A fine weathered day led to a great turnout at GG! Leanne saw us all waiting and thought 'nah, those lot look too charming and fun' so went to join the walking crowd taking Laurie and the litter picking equipment with her. Martin arrived with his trombocinos which we all obviously identified on sight, and DJ Andy recreated his favourite 00's popstar moment. I gave the runners the choice of three distances and we settled on the middle one, Rich leading us out with such aplomb that Paul wondered when since his last task that we had started to hit it so hard! We paused our Endeavour at the Endeavour for comedy's sake.

The race was on against the sunset clock and we all worried about Ben when he took a tumble trying to do a heel click! Fortunately he was fine, must be something to do with the socks which Rob would be proud of.

We met up with the others and spied the womblers had already picked six bags! Still we have keen eyesight and a will to do good. As Heidi, Kate and I debated what art was (Banksy doesn't, GoodGym run report photos do) we got to work. As we got closer to the river and the new bridge, which looks lovely, we split into two groups. Drinks on Jess as she found £50 and Sallyann had already had those drinks with a pile of smirnoff bottles. Fay complained about having to take photos of the Hokey Cokey boat, but then leaped at the chance to photo me by a 'Fat earth dave.com' sign....funny that.

As twilight descended, Russell led us back to base for a 7km overall run - 1/3 of a great north run (entries now open!). Next week is painting the town red with our shirts and painting some benches so sign up!

I had lots of jokes ready about England losing and Southgate not being all that, but then we won. Oops. Expect a less funny report…

Even before the session, Fay set the group chat alight with details of just how much of a bargain her old people's befriending lunch was. Andy’s no stranger to wrinkles or a joke, and proved it by turning up with a bag of Werther’s Originals for us all. Well, when you’ve got a free bus pass and a discount with your Saga membership, why not?

It’s been a while since we did a litter pick and wow, did it show. Gunning for an early finish ~~just like the Three Lions~~ we’d decided to litter pick locally rather than running across town, but Saeed and Erin didn’t even make it out of the car park before pulling nasty stuff out of the greenery. It seems every hedgehog in Chelmsford is mad for a few cans of Stella and CBD vapes. Either that, or people can’t take their own rubbish to a bin…

Still riding the sugar high of his Werther’s gag, Grandad Andy actually found a zimmer frame. Honestly. After taking some photos to prove it, and making sure that there wasn’t anyone nearby who it belonged to, we moved the frame away from the middle of the car park where it had been abandoned.

Usually, we do about 5km each session. This time though, we were barely halfway to the Bunny Walks and the bags were already getting full. Richard was on a roll and managed to pull several beer cans from where someone had necked a six-pack and was too drunk to tell the difference between a bin and a hedge.

If all this doesn’t sound very active, we did also have to constantly dodge bikes and e-scooters. The only pedestrian we saw actually stopped and said thanks for cleaning the path up. Kind stranger – if you’re reading this, thank you in return and why not come to see us at a session sometime?

Festivals were the chat topic of the day – we’re going to the Chelmsford beer one next Thursday evening, but Angela will be at a different one with fewer badly-named drinks (2023 was not a vintage year for Filthy Tramp Juice – just ask Fay and Erin). Angela is also missing women-only festival Camp VC to do some DIY at home, because #HouseEveryWeekend. What does the VC stand for? No idea, but Laurie and Joe had fun guessing.

The usual suspects will be at Parkrun this weekend and praying it’s drier than last Saturday! We’ll also bring the GoodPub spirit to the beer festival – apologies in advance for the terrible Hawaiian costumes. In the meantime, run happy! And if you’re one of the people who litters, GET IN THE BIN.

The surprisingly cold evening didn't stop David and Martin from optimistically turning up in shorts, whilst the rest of us sensibly covered our legs for an hour of litter picking.

We were pleased to see Nisar back after a break, talk about parkrun, and hear all about his other great volunteering work recently! Russell also returned after a short break and of course he and Andy talked at length, with Disneyland on this week's agenda for them. Martin casually slipped into conversation that he'd run a marathon in Colchester at the weekend, and spotted an unknown Goodgymer.

We tried out a different litter picking location down by the river, and whilst being stared down by an understandably angry swan, filled up two very heavy bags. Andy ventured into the bushes and produced an almost unbelievable amount of Tesco cider cans, followed by posing for a photo with a gleeful wine glass holding Sallyann.

Our task this evening couldn't go past without mention of some of the group's previous love, Beat the Street, or without a photo of a once frequented lamppost on Waterloo Lane.

With it being Fay's birthday tomorrow, she very kindly brought us delicious homemade lemon drizzle cake, thanks Fay! It's also Sallyann's birthday on Saturday, David's birthday on Monday, and it's just been Nisar's birthday. We funnily enough didn't discuss gifts, but plans for birthday food, including Moto, homemade pizza, fish and chips, and Chinese takeaway. Hope everyone enjoys!

Thanks for a great litter pick, and see you all soon.

Laurie

God it was cold tonight! That didn't stop 12 of us eager to get litter picking though. We met at ARU and I bragged about winning a prize through beat the street and meeting the mayor before being knocked down a couple of pegs when I realised I forgot my beat card. No points for me today! Something also looked a little off, Russell trying out a new fashion strategy by wearing his t-shirt backwards.

We ran a route out to get to Odeon to meet Ben (excellent star wars hoody and all), Jess and Angela. We dived into the litter we could find. It was when we hit the B&M car park we hit the motherload. Andy found a mystery key for locker 96, Jess thought Angela had left a bottle from work..., Sallyann has a worrying tendency for finding the booze bottles, and a huge amount of the usual snack packaging. Bianca won the prize for most full bag. We posed for a photo by the green wall, Laurie questioned Martin's face which she declared confused.

We braced the cold weather to run back to base and hitting some more boxes on the way. But just when we thought the fun was over, Fay whipped it out! That's right, her bag of treats to celebrate her 100th good deed last week! Amazing work Fay! and thank you for the goodies, even brought some dairy free ones for Jenny. Joel also did 250 good deeds last week but he didn't even show let alone bring me anything...Can't wait to see the new t-shirt!

See you all soon.

On a glorious Spring evening we met outside the Old Factory Gym and admired Chris' new, crisp and odd smelling Goodgym tshirt while discussing what happened during the social on the weekend at the beer festival. If you would like to know maybe David can tell you.

With the legends that are Fay , Sallyann and Andy being our awesome walking crew they set off with litter pickers and bags to meet us at Meteor way.

The rest of us set off on a longer route to start Beating the streets.

We reconvened and began picking (and continued chatting) during which conversation turned to why Chris' Dj name is DJ Wolf Leg. I cannot say why here because it would literally blow your mind. But please feel free to ask Chris if you would like to know.

With bags full (and photos on slides taken) we made our way back to base, said our goodbyes and looked to see how we are doing on the Beat The Street app. Great is the answer.

Thanks all for coming and hope to see some of you at Parkrun this weekend and next Wednesday where Laurie will be the legendary run leader.

Run Happy

Rich

11 GoodGymers ran and walked to litter pick and Beat the Street

We were happy to see Chris back for his second GoodGym and although Joe hadn't signed up, we were pleasantly surprised to see him too (and his photo taking!).

Joel led us out on his expertly planned route to capture as many Beat Boxes as was reasonable on our run, whilst also fitting in some litter picking. We met Fay and street beating bandit Sallyann with the litter pickers on North Avenue, and started to pick many cigarette butts. We missed Ben and Bianca, but David eventually caught us up and fit straight in with the box collecting and litter picking.

Everything went a bit foggy after we turned off North Avenue, so that felt like an appropriate point to stop picking and head back, until Andy spotted a photo op with a Beat the Street sign. Rich couldn't let the evening go by without some sort of daft pose, and Erin hadn't had an opportunity for her usual eyes shut photo, so we got into position for a group photo!

So much Beat the Street chat, I apologise. But, we are currently fourth on both average and total in our category, so if we can push ourselves up at least one more place in either or both, we'll be in line to win a prize!

On a final note, I can't believe I just heard that Leanne doesn't like easter eggs?!

See you all soon,

Laurie