We did it!!! For our 100th Group Run at GoodGym Norwich, I set a target of 50 people attending and we smashed it with our new record of 54!

If it hadn't of rained all day how many would we have had?!

Lots of new faces this evening so a big GoodGym welcome to Richard T, Jenny, Emily B, Lucy, Julia, Pete, Tricia, Paulo, Andy, Jade, Teresa, Shiralee & Caroline.

Emma M was completing her 10th good deed, Mel was completing her 50th good deed and Elizabeth was completing her 100th good deed - very well timed Elizabeth!

Trying to brief over 50 people and getting them in what was a very large circle was a mission in itself, we needed the whole of The Forum.

Hayley volunteered to be photographer, Bill was walk leader and Mel was back runner.

We caught up on race news and I thanked everyone again who volunteered and ran the EPIC Aylsham 5K on Friday evening. Don't forget on Friday 28th June you can volunteer at the EPIC North Walsham 5K or run the EPIC North Walsham 5K. It'll be worth it just for the medal.

The task tonight was to visit the Oxfam Charity Shop of Magdalen Street. Due to the weather, painting was out of the equation but there was still plenty to do. The had a small team stripping the wall ready to be painted when its dry, sweeping the shop floor, stairs & upstairs, sorting through CD & book sections, sorting through clothes donations and general cleaning up of the shop floor.

Due to the sheer amount of people, I made it an active night so those running were put into pairs and there was a 800-metre loop relay taking place so we didn't over crowd the shop so one of the pair had to do the loop then tag the other in when they got back.

There was a bit of a cat walk going on, with a few of us trialling some of the donations... some may be a little concerned with my attire but don't dis it until you try it haha.

After a good 35 minutes (which equates to over 30 hours of volunteering time!) those running headed off and we'd meet Bill and the walkers back at The Forum. The reason for this is that the runners were in for a treat... a little run up Grapes Hill and then the sprint loop in Chapelfield Gardens.

Back at The Forum we had a stretch and Elizabeth had kindly brought some cakes.

After that 18 of us finished the evening off down the pub before the heavens opened on the way home.

Thank you all for making the 1st 100 Group Runs a phenomenal experience, I can't wait for the next 100 :-)

Next week we're visiting Catton Park. If you don't want to run the whole distance you can meet us halfway or at the task.

A long wet and windy Monday wasn't going to put off 25 GoodGymers from getting fit by doing good. Luckily the weather cleared up by the time of the run and it was quite a mild evening.

A big welcome to 3 new runners in Terri, Andrew and Helen.

Well done to Sandra on taking part in her 25th good deed!

After catching up on the weekend's running where Sam did her 50th ParkRun at 32 weeks pregnant... she is now known as Wonder Woman, we had a warm-up before heading over to The Hamlet Charity Children's Centre.

Jayne and Angela greeted us and explained the jobs that needed doing, which included: sweeping leaves out the front, cleaning the floor in the back garden, putting together a flat packed easel, washing windows & washing walls.

The sweepers managed to collect 11 bin bags full of leaves, "wow" you must be thinking. Apparently the motive was the wonderful scent of decomposing leaves.

The team on the easel definitely had a task on their hands, the term 'flat packed' will never have the same meaning.

It was a great evening with a nice variety of tasks plus Darren discovered a new favourite chair (check out the photos).

After about 45 minutes of fun, it was time for the 'not so fun' bit some might say haha as it was fitness session time. A little warm up lap was followed by a sprint lap where everyone who was there nailed a great time, keeping a good steady pace. Then we jogged back to The Forum for a little circuit session which included running up steps, squats and burpees... at this point a few more said the 'not so fun' bit ;-) but those putting together the easel got out of all this as they stayed to finish the job off and met us back at The Forum just as we doing the stretches to finish up with.

A group of us went to the pub for some food and nice social chat, great way to end the evening.

Next week we're visiting Eaton Park.

We had the pleasure of ITV News filming us tonight ahead of a live piece being aired tomorrow evening at 6pm.

A big welcome to Sophie and Amanda who were taking part in their 1st GoodGym experience.

Thank you to Katy for being back runner and Emily for being walk leader.

The warm up felt a little different this week (as in I felt the pressure haha) as the cameraman was on us. It was very cold so we definitely needed the warm up to warm and mobilise our muscles and joints.

We then headed off to Adat Yeshua to paint a 2nd coat on the new foodbank walls, weed the outside area and do a litter pick nearby. I split the team into 3 roughly same sized groups and they went on to do their tasks.

The litter pickers made no hesitation and were off cleaning the local area. The weeders... well blink for a minute and the place was transformed and ready for bulbs to be set in the spring. The painters soon had their rollers out and a bit of improvisation (a broom handle) meant Helen could paint the ceilings although I think she had quite a bit of it over her face and in her hair.

On the way back we stopped off in Chapelfield Gardens for a sprint session - Brad thought he was coming home in 1st place before Kevin pipped him on the line, a great effort by everyone at the end of the night.

Next week, we're visiting Norwich Food Bank.

There were 2 tasks tonight. I was leading the group of runners to the Norwich Foodbank and Catherine was taking the walking group to the Norwich Soup Movement - both to sort through Xmas donations for people in need.

A big welcome to Ruby and Simon who were completing their 1st GoodGym experience.

Well done to Claire who was completing her 10th good deed!

After we all warmed up together (which included everyones favourite BEAR CRAWLS) I took 26 of the group with me and the other 8 went with Catherine.

My group had a 3km run each-way and upon arrival Keith was ready to go through what he wanted us to do. He split us into 3 groups and it really lifts the spirit when you see how much donations they have received. Group 1 were sorting through Xmas food and separating them into different crates - children's sweets, selection boxes, tubs of sweets, cakes, biscuits and stuffing mix. Group 2 were weighing and sorting out new donations that had come in. Group 3 were sorting through tinned vegetables such as peas, sweetcorn etc.

We only had 30 minutes but the team smashed through all the donations - this was aided by me putting the Xmas CD on in the background as extra motivation hohoho.

Once the donations were sorted in categories, the last 5 minutes were spent filling the gift bags with food items - this was quite and emotional experience because each GoodGymer was now responsible for the food that a family will receive for Xmas and each of us said we felt pride in thinking we have just made someones Xmas.

As well as the fantastic good we've done I think it also needs mentioning what a good job Keith and his team do with the Norwich FoodBank and all the kind people that make donations to it... if only these types of stories could make the media headlines every day.

On the way back we finished the run with Grapes Hill and super fast Brad completed the quickest Grapes Hill on Strava this year!

So now it's over to Catherine with how the walking group got on - please now read the below in the voice of a lady and not my deep rough voice haha.

After a strode down to meet Chip at the Norwich Soup Movement, she was full of apologies for the state of her unit as she'd been inundated with donations of various items for the homeless, which was excellent news for the GoodGymers who quickly got to work dismantling boxes, sorting clothes and the mountain of donations.

Bill offered to put together a new clothes rail (you should have seen the shock on Katy's face when we got back to The Forum - more DIY tasks coming up at home for Bill haha) so we could hang everything and we quickly cleared the pile.

With 10 minutes to spare, most of the group sorted through food donations in the kitchen area whilst Catherine and Abbie built a new but very puzzling shelving unit.

To finish up we took all the rubbish out to the skip, leaving a very happy Chip. We said our farewells and began the brisk walk back laden with sachets of spice mixes and and custard.

We met the other group back at The Forum, had a stretch and swapped our stories from the evening.

I said last month I wanted to do some tasks throughout December that would impact those in need over Xmas and this was definitely one of those.

Next week is our last task before Xmas as we are making mince pies at The Feed.