It was the lockdown Eve Eve and 6 runners dressed in lights and gloves headed for the centre of Branksome!

All feeling a little disppondent that soon, once again we would no longer be able to meet for these types of tasks or runs, it was a good distraction to find ourselves with brushes, black bin bags, litter pickers and even a leaf blower!

John met us at the task and Patricia, in her usual give it a go attitute / AKA Ninja Nana (!) was the first to volunteer for a leaf blower experience!

Robert and Zoe made quick work of the litter whilst Richard grabbede the noisiest tool he could fine (a rake!) and attacked it with the point to max out all noise levels! Christine meanwhile took the quieter apprach, filling bags of leaves as she went!

It wasnt long before we filled 10 bags of leaves all pilled up in front of the centre, ready for Nigel, the Manager, to collect and compost. Apparently John thought we would fill just a few and Nigel said 20 so we were in the middle!

All the side entrance, the front of the building and around the court all sweeped and Robert managed to litter pick the park too which was full of bottles!

We finished up and headed out for a short run - Well done to Christine and Zoe for runnign to and from the task making up those miles!

We have to cancel the planned tasks for next few weeks due to restrictions but watch out for some fitness tasks!

The clocks have turned back and we are well established in our autumn season.

This week for me, the thought of getting out to run, is signifiacntly less appealing! There are no races in the calendar, no holidays booked and just not the motivation to go out into the weather.

Well thank goodness for Goodgym to kick us out the door! We come along for some fitness, to see our Goodgym friends and to complete a task in our local community.

So it was fantastic to have Jo back with us tonight for her second run (go get that T-Shirt Jo!). Sian also joined us after she keeps knocking out 5k PB's all over the town. Robert rocked the show with his halloween leggings (I feel like we didn't give them enough air time Rob!). Christine and Zoe both ran down and looked very fresh and casual about it, before running back again. Richard as ever provided us with his sense of humour and for that we are always grateful!

I, Esther am delighted to tell you I am now officially on my 50+ deeds with Goodgym! What a really fortunate person I am to have had this chance with Goodgym!

Tonight we finished the first batch of leaflets for Branksome Centre around the streets, up many driveways and steps.

We were absolutely rubbish at photos but it was a contstantly moving session where we all covered around 5km, even if a more run / walk session!

Well done everyone!

This was a handicap race so we all started at different times, with the aim we should be finishing similar time depending on how well we predicated our 5k times!

Here was the line up with predicted times and actual times in brackets:

Pat - 33 (33.03) Jane - 32 (31.04) Alan - 32 (31.12) - 1st timer - Welcome! Rob - 30 (30.44) Nicki - 30 (28.36) Zoe - 30 (TBC but Sub 30) Hannah - 29.30 (28.01) Liz - 29.30 (28.35) Sian - 27.30 (25.43) Esther- 26.30 (24.50) Richard- 24 (TBC)

Thanks to Richard for being the chief timer!

The prizes were awarded to: Patricia for closest to predicted time Sian for a PB and consistent run Robert for stopping and getting back on track to finish strong!

Well done all! Jane also achieved a PB she later discovered and there was certainly lots of happy faces for a decent 5k in the bag.

A bit of reminiscing for missing the old parkrun and we were all on our way again!

Speed play is tonights fitness session as we lacked a task to do!

We all met at 6.30pm at Cricket Pitch ready for the session 3 x Laps of alternating fast / slow partnered up and in opposite directions. 3 x Laps of using bin markers to run slow / medium/ fast / slow 3 x laps going from slow / medium / fast

Well done everyone for lung busting session!

But we were so focused on session we forgot to take a selfie 😄

Branksome Community Centre is a busy hub of activites inside and out!

We had been pre lockdown and Nigel, the centre manager, was happy to have us back to help with the upkeep of the building.

We arrived at 6.30pm and John was there ready to meet us. We found out during the task that John has made a lot of changes in his life over the past year, giving up smoking, alcohol, going on a plant based diet and now a regular runner! We hope that John will join us one day at Goodgym as a great match for what we stand for!

Christine had ran from home as well as Zoe who was returning for the second time (yeah!). Sean cycled down from home so kudus to you all for being active before you even started!

John had arranged everything so we could get on and work! We had chairs to wash down, barriers to clean, windows to make shiny and litter to pick.

Patricia and Esther tackled the chairs with Christine whilst Zoe and Robert made short work of the barriers!

Sean was fast to grab a broom and get cracking on the inside corridor whilst Hannah was suddenly seen scaling a ladder with a focus to get those windows cleaned!

John gave a hand and did some litter picking so we then had time to sweep up around the entrance areas with plenty of debris from the trees.

Lots of children were still playing in the park as we arrived and as it got darker, young people started hanging around the centre. There was a martial arts class due to start shortly and we were even invited to a healing dance by a instructor who brought up dark chocolate! (We were intrigued!)

Great to have heaps of banter as we worked - Sean I fear took the most of this, especially if he took a break from sweeping! :)

Following the task - all minus Sean so a safe number of 6, we took a lap around the rec ground before Pat and Christine peeled off to their home routes. We joined Zoe as she headed home so we could do a few more miles - only one include a hill to increase the heart rate so it was pretty gentle! Hannah, Rob and myself - We all headed out to complete a full 5k loop as a good endurance pace (that means we could still keep chatting!) before heading off home!

We will be back to Branksome soon - John has hinted we can help with painting (always a favourite!) so all good!

Well done everyone!