45am ready for the 9am start. Followed by a coffee afterwards. It would be great to see as many people as possible from any GG group sign up here.

Next week I will be on a sunbed in Majorca, however don't worry Aidan will be 'me' next week, so don't worry you will be able to do good once again sign up here.

15 people ran 10k to help sort food out to be distributed to various food banks by FareShare

Tonight, it was great to welcome Simon for his first time at a GG group run and Katie who was doing some GG tourism having been involved in some of the London groups. They both picked a great night to join us, as it was going to be our longest run yet! Around 10k in total. So, after the introductions we were all on our way to FareShare. It was nice that we could do a large part of the run on the canal avoiding the traffic.

Chilling out

After around 5k we arrived at our destination. It was a very humid night, so we all had a right good sweat on! We were greeted by Hannah at FareShare who gave all the group a welcome bottle of water. Then most of the group took the opportunity to ‘chill out’ in the walking freezer before starting the task! Once the group were ready it involved sorting ready meals, bread, yoghurts and a few other bits and pieces. Hannah was very impressed saying that they had never had the items sorted so quickly! Many hands make light work or so the saying goes me thinks! So now we had completed the task it was time for a quick group photo and then we were on our way back!

The long way back

We went a slightly different way on our way back, taking in more of the canal. After about 1k, we split into two groups, one slightly faster and one slightly slower, but there wasn’t a lot of difference as everyone worked hard all the way back. We even added in a couple of intervals before we reached our base! Everyone was absolutely fantastico! 10k was a great achievement and the whole group worked really well supporting and pushing each other a long, it was great to see! Therefore, after we finished everyone was ready for the GG Brum social, sinking a few well-deserved drinks! Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

6 runners ran 6km and widened the footpath at the Lew Whitehead Community Centre.

What a change from last week! It was a beautifully warm and sunny evening for a run in Barnsley this evening. We welcomed along brand new runner Amanda, to the gang - don't forget to give her a big cheer!

After a warm up, it was pretty much uphill all the way towards Wosborough - well, it felt like it anyway. The best thing to distract us from all the uphill was the gorgeous view across the valley, and you don't get that without a little bit of climbing.

We arrived at the Lew Whitehead Centre and were greeted by the lovely chaps from Twiggs who were providing us with some tools and guidance for our task. The footpath around the field had become completely engulfed by grass, so much that you can barely see that a tarmac path exists! Another volunteer group had made a start in clearing the grass and getting the path back to its original width at the very top section, and now it was our turn.

It was hard graft scraping the turf away, rolling and lifting it up and chucking it all under the hedges. Amanda broke a nail but was very brave and carried on regardless. She was soon distracted by digging up some dog poo along with her turf and forgot about the nail. Meanwhile Lisa was getting some nice straight edges in and Sharon was just grabbing and yanking the turf up with her bare hands (well, gloved, but you know).

Speedy Suze from Sheffield had arrived after we'd left, but legged it to join us too - so she grabbed the last spade and jumped straight into the task.

Apparently what I've got is a shovel, not a spade.. which is why I'm finding this very difficult.. (Suze)

After half an hour of hard graft, we'd taken the footpath back to full width for about a 20m stretch. It was a hard effort but the dog walkers were already enjoying the newly widened path before we'd even left the field!

We celebrated our achievement with a mega set of the world's best exercises, lunges.

• Forward lunges
• Backward lunges
• Side lunges
• Lunges with kicks
• Balance lunges
• Sneaky jumping squats (not lunges)

With wobbly legs, we headed back over the hill, enjoying the last of the evening sunshine. Sharon and Suze boshed a couple of extra hill reps on the way back because they're hardcore like that and Mark chucked in a bonus set of bench press-ups too.

We'll definitely be heading back to help again with the footpath in the future, there's a lot of work to do there to keep an eye out on the future runs to see what's happening.