An unseasonably warm evening greeted us for our last run of 2016 and my last run as the leader of the GoodGym pack. It was a bittersweet occasion; sadly our task was cancelled as the poor gentleman who was preparing leaflets for us to distribute was very poorly, so we used our back up plan of litter picking and went to clear a big area of cycle path and nearby streets.

Staggeringly, 31 people turned out for this run, which was simply fantastic given the time of year. Moreover, loads of us were sporting Santa hats, lights, bells, costumes or just big silly grins. Most of central Bristol was gridlocked as we ran, so hopefully we gave the car drivers sat in their cars something to smile about too! The highlight was our reindeer pack plus Santa - we had (thanks Emma for the list):
Alice as Cupid (complete with heart and bow)
Gary as Donner (without the kebab this time though)
Matt as Prancer (as he's so light footed)
Dave as Blitzen (complete with AWESOME lightning bolt tights)
Chloe as Dancer (wearing a fetching little tutu)
Caroline as Vixen (all in black so ninja deer)
Emma as Comet (the shootin stars on the leggings made the costume)
Paul as the big Ho Ho Ho himself (looking toasty in the Santa costume)
Debs as a slightly belated Elf (loved the hat, Debs)
And Mel as a Snowwoman (she mentioned that some kids wanted to follow us).

The pack headed off at a steady pace, with Mel and Dave being excellent back markers, and made our way over to an underpass for bikes in the industrial area of St Philips. Bin bags were grabbed, gloves were donned, and we split up in to a litter picking frenzy of activity. The park area I chose to head in to was reasonably tidy so we did the GoodGym thing of playing on the swings, slides and spinning thing.

25 minutes later and the place was well tidy. We headed back and finished up in Queen Square. As this was my last run, it would have been rude and frankly too nice of me to finish the run without some body conditioning work.. lunges and crab squats abounded, then tricep dips and press ups.

Then came the bit I'd been dreading... the farewell speech. I'd not prepared anything so waffled a bit, rambled a bit more, and generally tried to convey my massive gratitude to everyone who come or has ever come to GoodGym Bristol. There is nothing like GoodGym, and the people who turn up in the wind, the rain, the frost, on the hottest day of the year (2016 and 2015 were both years where we managed to run on the hottest day!), and in massive thunderstorms. The people who put up with smelly gloves, wonky wheelbarrows, plastic trowels and sometimes a bit of disorganisation.

It's you guys who have kept me going and loving our runs together. And then, to top it all, there were loads of other GoodGym runners who'd not made it out but came along to wish me well. And I got pressies - I LOVE my GoodGym rat on a bike t-shirt so much!!!!

Thank you, everyone.

A festive 12 Goodgymers came along to tackle one tough hill on our 7k run to Odd Down for party preparations at the community cafe who are hosting a Christmas dinner for the elderly. A great way to bring isolated people together at this time of year.

We used the run out to the foot of the hill to warm up gently tonight before ascending the 169m hill (don't they love me tonight) and we did of course do some walking lunges to regroup once or twice on the way.

Hill out of the way and a chance to catch our breath with some Christmas card writing for Ali who's organised the Christmas lunch and lucky for the group she had already got those sprouts ready, so it took just 10 minutes to get through the pile of cards from writing inside to inserting vouchers and sealing them up. This left time for us to catch up with Felix who will be our task host on January 10th at the cycle circuit and he was keen for the group to take a look at the collection of bikes on offer from specially adapted to road bikes, certain members of the group were like children in a sweet shop(not mentioning any names) but the pictures speak for themselves.

The run back was a more leisurely one back down to the leisure centre, with a sprint finish thrown in for the more energetic members in the group. The stretch out also included the pun discussion with Emily sang out just to seal the deal as they say.

Well done to Pascale on her Marathon in Lanzarote and what a whopper of a medal and Lydia who took part in the Christmas cracker at the weekend.

Don't forget our not so Christmassy gathering on Thursday , do get signed up and show off your skating skills https://www.goodgym.org/parties/goodgym-bath-christmas-party

I would just like to wish everyone A very Merry Christmas and A Happy New year, relax enjoy and see you back on January 3rd.

Ho Ho Ho !!!

One of our coldest runs, this one! We reluctantly dragged ourselves out of the heated halls of Vivo gym and assembled in the little car park next door to the gym for a warm up. We had not 1 but 4 newbies - welcome to you all!

Our run was short and a little fast - no one wanted to hang about. We got to Emmaus in good time where we met up with Elle, the warehouse manager and our task master for the evening. Our job was to fix up some of the donated furniture so that the charity could sell it in one of their charity shops.

The gang set to the task with their usual enthusiasm, and after about 20 minutes had fixed most of the furniture, so Elle went hunting for more. From desks to wardrobes, shelves to...er... more desks, we fitted new handles, removed stickers, sanded and varnished, and all round made things a lot better. It was a great task given it was #GivingTuesday - a bit of an anti capitalism movement that encourages giving money or time.

We went in to overtime to ensure that we'd fixed up 13 pieces of furniture, and then once more braved the cold. The run back was again a little more zippy than usual, especially the now traditional sprint up Union Street hill.

We whizzed through the stretches and announcements, and then rushed back in to Vivo to warm up again!

It's not about the numbers, is it? 25 people met at 6.25pm on 22/11/16 to run 3km to plant 100 bulbs in 30 minutes. That describes a little of what happened but really doesn't capture the essence!

We got lucky with the weather - it was cold and dry as we ran to Stackpool Road Home Zone where there were some flower beds that needed our TLC - the Patchwork Project led by the lovely Laura was on hand to supply tools, gloves and a large sack of daffodil bulbs... plus important advice about what was a weed and what was not. Loads of people had head torches, they make such a big difference to what we can do in the dark, so massive thumbs up for bringing them.

It was one of those tasks that seemed to be over almost as soon as it had begun, so swift and enthusiastic were the runners. During the weeding, an interesting mushroom (don't eat it Kevin!!!), a large empty wine bottle and a Sylvanian Family baby fox (see pic!) were found, as well as of course many many weeds. Once the weeds were removed, the planting of bulbs began.

With time to spare we were done, so Chris led a longer run around the docks whilst I lead the rest of the gang back to Queen Square for a bit of leg slapping. Yes, leg slapping - an agility/cardio game which involves lightly slapping or tapping your opponents legs. Then we did a load of lunges and squats and finished with a spider man plank, which is where the longer distance runners found us.

We all stretched out, and whilst stretching, I was reminded that the amazing Dave aka the Godfather had reached the milestone of 200 good deeds. There was therefore cheering and then cake back at Vivo, plus Dave was presented with his amazing and special 200 run 'Godfather' top. TOP JOB DAVE!

Thanks to everyone for turning out on a cold night - they're just going to get colder so wrap up warm, bring your head torch and enjoy!