A really great start to the new year 2025...Three adventures for the three musketeers on the first parkrun of the year.

1. Puddle trouble - due to bad flooding in Wigan we drove through a drowned roundabout where the car stopped but not the amazing musketeers Afrah and Amina who embraced the cold murky water with some barefeet and pushed the car out to a bus stop while Heetu was at the wheel trying to get it started again so we could make the park run!

2. Mud mask - we made it just in time for the Haigh hall park run where we encountered more pools of muddy puddly terrain but we all managed the slippy mud balancing and splashing through puddles to the end covered in mud but with no trips or falls!

3. Hauled home - The car again was not so lucky to survive the trip as it burst a tyre on the motorway on the way home. The musketeers were not phased and took to the 2 hour recovery wait with funny questions and quizzes to pass the time.

What amazing way to start the new year with 2 amazing AA friends to support you through the haighs and hauls!!! Thank you AAminaA Afrah mustkeeters!

GoodGymers Pauline, Sallyann, Sian, Amina, Bekah, Liam, Ellie, Heetu and myself travelled to Aintree Racecourse for the first Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk of the season. It was the first of six taking place across the country over the next six weekends. There was a huge turnout of over 2100 walkers. Each walker had a target of around £160 to raise and some taking place had exceeded that target. Event organisers said that so far they had raised £90,000 just from this first walk in Liverpool. There were 80 volunteers at the event of which Good Gym was representing 9. And we were given the best job of all! Giving out the medals at the end of the walk. It was incredibly emotional to see everyone who had turned out. There were hugs and tears. There were tiny (12 days old in one case) babies on the walk and elderly walkers too. Everyone affected by the devastating disease dementia. One couple walked together, on the wife’s back was ‘I’m walking for’ and the name of her husband, on her husband’s back, ‘I’m walking for, me’. One lady had lost her mum this year and got a big hug at the finish line. My grandma died of dementia and my mum is currently living with the disease. It is believed that 65% of all over 65 year olds in the UK have dementia so there is not a life in this country that it doesn’t touch. It is a cruel disease that takes your memories, your personality and your sense of self before it takes your life and Alzheimer’s Association are not only there to support people and give them hope but also look for a cure. Hopefully with more walks and fundraising this will one day be realised.

This week, we were back at St James Garden with Friends of St James' Garden to finish what we started last week.

4 runners met on hope street where we were thrilled to welcome two newbies: Mel and Mel. Hope to have you join us again soon!

As St James garden is so close to our meeting point we treated ourselves to a few hill reps before heading on over. Very impressed with all the runners for persevering!

Once there we met 7 more goodgymmers and were tasked with weeding all the pavements around the Husskinson Memoral. I think you can tell from the before an after pictures what a huge impact we had!

Thankfully the weeds and grass came up surprisingly easily - the turf almost came up like a carpet and we were able to clear a huge area. Well done to everyone!