This evening,Adam, Anne, Chris, Laura and Katie decided to make the most of the lovely weather and lighter evening by going for a (slightly longer than planned) run.

We met at the leisure centre and Anne led us with a warm up. Adam then guided the group through the footpaths towards the canal. We then ran along the canal to Goldsworth Lake and round, stopping to see the ducks and geese and for a group photo. After doing a lap around the Lake we headed back along the canal to the town centre and then into the park. Once we had got to the park we realised we'd ran 9km, so thought why not keep going to get to 10km? Adam then encouraged us to do some cool down exercises, He taught us a new one - the duck walk.

We wish Adam all the best for the Sutton race on Sunday. There are two Goodgym tasks to sign up for on Sunday - volunteering at Junior Park Run and a joint task with WWF.

Yes, it is Sunday again and for GoodGym Woking members, it usually means volunteering for Woking junior parkrun. So, this morning found Adam, James and Anne meeting at the band stand in Woking park.

James was the run leader this week and he distributed the different positions to the volunteers as they arrived for their duties.

It felt as if there were more adults than children this time, but it might be because I was the tail walker and they were hiding the line of 102 children when I took my position at the start? Amongst them 14 children were new to the 2 kms loop of Woking junior parkrun and 28 obtained a PB.

The sunny weather must have, somehow, helped the positive feel floating around the whole event.

Happy running to you all.

Three GoodGym Woking members set out to help WeACT Woking, specifically the Hedgehog division, raise awareness for hedgehog health. 🦔 This was through a fundraising walk, twice around Goldsworth Park lake which is a distance of 3km. This is the distance hedgehogs walk at night in search for food. 🐌

Andy and Nadia set off for a jog along the river to the meeting point just in case anyone fancied a steady jog to the task beforehand. They stopped by at a riverboat cafe 🚤 as they were a bit early. Whilst sitting there, along came Anne who was taking a lovely spring walk to the task. 🌷 Everyone then agreed to meet at Waitrose then walk onto the task meeting place.

The team met with Rachel from the WeACT team in one place then realised Ellen had set up the welcome table in a slightly different location! Oh hog! Quickly back on track and the GoodGym team picked up some flyers to take to members of the public to encourage them to participate. One flyer included a nature trail bingo where you had to spot different wildlife along the way. 🌼 🦆

Once the team had finished helping, Andy and Nadia went off to buy ice cream and Anne met with her daughter, son in law and grand-daughter to participate in the walk.

Some more nature themed tasks are planned for Sunday as well as junior parkrun.

Happy and safe sunshine to all ☀

Mayford Meadows

Today’s task was to clear an area of grass and nettles  in Hoe Valley and  sow with native wild plant seeds to increase biodiversity.  We marked off a 5m2 area Only one good gymer, Julie made it to the task today, luckily there were plenty of WEAct volunteers so many hands made light work. Removing the grass and some of the fertile top soil will increase the chance of the wild flowers surviving.  Some teasel seedlings were also planted.  Charlie from WEAct is pleased to be working with Good Gym and there will be plenty more opportunities to get involved. 😊

On a beautiful Sunday morning, waking a bit more tired then normal having lost an hour sleep, Junior Parkrun was ready to start. On heading to Woking park, lots of children were quickly heading to the park excited to be there for their Sunday morning exercise through the park.

I arrived and Goodgymers Wayne and Anne were there already and waiting. Wayne was taking the role of marshal by the park entrance and Anne was in charge of handing the tokens to the children as they passed the finish line.

As Rich, the run director was announcing the accolades accomplished by some of the runners, one stood out for this event. Ethan, a regular runner and someone that volunteers often had reached an amazing milestone in junior parkrun history, not only had he volunteered for parkrun a great number of times; this event was his 250 junior parkrun having started from the first junior parkrun in 2017. What an amazing achievement.

After we all applauded that great achievement, wishing all the mothers a happy mother's day. And once the warm up was finished and everyone headed to the start line. James quickly made his way there as his role was time keeper. The run started and everyone made it safely too the first marshal before circling around the cricket pitch. The sun was shining brightly by this point and the wind eased off, although still a bit chilly!

It wasn't long before the first lap was completed and the children running were fully spread around the course. My role was to ensure only children went through the finish line!

The first child crossed the line in under 8 minutes, a really impressive time. There was a little gap before more children came streaming through the finish line. In total 96 children completed the 2 lap course and so the cleanup started. And well done to Wayne and Anne as they headed to their next task. 👏🏾💪🏾

Six GoodGymers, Agathe, Katie, Nadia, Rebecca, Wayne and Anne met at the Leisure Center last night. It was still light and mild, but some of us were cautious and wore an extra layer of clothing and a torch. These were useful during and after the run as it became dark and chilly! But bonus points for the optimistic runners who made us believe that spring was really with us!

Well done Wayne who had already run about 10 kms with some hill training just before meeting us at the Leisure Centre. It was great that Rebecca, despite her heavy schedule, managed to run with us. Katie has resumed her regular training with the aim of completing the upcoming Martian Race.

We started the session with a warm up and a group photo. Nadia and Anne guided the group to the planned 5 kms route as they had already done it with another running group. We all ran at a comfortable pace allowing us to chat and catch up with news.

Agathe impressed us all by completing the session without walking at all. Agathe cycles everywhere, but running is new to her.

We hope to see you at junior parkrun this coming Sunday. Or you might prefer helping out WEAct making Woking a healthier, greener place for us all? We will remove brambles and thinning out holly shrubs? See the diary for more details.

Happy running to you all.