On a bright but breezy morning I met up with Amy in Erdington to join in with the epic litter pick organised by Mike, walking and picking around the number 11 Outer Circle route. This is the longest urban bus route in Europe and is 27 miles in total, which he is doing over 2 days at the weekend. We got our start point a little confused so missed him starting off, and he was having to go at quite a pace to get the route done on time, so we didn’t get to see him at all, though we did get to join in with our friends the Erdington Litter Busters. However, we did get to see Tahir as he brought some extra equipment, which helped control empty bags flying around in the wind so we could fill them with plenty of trash as we walked the first hour of the route. We left Mike to keep up the good work after filling up 3 bags between us. Later in the day, Annie joined in with him as he had made it all the way from the East of Birmingham round to the South, picking her way from Kings Heath to Cotteridge. So GoodGym were there for the beginning and the end of the day, but hats off indeed to Mike who was feeling every mile of the route and making a massive difference in many communities today.

Chan, Balal and Taz took on the challenging park course, well done all of you. Taz supported one of his Big Run Project runners around for her first 10k. Chan got back into the groove of the distance, then caught up with the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, and Olympian Phil Brown, at the finish line. Balal finished in a mighty 9th place and managed to run within 10 seconds of the time he put in at a much flatter Silverstone.

19 runners ran 5k to help feed the homeless, sort clothing and provide some donation for Birmingham Mission Care Centre

Tonight we had loads of lovely newbies to GG Brum and Kevin's first return since the first ever GG Brum back nearly two years ago. A very warm welcome to Tom, Marija, Majid, Joy and Donato. Taz from Run Birmingham bringing a group of his runners along, it was great to have you with us and you have certainly inspired me for this weeks pun ;-)

The Birmingham Mission was our task destination tonight. We set off on our way, Liam doing the front marking duties and Rob the back. On arrival John welcomed us as usual, with half the group doing the serving/washing up and the other half sorting clothing with Maureen upstairs. We also had a few donations with Taz and Balal bringing some teabags and Kevin donating a Liam Gallagher style Parker.

hill of doom!

Once the task was done it was time for the ‘hill of doom’ yep it was hill sprints. Six minutes, sprinting up and easy back down. And what a great sight it was, everyone pushing themselves as hard as they could. Tom and Liam led the way. Taz showed great form powering up the hill with what was like a beacon of red light attached to his forehead. Smithy (nickname) put in a great effort as did Fiona, Annie and Leah. I’ve just mentioned a few, but you should all give yourself’s a massive pat on the back as you were all fantastic and it was great to see each and every one of you pushing each other on! Top stuff! A special mention to the first timer's as you were certainly thrown in at the 'deep end' with those hills, so give yourself an extra pat on the back :-)

Once that was done, the group had a picture, a selfie and a couple of minutes to get their collective breaths back before it was time to head back. Once back at our base, it was stretchy time and that was job done.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

29 people ran 8k to tidy the garden at Stanhope Community centre whilst being filmed by ITV

Tonight, it was great to welcome a big group of runners from Kingsheath Running club on an ‘away day’. Thank you to all of you for coming a long, I hope you enjoyed it! After a few interviews with the 'film crew', Pat from ITV Central and some filming of us leaving 1000 Trades we were on our way. We did a steady 3k to Stanhope, meeting Pat there, who filmed the group doing a hill sprint up to the centre.

Godfrey Green fingers

Once arrived Monica gave us a warm welcome, and the group got on with tidying the garden, we spent a whole 20 minutes, filling 6 bags full of weeds! Whilst this was going on Pat continued to film the group and more interviews took place.

The run back

After we were done, and a few bars of Rocky Road later kindly provided by Monica we were on our way, with Mr Cameraman taking one last shot of us disappearing into the Birmingham skyline. We stopped on a quiet road were the group did some interval work, completing six tough heart racing efforts! After these were done we ran back to our ‘infamous hill’ were we do our hill work (that’s back next week!!) and we split into two groups, one group going slightly faster, sprinting up the hill then pushing hard up the steps in front of the town hall and then keeping the tempo up for another 400 metres or so. We then took a steady run back to base, but again keeping the tempo high. Great job everyone! Thanks again to all the Kingsheath crew, hopefully we will see you all again soon and keep your eyes out for ITV Central bulletins tomorrow, we are likely to be on the box at some point! Next week we will be out doing good again sign up here.

13 people ran 4km to donate clothing items to Suited for Success followed by our first GoodGym Brum Social

Fortunately after this mornings autumnal weather it had largely dried up by this evening and although rather windy it wasn’t a bad night for a run. It was good to welcome Owen to tonight’s run who Amy kindly brought along.

Sack race

Once back markers and front markers were sorted, we were on our way to Suited for Success, with sacks full of donations. It was just a short run down there and we were warmly greeted by the team. We had various photos followed by a tour of the premises. Then we were on our way again.

burn up

On the way back we joined the canal, once arriving at Brindley Place, we did a bit of squatting and lunging and then split into two groups, for the last ¾ of a mile stretch along the canal. one group going slightly faster. I lead the fast group, well I say lead until Neal put in some great work burning up the towpath virtually Mo Farah esk! Owen also put a great shift in. The other group weren’t far behind putting in great effort all the way back. We then took a steady run back to 1000 Trades, ready for the exciting bit…….

Social

Once back we had our first GoodGym social, it’s was great to see everyone involved. I left at 8.45pm with still plenty of the group there, so if you do end up down Broad Street, please do send me the pictures, I will be more than happy to add them to the run report! Especially if you have any of Garry throwing some shapes on the dance floor!

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.