The weather is changing as we head towards the end of September - Sharon from the church office doubled checked if we needed to cancel due to the forecast that morning! But I reassured her we are a hardly bunch, us runners, and will be there as planned!

Sure enough there was a solid 6 tonight and a special guest appearance from Ali who had just come off boat from Isle of Wight and came just for the task!

We took the longer path around Baitor and down the quay on the way there - it was a pretty blustery journey, the type you love or hate! Something about wind, rain and sea however that is so powerful! We added in a few bench intervals but stuck together as a group - Sarah may just have made a big mistake by saying she was 'lazy' when avoiding one of the sprint sections - food for a running coach! Ann showed off her track work by blasting out these sections pretty easily along with Richard who I am soon to find some drills for!

St James church is a fantastic community church that puts on so many community events, ceremonies etc and is right in the heart of Poole Quay. I was married there 12 years ago last week and turns out Pat found a great aunt who had married there previously. The church is also seen by so many visitors and tourists so an important church to maintain and keep looking beautiful as well as safe on access.

We were met by Sharon and Brian - who is the church verger (and has a great laugh!) who gave us some tools and we got on with it. Turns out pulling weeds from the paving is a great squat workout - I know that Ann has felt it this morning after the night before! It is also pretty therapeutic especially seeing results so quickly! Light was quickly fading and by the time it was 30 minutes gone, the light had gone with it and we were all a bit damp from the drizzly rain but ready for a direct run home and stretch. Not a single complaint from Hilary who works quietly away in the background and love how in that 30 mins Hilary got to know a little about Brian too! Hope your new hair cut was not ruined by the rain Pat! :)

We hope we can come back to the church in the future - perhaps something indoors for the winter :)

Great to chat about task possibilities going forward, vision boards and our own life's - there is definitely something bonding over running and a physical task to give people chance to open up - Goodgym really is our therapy!

So tonight was a slightly longer run for Goodgym Poole and our longest so far. For some this was the appeal of a slightly longer run in whilst doing the task still, a good way to get a few extra miles in!

Great to be joined by Caprice from the Bournemouth Goodgym - please do visit again as a pleasure to have your company and weeding skills!

The Supported Housing unit were desperate to have some work done on their garden which had become overgrown and unkempt. Many of the tenants are elderly or have physical disabilities so struggle to manage themselves and housing budgets now only cover the bare essentials such as cutting lawns and hedges, not actual gardening.

We were met by Alan at the task who lives at Willow View, despite his own disabilities, he tries to do some gardening work himself. He directed us to the essentials of cutting back a bush on one bed area so wheelchairs can easily get round. The wall plants were all over the floor as well as up the building so they needed a lot of cutting back. Finally the paths were covered in weeds and looked unsightly so these were prioritised as well. This was pretty therapeutic actually, getting all the weeds out from the cracks. Caprice was heard in the background saying how much she was enjoying tackling the weeds, she would have happily stayed I think! Paul after a hard day grafting in the building trade, quietly got on (yes really!) with clipping back a bedding area so there was no overhang. (Great to have you along for first task Paul!)

Liz and Nicki tackled the wall climbers (sorry no idea on plant names!) and turns out Liz also works in Housing so will be sharing what we do with her housing contacts for future tasks.

Due to the long run, one of the tenants brought us out some squash which was appreciated after the incline up the Blandford Road! Ann did great to keep a solid pace up the Blandford Road following a few weeks of not much running. Sian, (sure we heard you ask if we were nearly there yet!) despite her uncertainly, made the mileage look easy!

Half an hours work and 12 bin liners of garden waste later, the improvement was very obvious! As well as visually looking better, the garden can be accessed more easily for those using their wheelchairs around the planters. There is definitely potential for a lot more work to be done, however due to distance, I feel this will be a future mission to go back and do some more work!

Dan on the return leg felt the dodgy runners knee and took the last mile or so steady with Caprice as backmarker. Dan really hope after RICE that you are fit and ready for tough mudder this weekend - Good Luck!

Great to have Heather join us for the first time and she made the pace look easily, looking fabulous and doing a great job in the garden.

We were later than planned back to base so we were all glad to get back home for our dinner and a cuppa.

Next week we will much closer to home!

Last week we were strength in numbers as we launched with dozens of runners attending, completing a range of tasks, with a buzz and hype!

For week 2, we settled down and had a more quiet affair as many local runners headed off on a Castleman trail run, we could really get to chat and relax! Well that is after a few laps of the cricket pitch to work on different paced running as a bit of a warm up!

We headed over to meet Toni from BCP who guided us to the task in hand - weeding a newly planted area around the lake and 'mulching!'

Kirsty H was keen to learn what 'mulching' was and can now officially add to her CV she can 'mulch'!

Darryl joined us on his first run and the only male of the evening he soon found running friends in common with others.

Best thing I heard tonight, without a doubt was that Shelley has doubled her lung capacity over the past year since taking up running - what an advert to keep running! Blooming amazing that is - but then Shelley just is!

Ann and Kirsty W, also returning from last week were quick to sort the weeds from the flowers, Ann saving me from pulling a weed that had been fondly named Netty and apparently was to remain!

We finished with a big pile of weeds at the side and an area mulched - all part of the work to improve the park under the lottery grant. A park that is enjoyed by hundreds of people every day - Even as we were there, there was a cricket match in place and a running group doing speed work as well as frequent walkers and runners past us.

Nice work team!

It all started when buches of runners (33 in total!) starting gathering in the lovely warm courtyard of Daveena's cafe.

We were then joined by some official looking types with a little less lycra from the council including the Council Chairman, David Flagg! One of the councillors Mark Howell was however willing to join us for a run and his first for goodgym along with 22 other first time Goodgym runners! 9 runners who had previously completed a Goodgym task joined us from as far as Bristol and Swanage so showing fantastic committment to Goodgym!

After the pics and speeches, we headed over to the park for a quick warm up where most of us runners demonstrated our lack of balance with the flamingo stand and hopskotch as well as usual warm up drills!

Kirty Weston from Upton parkrun core team led the way through the park and whitecliff to cover 2.1 miles including the gradual incline up Evening Hill. We were met at Lewis-Manning by Sandra and Mark who had even had cold drinks and biscuits ready for us as a welcome treat!

We soon cracked on in 4 groups and everyone was super organised in their groups to get the tasks done. Painting crew included first timers Shelley and Kirsty (whose ankle is fine by the way after a huge branch came at her on the way back!) painted on with Ann, Aaron and Catherine amongst others to complete a rail within 15 minutes! Hedge cutters included Karina, Kristy and Mark who made some clearance for cars to park against the bushes Around the back, the team with a view had rakes and gloves to clear some woodland, leaving James to keep his mileage up by running back and forth with the bin. Gemma, Lisa and Rob amongst others cleared leaves and all sorts! Finally we had a bunch of sweepers who worked to the end getting moss off the car park area.

Amazing what was achieved in 25 mins and we hope to go back for a second coat of paint and a bit more garden clearance.

We took the opportunity to take a photo at the top of Evening Hill, after moving along Oakdale runners who photo bombed!

Finally we ran back down to the park and 3 runners took up the offer to finish up around the park with a short interval circuit as clearly they had not worked hard enough already!

It was hot, sweaty work in the muggy air but the chat was continuous and great to hear the chatter amongst many previous strangers.

We had also been joined by Ed and Nikki from the central Goodgym team who quickly scooted off for their train after, albeit a bit smelly!

Super atmosphere on the runs and all during the task so we can honestly say Goodgym Poole you rocked it tonight!

Next week we are over in Poole park but don't worry - we will still get a good run in before we crack on with the task in hand - It was truly a pleasure to be part of Goodgym Poole launch - I know we are going to be fantastic!