First run of the year! It was bound to be a smasher, and it did not disappoint....

It may have been a cold and frosty evening, but that did not stop 41 post-festive runners ready to burn off those mince pies and mulled wine and make a difference in Wandsworth.

We were treated to a bumper load of new faces for our first run of the year, which always makes us very happy. Ladies and gents of GoodGym, please put your hands together for the lovely Charlotte, Abi, Georgina, Julie, Ashleigh, Lindsay, Tamsin, and Monica who all joined us for their very first GoodGym session last night. We hope you'll all be back next week!

It was clear that you guys hadn't slacked off over the festive period, but have instead been tackling those park runs, races, training sessions and missions like proper troupers. Vix and Lorna were both still away after an amazing sub zero 10k in Norway, but we cheered Emily, Paul, Amy, Helen, Chris, Daniel, Morag and Hannah for smashing a tough and hilly 10k in Brixton only the day before. Jessie and Luke both tackled some insane racing in waist-deep mud, while John put in a fine performance in the Surrey leagues at the weekend. Well done to all those who did Christmas, New Year and early January park runs. You really are an amazing bunch! If you're keen to find the right race for you then just shout - the GoodGym team will be behind you all the way.

Our target this January is a huge one, but I know we can achieve it. Between us, we have got to hit 241 good deeds, and cover a whopping 1200 kilometers. With over 450 kilometers under our belts already (thanks in part to a slightly longer run that advertised last night!) we've made a cracking start. Don't forget to connect to Strava so the team can support you and we can clock those miles up for Wandsworth.

After a last minute cancellation, our task for the evening had changed. But the sliver lining was that we were in fact doing a job for a different and amazing charity called Caius House. This youth centre offers local young people a safe place where they are supported and can develop their own unique talents. Every child is valued - which we think is a pretty awesome ethos. So we were happy to help when they asked us to spread the word for their upcoming projects in the area.

But first - a much needed warm up. A few minutes of dynamic exercises later we did a quick poll to find out what everybody hoped to achieve in January. There were an admirable number of running related resolutions, some hoped to final banish their NYE hangover, while others just wanted to get through the toughest month of the year. We're here for you!

It was just over a mile to Caius House, so we soon set off with Helen kindly backmarking for us. Sarah had the great idea of pairing up new runners with regular GoodGym runners so they could get an idea of what it was all about, and we all happily set off for the first stage of our task. With a teenytiny detour at the end - just to add on the mileage, you understand - we arrived to find Charlene waiting for us with a big pile of leaflets. She gave us a quick talk about the work they do there, and let us know that if any of us had any special skills or work experience opportunities that we could share with the young people at Caius House, that would be great. After a few minutes pause to catch our breath we were off again, and divided up into two teams to put our trusty human chain approach into practice. Way over 400 leaflets later we were almost finished, but the clock was ticking and we needed to get our fitness session in so lovely Jamie and Alyx volunteered to do the rest on their way home, while we knocked out a quick but tough session.

We started off with a game which involved being honest and sprinting. If you answered yes to questions like 'did you have a cheeky snog over Christmas' then you had to sprint across the park, if you didn't, then you had to do a conditioning exercise while you waited. We then moved on to the parlauf - which, while it may sound confusing, is actually great for speed training. We paired up to complete as many circuits of the park we could complete in our twos, with Roshan and Luke emerging as the winners.

All that was left was to run back to the BAC, not forgetting that last hill, and a few stretches to finish off the night. Well done team, you truly smashed the first run of the year. Apparently next Monday, the 15th of January, is officially the most depressing day of the year. Counteract those winter blues by joining us for our run instead to do good, get fit and feel great!

This week the Sheffield branch of Good Gym set off for our third visit to help Heeley Development Trust.

With a slightly longer run to the Thirwell Rd location it gave us all a chance to warm up on a nippy November eve. On arrival at the top of typical Sheffield steep hill we were warmly greeted by FANTASTIC FRANK who gave us a true to form fantastic brief of the evenings task which was continuing with lifting and shifting a huge pile of logs that are to be bagged up and sold in the future to raise much needed funds for HDT to develop the Thirwell Rd site for small business's such as Regather Bikes who do some fantastic work such as fixing bikes and providing them to Asylum seekers.

We split into three teams. Two human chains piling logs into a log stall and tonne bags and one crack team of suitably strong men and women to lift and shift some of the biggest logs ever seen by human eyes with a wheelbarrow! SCIENTIFIC STEVE set about improving our efficiency with some logorithmic algorithms, what wood we do without him? The human chain saw the pile quickly go down as the evening went on.

With all teams happily chipping away at the task under floodlight kindly provided by FANTASTIC FRANK the shout for the last minute was raised and the pressure was pilled on with some people starting to crack but we pulled it together in true @GGSHEFF fashion and got the job done!

Following a big log pile group photo we got warm before heading back into the night with some static sprints and paired arm rows.

On the way back we made a brief fitness stop in one of our fave parks parks for some quick fire fitness including:

• Box jumps or step ups
• Tri Dips
• Piston Squats
• Two up group sprints

To finish us all off we added some underpass squat shenanigans and Mobot sprint and return loops to keep us together and add some individual challenge before stretching off outside the hubs and hearing all the latest news including:

• REGATHER XMAS SOCIAL - Tues 12 Dec - 6-10pm
• PERCY PUD - This Sunday!
• BUCHAREST RUNNING FESTIVAL - 12-13 May. Promised spreadsheet link here. Get signed up, not to be missed!
• JANUARY CHALLENGE - Get STRAVA linked up to your GG account, if your not sure, ask.

Next week we are off to The Real Junk Food Project, get signed up today.

Until then, happy running :)

WELCOME!

This week we welcomed 2 fantastic new runners to the @GGSHEFF crew. Please put your hands together and welcome

• Elizabeth Townsend AKA BEANY
• Emily Stoker

Give em a cheer!

TASK TIME

This week we set off on a slightly longer run to another site under the supervision of Heeley Development Trust called ASH TREE YARD.

Finishing on a tough hill we met FANTASTIC FRANK who gave us a brief of the evenings task which was to fill 5 tonne sacks full of wood that has been sat in the yard roting away and creating access for a spate of break ins. Heeley Development Trust have secured funding to develop the site and are therefore clearing the space so it can be put to better us in the community.

The @GGSHEFF team got straight to the ROOT of the task, quickly forming a human chain to twist and pass logs from person to person creating a fantastic TRUNK workout! A small team quickly TWIGGED we had a few too many people in our chain and soBRANCHED off from the main group to tackle the big logs using some fantastic teamwork to lift and shift the heavier logs using a wheelbarrow. Did you CEDAR ammount of wood we shifted?

WOOD you BELEAF it, we smashed the task and managed to fill all of Franks sacks in the alloted time! A really strong team effort with no DEADWOOD to be seen.

Oaky kokey SYCAMORE jokes? time to move on from the puns and onto the...

FANTASTIC FITNESS

With a slightly longer run this week we had limited time for group fitness, however we did get some good work in with some on route loop backs with great efforts from SENSATIONAL SAM & DANGEROUS DAN.

Once we got to the light of a park we got paired up and did some JOHN PEEL PAIRED SPRINTS followed by a DEAD ARM HANG CHALLENGE with MAGIC MIKE taking the crown this week alongside his PUN MASTER title!

On return to the Showroom we finished with the HOWARD ST STRAVA SEGMENT SPRINT for those that fancied it, stretched off and headed inside for liquid refreshment and puntastic conversations.

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

We will officially be 1 next Mon! To celebrate we are going to go out for some food after the run so won't be running straight back to the Showroom after the run next week.

You can let us know you are coming to the meal by completing the Doodle Link here

Until next time,

Happy Running!

WELCOME TO THE TEAM!

This week we welcomed 2 new runners to the @GGSHEFF Crew. A big welcome to

• Rhiann
• Kristy Hopkins

GIVE EM A CHEER!

WOOD TIME!

This weeks task was a woody one. On arrival at Sharrow Community Forum we were greeted and briefed by MARVELOUS MARIA who described the evenings tasks which included moving wood in and out of the now fully functioning wood working workshop and cutting down partly used pieces to ensure that nothing went to waste.

EXERCISE TIME

As it was a little cramped in the workshop with a few less tools than we wood ;) have liked we split ;) the group and half of us branched ;) outside for some fun time fitness. This week this involved a group circuit containing:

• Squat 180
• Sprints
• Sumo Squat
• Tuck Jumps
• Burpees (Ash's Fave)
• Sumo Squat
• Squat Jumps
• Goblet Squats
• Curtsey Lunge
• Lunge
• Split Lunge
• Squat Punch
• Calf Raises

Once we swapped groups over so everyone had a chance to sweat and to saw we said our goodbyes and headed home with a few street furniture exercises thrown in for good measure!

Once the Howard St Sprint and stretches were complete we gave Kat a huge congrats for her 50th good deed and thanked Steve for #GGBBQ3 and headed in for warmth and refreshments.

Until next week....

Happy Running!

NINETEEN NINJA @GGSHEFF RUNNERS RAN 3KM TO HELP A FAMILY OF SIKH ASYLUM SEEKERS FROM AFGHANISTAN PREPARE THEIR BACK GARDEN FOR GROWING FRUIT AND VEG WITH REGATHER

As the rain began to fall, we set off from our base of the Showroom Cinema after giving a warm and hearty welcome to two new runners this week; LIZZIE & HELEN.

Give em a Cheer!

With SENSATIONAL STEVE as our back marker we set of into the damp eve toward our destination; the back garden of a family of Sikh Asylum Seekers from Afghanistan near to Regather who will be helping them to grow their own fruit and veg in the coming seasons.

After an entertaining brief from GORGEOUS GARETH we got tooled up including the necessary PPE (gloves) and got to work moving wood, bricks and slabs, digging out roots and leveling the ground ready for the planting that will come next.

We finished in the dark, making it a little harder to see the impact we had.Rest assured it was huge and we were kindly rewarded with tea and cake from the family before setting off back into the drizzle of the night.

On route back we took advantage of the underpasses of Sheffield using them as shelter for our fitness session which this week involved runners working in pairs with one person wall sitting whilst the other sprinted to the other end of the underpass and back to tag their partner. We went hard for 3 rounds.

GREAT WORK TEAM!

On return to base we found a sheltered spot to stretch and saved all announcements until we were inside in the dry and had a drink in hand.

Note to all. as we saw last night the seasons they are a changing so next week please do bring a jacket and a head torch if you have one.