Tonight we were back at The Courtyard to carry on with the painting and door varnishing. It was certainly a chilly one but thankfully the snow had held off.

Chris and Liam led the way, with Rachel and Meera doing excellent back marking. Once we had all arrived at the Courtyard, we headed straight inside to the warmth ready to get started. Michelle had very kindly left everything out ready for us.

Liam and Chris set to work finishing off varnishing the store room doors higher up, while Meera and Rachel started glossing the door frames. It was then onto painting the walls in the new bold colour, purple!

We stayed a little longer tonight to make sure the first coat of purple was on and so that Liam could finish off the varnishing. With all the brushes were washed, ladders put away and dust sheets folded up it, was time to head back to base.

Due to the distance and wanting to stay painting a little longer, there was no time for a fitness session. Luckily the uphill route on the way back kept us on our toes and heart rates high!

Next week we will be litter picking in our designated parks, it would be great to see you there!

Tonight we welcomed newbies Matt, Charlie, Jemma, and Jack from Gymshark to the group. A big shout out goes to Jack who is doing the Gymshark 66 challenge! He has chosen to run 6.6 miles every day for 66 days, raising money for a worth cause, Birmingham Children’s Hospital. It was great that you chose to complete today’s run with us and we wish you all the best for the rest of your challenge!

After all the introductions and we learnt an interesting fact about everyone, it was time to hit the streets and set off for tonight’s task at The Courtyard.

We had a long steady run down to the Courtyard with Chris leading the way and Rachel and Jen backmarking. Once there, we were grateful to get inside out of the cold and a chance to catch our breaths back!

We then got to work varnishing the cupboard doors and finishing off the last bit of painting. Since many hands make light work, we managed to varnish all fourteen lower doors in just 25 minutes! That just leaves the top few cupboards for next time and we’ll be on the hunt for some white paint to touch up some of the door frames.

It was then time to wash all the equipment, put the room back to how we found it ready and say goodbye to the craft ladies that meet at The Courtyard and head on our way back. The slightly longer run than usual meant we didn’t have time for a fitness session, but the uphill route on the way back gave us that little workout that we need!

It was great to see everyone last night - I hope you all enjoyed it and look forward to seeing you all next week to help another organisation out!

Tonight we welcomed Jen for her very first GoodGym run and welcomed Andy back, who is finding his running shoes again and has been inspired by his son in the new year!

Once the introductions were done and all up to date on some upcoming tasks and community missions we’ve got planned, we set off into the darkness for The Courtyard.

Rachel and Jen were back marking, Fiona and Andy in the middle, and myself and Chris leading the way. Thankfully all the rain for this week seemed to fall on Tuesday, leaving us with a chilly but dry run.

At The Courtyard we prepped the community room to continue painting where we’d left off before Christmas. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the paint brushes to start with, but thankfully the scout leaders were on hand to find 4 paint brushes for us. One needed a slight trim but Chris stepped in with his hairdressing skills! We set to work up the ladders, clearing the cobwebs and applying the new coat of paint.

Time whizzed by and it was soon time to clean the brushes and put the room back to how we found it, ready for the users of The Courtyard on Thursday.

We just had time for the obligatory photo outside before heading back up the hill and back to base. Great running everyone, especially considering the slightly longer distance than normal - good to keep those New Year’s resolutions in check! See you next week.

Tonight at GoodGym Solihull we were heading to the Guides/Scouts Association with the plan to do some painting. I set off with Chris, as Fiona was meeting us on the way and Rachel at the task venue. The weather was more suitable for ducks than runners but it was a nice run all the same.

On arrival unfortunately the store room had been locked! We didn’t have a code to get in! Bummer! Well the intention was there to help anyway!

Seen as we were at the venue anyway, we used the inside to do a good circuit workout. Rachel provided the tunes with her 80s/90s play list, starting off with a bit of Rick Astley, hence this weeks pun. First up was burpees and mountain climbers, Chris giving them a great blast. Next was squat jumps and high knees, Fiona showing great form on the squats. The finisher was walkouts for the core, Rachel pushed really hard, showing top strength. Finally it was simply lying down and getting up....fast. I think the picture shows it nearly ‘killed off’ Chris! But great work everyone!

Next job was the 3.5k up hill run back to our starting point, thankfully the rain was a little lighter now. That was job done for a few weeks. Happy Christmas everyone :-)

Tonight we had 4 fantastic runners ready to do good in Solihull. On a chilly night we began with a quick warm up outside base to get ourselves moving and the blood pumping. Then it was off to the task which this week was a return to continue the work the group have been doing painting the communal room at the Courtyard centre.

On arrival it was great to be greeted by Alan who looks after the building and his wife along with Fiona. Fiona met us there as she is returning from injury and so it was great to have her along. Alan pointed out the other painting to be done as well as mentioning some further work for the group involving giving the doors a fresh varnish, so plenty more to be done!

The well prepared Chris had brought along dust sheets this week so with those down and everything setup it was time to get started. Everyone worked great Chris and Fiona powering on with the rollers and Rachel doing a speedy job with the brush. A few sections of the wall were targeted to do and as can be seen on the pictures a great job was done by the team! The time flew by and with 25 minutes work done it was time to pack up and head back.

Fiona joined us for part of the run back and with conditions starting to become a little icy in places we took it steady to complete the extended run back to base and a total of 8km overall. With time short after the longer run tonight we had a good stretch off, focusing on all those important running muscles.

Great work team, it was nice to be back running with you this week with Rob off and hope to see you again soon! Remember next week is the final one before Christmas, Jonny will be taking that run, you can sign up for it here: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/solihull-group-run-2019-12-18

Have a great Christmas!

Tonight we were back at The Courtyard. This time to help Alan, the Landlord, spruce up the centre for the day group that Michelle coordinates there. We started the painting a few weeks back and tonight we were back painting another wall in the communal room.

We have come to know the route down the Courtyard very well as a lot of our tasks have been down that part of Solihull. It has been great to see the how we have all come along in our running since we started Goodgym back in March.

We were greeted by Greg the Vicar at St Mary’s, Hob’s Moat who had not met us before and was keen to thank us for all the great work we have done at The Courtyard over the past few months.

Once we had found the paint, paint brushes and laid the dust sheet down, we set work to work painting tonight’s wall and continue the room’s makeover. We made good progress and it was soon time to wash the brushes and roller, say our goodbyes and head on our way back to base.

It was noticeably colder and icier under foot so we took it nice and steady on the way back, not too slow though, as the temptation to get back inside was strong!

I am now on holiday for the last two weeks of our group runs. I am leaving you in the capable hands of Aidan next week and the last run of the year by Jonny. I’m sure they will both look after you.

Have a great Christmas and New Year, see you on the 8th January 2020 to start GoodGym Solihull with a bang!

Rob