Annual Martian Race 👽

It was that time of the year again for the Woking Martian Race. It was not as hot as it has been previous years but still a very warm day. Today there were plenty of events going on with most GoodGym members either taking part in the race and volunteering as marshals.☀️

James unfortunately could not be at this years events as he was doing the Richmond 1OK and then straight after heading to Kingston for the Southern Athletics League event 🏃🏼‍♂️.

Wayne arrived at the event village early as he pulled out of the race due to not being 💯% so decided to volunteer as a marshal. Wayne had to be at the event for 07:30 for a safety briefing as well as picking up his high viz, instructions on how to get to his marshal spot as well as a goodie bag from the sponsors 😄. Wayne also helped some of the local vendors with setting up their stalls. Wayne was at checkpoint 29 which was quite close the event village and in the shaded woodland 🌳area of the common ☀️. Wayne had enough time to go and find his spot and come back to see his fellow goddgymers.

First to arrive was Annewith her beaming smile she was rearing to go, Annehas been getting her regular runs in the week in preparation for her tackling the 10k route 🏃‍♀️.

Next to arrive where the Jacksons. Katie & Phil had signed up to do the 10k and have been training really hard for it especially Katie. Shortly after Kirsty, Adam, & Alys arrived.

Alys was doing the 5k while Adam who is currently nursing an injury decided to do the 10k along with Kirsty who was running for the first time in Months after her injury they both decided to run together same as last year ❤️

Nadia & Andy arrived they were originally part of the cheering squad but decided to sign up t do the 5k which was great.It was fantastic to see so many local running clubs as well as local organisations that Woking GG have helped over the years. There was plenty of support for everyone from all over the course 😇

First to go were the kids who were doing 2k it was great to see many young faces from the junior park run that Woking GG have an active role.This was followed by the 21k, which was then followed by the 10k and finally the 5k.🏃🏼‍♂️

Wayne had to head off to his post which was checkpoint 27.The first GG Runner that Wayne saw was Nadia & Andy. Shortly after Phil came towards Wayne Phil got extra shouts of support as he is Wayne favourite 🤣. Wayne had to wait a while before he saw the next GG member and it was the lovely Katie always smiling and looking fresh as a daisy 💨.

There was another wait about 15mins before Wayne saw Alys all in Red, with her tutu and GG Cap laughing and smiling away 🏃‍♀️. In the distance Wayne saw a red shirt and it was Anne and went to see her but noticed that Anne had her hand wrapped up due to her falling a few times and cutting her palm as well a bruising her arm, but Anne being tough as old boots continued with her run (Superwomen)

Shortly after in the distance Wayne heard a familiar laugh it was Kirsty & Adamcome through the clearing in the tree’s, both of them doing incredibly well considering their injuries.🌎

It was now coming up to 3 hours and Karl the tail runner appeared with the final runner. We all ran back together and cheered the final runner across the finishing line.

Everyone did so well and once again plenty of money was raised for local charities 🏆

After the event some members headed home while a few headed into town for a well deserved lunch.😄

Fantastic work everyone see you all next year.

On this breezy Saturday morning, 5 GG Woking members helped set up for the annual Woking Athletics Club 5000m blast. 💨 Adam and Anne arrived first to be greeted by Connor from Woking AC, who had organised the event, swiftly followed by Andy and Nadia. We started off by setting up the refreshments room for the volunteers and officials, then moved onto setting up the spectators' area using hurdles and tape. Both Anne and Nadia had been away for a while so it was good to catch up all round! Connor was telling us how he did the set up on his own in previous years which would have taken a while, but with GoodGym helping out, it was a breeze! James also arrived as he was helping pace two of the waves, therefore doubling up the 5k blast! James and Adam are members at Woking AC so were well known amongst the guests/helpers who were arriving. Great job all, happy running!

Three GoodGym Woking members set out to help WeACT Woking, specifically the Hedgehog division, raise awareness for hedgehog health. 🦔 This was through a fundraising walk, twice around Goldsworth Park lake which is a distance of 3km. This is the distance hedgehogs walk at night in search for food. 🐌

Andy and Nadia set off for a jog along the river to the meeting point just in case anyone fancied a steady jog to the task beforehand. They stopped by at a riverboat cafe 🚤 as they were a bit early. Whilst sitting there, along came Anne who was taking a lovely spring walk to the task. 🌷 Everyone then agreed to meet at Waitrose then walk onto the task meeting place.

The team met with Rachel from the WeACT team in one place then realised Ellen had set up the welcome table in a slightly different location! Oh hog! Quickly back on track and the GoodGym team picked up some flyers to take to members of the public to encourage them to participate. One flyer included a nature trail bingo where you had to spot different wildlife along the way. 🌼 🦆

Once the team had finished helping, Andy and Nadia went off to buy ice cream and Anne met with her daughter, son in law and grand-daughter to participate in the walk.

Some more nature themed tasks are planned for Sunday as well as junior parkrun.

Happy and safe sunshine to all ☀

My warm up consisted of jogging 2 k to the park run, were I was welcomed by Wayne, Nadia and Andy We made our way to Saint Johns and were greeted by Kirsty Julie and the organisers of the Laurel removal. We began to clear huge laurels that had previously been chopped down and neatly stacked. I found this educational and was told that smaller fragments supports growth of bacteria and fungi. From the laurels there can also be the smell of almonds in the air. Coffee and biscuits offered which were warmly welcomed. The weather held out which kept us going and we were grateful to the WeAct Woking team for keeping us in check. Job done 👍 We certainly did not rest on our Laurels! 🍃

Woking Junior Park 🏃‍♂️

On a bitterly cold morning 4 GG members got up early this Sunday to help out at junior park run 😀

Wayne got to the park first and after saying hello to everyone was designated spot number 2, which he had to make safe by putting cones around the frozen ice puddles making sure the young runners were safe while going round the bend 💨. Wayne was a liitle sore after doing his early morning 12k run yesterday 😤.

Adam arrived shortly after with two cups of coffee 🤔 Adam was also sore with tight hamstrings after his long run with James yesterday, Adam was saying how much relaxing in the Sauna helped 🥵

We were getting worried about Nadia as she is always very punctual but with a few minutes to go there she was with her friend Andy, Scrapping the windscreen this morning took a little longer than expected 🤣 . Nadia did homewood park run yesterday and by the sound of it it was a tough muddy run 🏃🏼‍♀️.

So this mornings park run had 74 young runners who took on the 2k course. The fastest time was a brilliant 08:44 and there were also 21 PB's great running by everyone 😀

Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend.