Big news on the night we pruned and sprinted around Colchester town centre. Firstly we welcomedPaul to our merry group and I hope you enjoyed our sometimes peculiar but effective way of getting fit and doing good...

Secondly our hero of 21 good deeds, Dan cycled from John o' Groats to Lands End with just a sleeping bag and few pairs of socks! Epic.

Thirdly on the agenda was the Olympic team consisting of me, Ella, Jade and the Susie who stormed and destroyed North Hill during our sprint training. (As did everyone else - I am jealous that I could not join in). I never predict sporting outcomes but it is a certainty that Colchester will return heroes through racing and baking.

As I mentioned after we dead-headed the baskets in Vineyard Street, Crouch Street and Balkerne Hill we made our way from Pam's house to the home of hill sprints - North Hill. I asked for maximum effort up the hill and total recovery down and that is what I saw. After that we went to the quiet and tranquil Castle Park to stretch and and be mindful before saying goodbye...

Until next time mi amigos.

What a sweeping success it was tonight! A lovely evening and a hearty 8km's under our belts.

It was good to be back in the Goodgym groove and catch up with the news after missing Bob's 100th good deed last week! There are many areas reaching milestone birthdays, such as Brighton and Chelmsford and our 3rd birthday is fast approaching...party time! Emma and Catherine both completed the West Bergholt 5 miler in style.

Off we set for a scenic route to John Lampon Court, following the river and heading past Old Heath Recreation ground. We met Barry, a resident, at the door and he kindly showed us the equipment and we set to work with a little bit of Dick Van Dyke's singing to inspire the sweeping!

Litter was picked, weeds were dispatched and pathways were swept. Barry, who knew little about Goodgym, was very grateful and we too thanked him for his time and help. We surely made a great first impression!

On the return route we took the familiar and shorter choice but clocked up another 3km. Holly had never run that far and Beth had eaten deep fried pickled onions as a warm up snack...so well done both of you!

We did some stretching and Emma did a handstand! Next week we will show that we #loveparks .

Thirteen wonderful Goodgymers rocked up at Leisureworld for running, outdoor tasks and fun! First-up the news and what awesome news there was. Vanessa recorded a new race PB. Alex amazed us with his qualification to swim the channel later in the year and Stalwart Bob has reached his HUNDREDTH task with Goodgym. Now that is a lot of Good.

On this balmy evening we warmed up with star-jumps, leg raises and squats all tied together with a weaving run. We set off on our run to the task at Worsnop House over the bridge and into the park towards East Hill. Past the swans and moorhens we made our way up Brook Street to the Rec and Worsnop House. We were met by two residents who kindly showed us around the grounds for our clearing up task. We managed to fill bags for refuse and recycle as well as reclaim an old skateboarding dream, its amazing what you can find when you look in the bushes!

Back at base, we enjoyed doughnuts and strawberries, courtesy of Katherine, thank you and Happy Birthday!

Join us next week for more goodtimes and goodfun!

Another Wednesday. Another long light evening with the Solstice having passed on Friday. 13 Goodgym runners set out from Leisure world with Andy catching us up to make it 14.

Before we set out Tav had lots of news. Loads of people are edging ever closer to various milestones. We congratulated Jade on making it to the big 5-0 (she looks amazing for 50) and tonight was someone's 99th, hence the title. Thanks for indulging me. We also spoke about the upcoming opportunity to volunteer at The Night of 10,000m PBs. More info here https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/volunteer-at-the-night-of-10-000m-pbs. In addition there were celebrations of runs completed and runs upcoming. Lots of fantastic running going on. Well done everyone!

It was a short run tonight within Castle Park to pull up the weeds and plants from various flowerbeds getting them ready for planting. This all took place under the watchful eye of Pam from Colchester in Bloom. We threw the unwanted old plants into big yellow sacks, which inevitably led to a few people getting caught in the crossfire! Pam was very pleased and calculated that we had provided 6 and a half hours of human power in just 30 minutes, helping the park wardens to stay on top of their work load.

We waved goodbye to Pam and then ran up the hill in the park in order to arrange ourelves into a big '50' to celebrate Jades achievement. Some of us then thought it would be a good idea to roll down the hill..

Tav finished our session with a useful tactical tip to improve our Parkrun PBs focussing on making the most out of any sharp turns or switchbacks. We then headed back to Leisure World for a rave.. or we all went home for our tea. You decide!

Tonight summed up what Goodgym is.

Firstly we welcomed new and returning members. Well done and I hope you enjoyed your first Goodgym run Holly and welcome back Rosie. A brilliant start to the evening and a continuation of the great running news from the weekend after the Boxted 10k where 6 Colchester Goodgym participants took part in a hilly, warm race.

The persistent rain of the day had lightened and we managed to warm up and run to Level Best Art Cafe without a soaking. Once there we were met by Alison's friendly face who asked us to clean chairs and other details around the cafe. With 20 of us the task was completed in record time and Alison kindly told us about the latest work that Level Best are doing with adults with additional learning needs and a bit of interesting history about Darcy House and the mysterious staircase that leads to nowhere! We gave Alison a big round of applause and off we trotted with a little extra spring in our steps.

After the main event it was time for the much anticipated social just round the corner at Three Wise Monkey...or should we say Twenty Wise Goodgymers?

Food, drink and merriment.

A BIG thank you from me for the great numbers we are getting. MARVELOUS!

Four of us paid another visit to Ealing Road Baptist Church last night. After a 2.5k jog we met with Roger outside the premises who was wearing a new hat and explained how his wife often hides the hats of his that she doesn't like. I don't know why I included this in the report, it just seems funny :-D

So, to work...

Graham and Alicia set about emptying two large cupboards of various tinned food, packets of pasta, biscuits, tea, a dodgy perfume set and some strange biscuit/cream cheese combination that looked a bit scary.

While at the same time Andy and Simon carried some chairs upstairs and then organised a bookshelf.

As usual we got loads done in a short space of time and had a little while for Roger to offer us various items of food that were unsuitable for the food bank, such as out-of-date mince pies, which we sampled for a bit of fuelling for the journey back.

On the way home we stopped for a mini "leg-buster" challenge. A short lunge walk, followed by five squat jumps up and down a kerb and then repeat twice more. Gets you to just about the point where you don't want to walk any more. Ow.

That's it, I'm off now. Thanks for having me GoodGym Hounslow. It has been great fun and I'll see you at Gunnersbury parkrun on the 4th March

Ana from Wandsworth is taking over next week. Sign up here

Simon