Despite the much improved lighting situation, we still met just inside the door, with Bianca wearing three layers and two pairs of socks!

We set off after a hyped up run briefing from leading light Laurie where no one seemed to have any energy. Beatboxing on the way we met leading light leaflet legend Fay who had prepared a great haul including a youth disco which got Joe reminiscing. We split off into two groups and got to work. Doug raised the union flag with Brexit pride and Sallyann even managed to find a brand new beatbox!

We delivered all the leaflets, and even the extra ones that Chris seemed to find, and headed back to base. Angela swung off early to prepare for bicycle shopping and Andy couldn't be bothered to do the last beatbox. For shame! If we miss out by 20 points we know who to blame.

It is also the quiz this weekend on Sunday, and if anyone wants a lift to Barrow farm on Sunday morning for the task there do let me know.

Make sure you read the email from Laurie (cough Martin cough) about the run next week. We will be setting off from Lidl to the foodbank. It is a longer run and there is a list of stuff they need to bring. We may also head to the pub after. Beat the street ends next week during the run so we can all celebrate! Especially if we can catch the girl guides!

With headtorches and jackets on for a chilly evening outdoors, we wasted little time in setting off to our task. We jogged to meet Fay and Sallyann with our leaflets, found Angela, and set off around Springfield with our leaflets for CHESS, Farleigh Hospice, and Woodcroft Nursery School.

As usual, the chatting was non-stop with Andy and Rich, and Rich trying to drag Erin in at every possible opportunity. I enjoyed catching up with Martin about his parkrun-extravaganza holiday, and Jenny about her tortoise's non-hibernation. I also enjoyed having both Ken and Fay with me, encouraging the more forceful style of my run leadership in shouting at everyone to jog and leaflet more, and walk and talk less.

More and more leaflets kept appearing, so we kept going, and in the end covered just under 7km! Those who jogged back rewarded themselves by inhaling one, or two, or three cakes each, all courtesy of our generous starting location host, ARU. Thanks to Joe for his excellent photography again, this time of cake inhaling in action.

Saturday 28th October activities

Just in case you missed it, on Saturday it's Chelmsford's 500th parkrun, followed by breakfast, and later followed by our pub crawl from 2pm (see details here).

For parkrun, we'll get a group photo before the run, so please get there by around 8.45 if you can!

For the pub crawl, please sign up if you are coming. If you want to join later, send a message on whatsapp and we'll let you know where we are.

See you all on Saturday!

Laurie

I was surprised to see almost everyone at the Old Factory, ready for a round 9km trip of leafletting.

Sallyann heaved the two bags of leaflets into her car and set off to meet us at our starting point in Great Baddow (thanks for being such a good helper!!) whilst Paul led us out on our way.

Andy and Russell didn't disappoint with their levels of chatting whilst running, and Leanne and Jess came up with some rather interesting new mixed breed dog names.

We spotted Angela in her unmissable yellow shirt at B&M and carried on towards our destination.

Sallyann was raring to go, so we only wasted a small amount of time in handing leaflets out and getting going on both sides of the road.

We somehow lost one group, so I got some extra fitness in for a couple of minutes whilst I chased them and brought the two groups back together.

From what seemed like two heavy bags, we got through the leaflets surprisingly quickly, with Jenny and Russell delivering the final few whilst the rest of us meandered our way back. Excellent work by all!

I entrusted the group to make their way back safely without me, so Joe sent proof of arrival with a very artistic photo, although one shoe was missing...

See you all soon,

Laurie

On a night when the rain stopped and started continually, Jenny, Andy,Joe,Erin and myself set off from HQ towards Woodcroft nursery school to help with their Terracycling.

Somehow we managed to run the 3.5km there without getting wet, but as soon as we got there the heavens opened. We found sanctuary under a roofed outdoor play area and were greeted by Fay, Laurie and Sallyann, who were already getting stuck into sorting crisp, chocolate and cake wrappers into their respective boxes.

Soon after David turned up running through the rain but shook himself dry like someone having a shower under a waterfall (see Timotei shampoo advert).

With many boxes packed and a group photo taken we set off ( just as the rain stopped), and had a lovely chatty and dry run back.

You see... IT NEVER RAINS ON GOODGYM *wink

Thanks all for coming.

Next week we will running up to Broomfield allotment to maintain one of their plots. Hope to see you there.

Run Happy

Rich

A beautiful sunny ( if slightly hot ) evening saw 5 runners and 4 walkers go to Woodcroft nursery to meet Ferliene to help with their terracycle program.

Bags of many different types of wrappers had been collected by the nursery for recycling and our job was to help separate them into different types ( crisps, chocolate etc...)

Myself, Joel, Jenny, Martin and Erin ran from HQ at a steady pace to make sure we didn't overheat and also (and more importantly) to make sure we could chat. A slightly longer run than usual meant that by the time we got there Fay, Sallyann, Laurie and David were already well under way with the sorting.

With gloves distributed and boxes made we all got stuck into filling as many of them as we could and debating the best brand of crisp ( its Walkers lime and coriander poppadums btw).

Boxes filled it was time to pack and tidy up for our long run back. but not before Ferliene offered us some much needed cool water and David and Laurie produced a fantastic selection of ice creams to help sustain us until we got back to HQ.

A chatty run back and in no time we were saying our goodbyes. Thanks for coming tonight guys, what would have taken Ferliene days to sort has been done in less than an hour. Well done. We'll be back there next month to help sort more wrappers.

Next week we will be doing some leafleting and also collecting any old running shoes for JogOn before the task. Let us know if you are planning on bringing any with you.

Again, thanks for coming guys

Run Happy

Rich