Blue moon I saw you sanding alone

On a crisp, moonlit and chilly evening in Sunny Worthing it was great to welcome my regular runners Belinda , Gill, Paul, Beth, Tamsin and Nick to this evenings task. The group were quite excited at the prospect of an indoor task at Kamelia kids day nursery. The painting had actually changed on the day to a pre painting task of sanding down 4 doors just inside the entrance to the centre.

After some banter and discussion loosely based on the exciting announcement about there being a Christmas day park run ( Yippee! ) the group set of for a 2.75 mile run westwards to Goring.

Nick and Paul forged ahead with some great pace whilst the girls were multi tasking with some great running and catching up on news just behind .

After some interesting revelations along the way were warmly welcomed by Andy , the caretaker who was delighted we were there to help with the sanding down of 4 smurf coloured doors.

Stripping (the paint) has never been so much fun

Paul , Beth, Belinda , Gill and Tamsin immediately set to the task with sandpaper whilst Nick and Andy decided to fire up the power tools. Some ( Nick ) took their time getting the power tools up and running whilst others got stuck in straightaway with the task in hand. There was more than the usual amount of giggling going on this evening and this run report is the clean rather than the blue version !

There was no sanding around this evening

Tamsin took over Nicks power tool with a deft hand to work on the final door whilst the others relentlessly continued manually. Everyone worked so hard that they became blue in the face not to mention the clothes ,hair and shoes.

With some fun photos, brushing down and grateful thanks, the group set off back into the cold clear night. We headed down to the seafront for some lamp post sprints together with a detour to West Buildings to visit to the tardis for some photos inspired by ( and nowhere as good as) Belinda and John's Saturday night Doctor Who experience.

And Gill came tumbling down

With a run through the pedestrian empty shopping precinct we were all horrified to hear Gill go smack on the pavement . Willing hands pulled her up and she bravely continued in true trooper style back to base nursing some grazes and bruises but luckily no broken bones.

A Blue Peter badge well deserved all round

We spent a few minutes going through some stretches together with planning next weeks Chipwick visit after the Fishermans friend task ( All welcome to any part of the evening) This will (allegedly) be Beth's last regular task in Worthing so she will be writing the weekly epic run report. She has already signed up to ready steady cook on 11/12 so I suspect she will still be making a welcome appearance in Worthing regularly :)

Finishing off this week Nick has written a rhyme for you to chant

Blue is the colour , GoodGym is the game, We're all together and sanding is our aim, So cheer us on, In the rain or shine, For GoodGym, GoodGym is our name.

Looking forward to seeing you all next week for some more fun, fitness, good deeds and general Punuendos

All the best

Julia:)

T'was the night before Halloween on a cold and clear night in witchy Worthing

I was so pleased to welcome our newbies and regulars to our first 'dark' task since the clocks changed.

Welcome Hayley, Roxy and Katie. We hope that you felt the warmth of GoodGym Worthing on your first ( but hopefully not your last! ) task.

Also a special mention to Paula and Tamsin on week 2 of their GG experience.

I cant continue without a mention to my amazing regulars the 2 B's ( Beth and Belinda) Gill , Michelle, Anne and Nick.

Torch n' go - Another amazing challenge

After a relaxed warm up we arrived at our second visit to Worthing Churches Homeless project in Byron Road where we were warmly welcomed by Katie and Luke.

Maybe I say this every week but we just seem to get better and better at our tasks. This week was like another ground force makeover.

The team excelled themselves with Paul chief sweeper with the large broom. Gill took control of the secateurs ( naturally !) for her usual fine pruning and Nick got down and dirty under the trees with some grim reaping! Katie, Beth, Belinda, Anne, Roxy, Hayley and Tamsin were certainly ' weeding up appearances' on their hands and knees in the beds.

Many hands make lights work

After a swift and effective 30 minutes , a quick photo shoot together with some basking in reflected glory the team set off west towards the seafront where we stopped for a fitness session jointly hosted by Beth and Belinda.

Though this be madness, yet there is method in sprints

With Julia's relay sprints combined with strength and cardio exercises followed by the number game with Beth there were certainly some raised pulses and glowing faces!

The group were then given the option of a steady or tempo run back to base.

No ! The dog ate my fitbit

This was my favourite quote of the night when I asked Paul if he had measured the distance.

We counted every one back in and had a chuckle about Beth being number 12 :):):)

Great vibes and banter this evening with our biggest group to date.

Thanks everyone

Lots of GG love

Julia :)

The Kamelia Chronicles

On a particularly grey and damp evening in not so sunny Worthing we extended a very warm welcome to our newbies Tamsin and Paul and also to Jo our GoodGym tourist and guest of Belinda's. It was so good to meet you all tonight and thank you for your time and energy. I hope you all enjoyed yourself whilst doing some good deeds and possibly challenging your fitness levels too! Massive GoodGym cheers coming your way.

Tonight we headed off for another visit to Kamelia Kids special needs day nursery which is a challenging 5 k run each way but ideal for working on endurance with a bit of speed training thrown in too.

Once again and in what is becoming a true Worthing GG trend I set out with 5 runners and ended up with 8 at the task. A piece of GG wizardry in advance of Halloween next week.

Good news not fake news for the kids

We were met by the caretaker Andy who lined us up for some sweeping and general tidying and pruning tasks in their drive and front garden. All kitted out with head torches, tools and gloves the team set to work for 30 mins of ''rooting about in the undergrowth''

Sweeping up appearances

Paul and Tamsin didn't waste any time getting stuck into the task with some great weeding and raking in the far point of the drive followed by some sweeping and pruning in the main flowerbed. Duncan and Nick were also on sweeping duty collecting up bagfuls of debris whilst also manging to immerse themselves in fine pruning ( Couldn't resist my favourite most used pun!)

Smelling like lavender

There was a wonderful aroma surrounding Gill tonight that wafted around us all as she delicately re shaped the lavander and it came as no surprise that she also found a bit of bindweed to destroy!

Beth was Bethside herself in the bushes

So in true Beth style she almost disappeared into the jungle of the palm tree fully immersing herself into the task as ever and thoroughly enjoying pulling the dead wood out of the roots of the palm tree. Every week I think we will have to pull her out by her legs !

I think I had better leaf right now before i fall for any sweepers

After a tidy up and photo the group started to convene ready for the 5 k run back to Splashpoint.

But wait ! Another fiasco with my car key began to unfold and yet again it kicked of another series of amusing GoodGym Worthing moments. Surely this kind of thing doesn't happen in any other GG group runs ?!

What a waist of time - Bummer!

So whilst 6 of the runners were limbering up on the corner Nick convinced me that he had handed me the first aid kit which also contained my car key . After a lot of frantic searching around the area ,no kit and no key ! So just when Andy had thought he had waved goodbye to us he also got involved with the search . After what felt like an eternity and feeling rather desperate I bent down and tipped the whole bagful of gloves out and as I did so my eye caught the familiar sight of that green bum bag with a white cross safely attached round Nicks waist !! So all was resolved ( after a few expletives from me! )

However in the course of this craziness we had now lost 6 runners who understandably wanted to get moving and had disappeared into the dark!

Mist of chaos

With drizzle and mist well and truly set in the group had turned right instead of left and headed off out of sight . After a few phone calls and a hijack of a car I eventually tracked them down and all was well . Duncan ,Paul and Beth headed off for a slightly longer loop whilst Tamsin ,Belinda ,Jo ,Gill and myself headed for the seafront where, thankfully we all reconvened ready for some lamp post sprints . With the group working to individual pace goals there were some great efforts all round for the final 3 k back to base.

I was mightily relieved when we all ended up stretching and having some GG chatter together before some of us decamped to the Egremont pub to meet up with our rather broken regular runner , Sue who is nursing a broken knee and collar bone. What a great excuse for a visit to the pub ! Great work on the pun finding Beth - Thank you

Thanks as ever to you all for your time and energy especially my new trio tonight ,Jo, Tamsin and Paul but not forgetting my amazing regulars Birthday girl Belinda, Gill , Beth ,Duncan and Nick

The last two weeks have proved that there is never a dull moment at GG Worthing :)

See you next week .

Lots of GoodGym love

Julia xx

Goodbye red hello black

The next time you see Beth, she might be wearing black instead of red. She completed 50 good deeds with GoodGym and has earn't her black t-shirt. Give her a nod when you next see her

On a calm balmy evening in GoodGym Worthing we celebrated Beth 50th good deed since we launched in March. It was an epic evening of limelight that Beth gladly shared with her tennis hero Rafa who won the China open on the same day as Beth completed her first half marathon in Oxford yesterday. (I promised Beth a Rafa mention!)

Not A'llot of puns tonight

It was great to meet new member Edward who popped down to have his documents checked prior to, hopefully,joining us on a Monday group run together with being paired for a coach run to support a lonely and isolated older person.

Following this the regular team rocked up, Sue, Anna, Duncan ,Gill, Belinda with Beth narrowly missing the start but as if by magic arriving at the task before us!

After some GG and parkrun catch up chat the group fell into a relaxed warm up combined with some inpromptu fitness efforts up and down the steps at Jacobs Ladder over the railway. It all (almost)went 'tits up' when Anna almost took a tumble and I managed to catch her (cough cough! )

A'llot of weed in Worthing

Our task tonight was our first visit to Haynes road allotments. This is a small community garden that local residents help look after and enjoy. It was a lovely surprise to be met by park ranger Anthony. We are so delighted that you can make Mondays now.

Anthony had been busy strimming earlier in the day so we had plenty of grass (weed) to tidy up together with clearing some extremely resilient bindweed and ivy.

G-Grass class

The team worked with great energy tonight helped by the ranger truck lights and all our head torches. The 'A' nna team comprising of Beth, Gill and of course Anna concentrated of tugs of war with the bind weed. The 'B'elinda team comprising of Duncan , Sue and funnily enough Belinda were 'raking it in' again with some unusual findings in the form of Freddie frog and copious cans of empty beer cans ( No people or animals were harmed in this task ! )

Bags were brimming, brushes brushed and compost composted . Just another nights work for the GG team!

Turn all the lights on - Code red

Switching the head torches to red flashing we set off for a slightly longer run stopping off at Broadwater Green for a quick fitness session which was an extended effort working on pace endurance together with some strength squats and jumping jacks.

Twitten in ths stars

We abandoned the main roads, turned the head torches from red to white light and took a steady route home down the dark and mysterious twittens. Duncan took a speedy extended route back impressively beating us back to base. We blame the traffic holdups....

Have one's cake and eat it too

Surprise surprises all round ! We surprised Beth and she surprised me

In recognition of Beths 50th task we presented her with a photo collage of a selection of memories from GG Worthing. In return Beth had baked personalised gluten free cup cakes with jelly tots and coffee icing in honour of me getting 1 year older this week ! Can you see the messsage on the cakes ? You may need to rotate it to crack the code!

Tonight was all about 'The Beth'

Beth is one of the most kind ,courageous, crazy,fun,committed, creative and energetic people I have met .

Congratulations on your 50 good deeds! Heres to celebrating the 100!

3 cheers for Beth!!!

See you all next week team

Big GG love

Julia x