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 😀

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! 🏃‍♀️

Woking Junior Park Run

This morning 5 GG members carried out various roles at the junior park run. It was also great to Katie other half Phil who we had not seen for a while 😀

James was the run director this morning with Adam carrying out the bar code scanning.

Wayne, Katie, & Rebecca were on marshal duties around the 2k course cheering and supporting the runners around.

In total this morning there were 106 runners with the fastest time a fantastic 07:35, there were also 42 PB's great running by everyone. 🏃🏾‍♂️

This coming Wednesday we are at the RSPCA carrying out various tasks. 😀

Ivo, the head of a shadowy criminal organisation, snuck into the YHA Coalbrookdale workhouse early on Sunday morning to recruit 5 pickpockets for a lucrative mission. There was ne'er even a warm up. What a hard task master he was. Their marks were boatmen, transporting goods along the canal at the Blists Hill Victorian Town and what they were carrying was so valuable that it was worth the 15km run to steal it. The timing was essential as they needed to be back at the workhouse at 10:30am, to eat their gruel before starting work.

One of the 6 must've had loose lips in the pub on Saturday night. As the group came closer to Blists Hill, they found that the Victorian townsfolk had implemented defences on the - definitely not uphill - paths leading to Blists Hill, which included brambles and nettles that pierced their thin and worn workhouse clothes. The town's most effective defences were fences, which shielded the canal from Ivo's gang, and mud. The mud came in different forms, muddy mud, very muddy mud, "slipper-wheeeeee" mud and might-lose-a-shoe mud, in increasing levels of danger.

The pickpockets found the going hard and ended up missing the boatmen at the canal. Defeated, they retreated to the road and made their way back to the workhouse, covering only 12km in 2 hours but making in back in time to snaffle some crisps, apples and day old sandwiches from the YHA workhouse's fridges.

The blue skies may have left the scene but GoodGymmers far and wide had gathered at Telford parkrun from the Shindig and elsewhere, bringing their own sunshine to the gathered masses.

With first timers joining the parkrun family, people bagging their alphabet T plus seasoned parkrunners and volunteers, a huge group cheered in the final parkrunner and her entourage of tailwalkers and marshals gathered along the way.

The results are published for anyone interested in that sort of thing and we look forward to hearing of future parkrun adventures from you all!