In a change to the advertised plan, our fearless 15 ran through a sweltering hot evening to tidying up grassy open spaces in the L8 area of the city.

In just 25 minutes, at least 12 bin bags of litter was collected as our team turned rubbish laden landscapes into safe havens for play. Amongst the usual offenders - fast food containers, beer cans, chocolate bar wrappers - the most interesting find of the evening was a small plastic Christmas tree!

Shout outs go to lovely newbies Natalie and Luke who got stuck in and easily kept pace on the run. And it was great to be joined by Kirsty who has left behind GG Hackney to enjoy the fresh air of lovely Liverpool (clearly their loss is our gain).

After the task, we ran to Princes Park where we did a quick fitness session to improve agility and speed. We then enjoyed a quick jog around the pond (where swans and cygnets were sunbathing in the evening light) before sprinting up the Princes Park Parkrun home straight to try for a PB on the Strava segment. Although it was just 2km back to base, the stuffy conditions made it hard going, but this dream team know how to WERK. Another brilliant results for all :)

Next week we have a brand new task and a bit of Beatles tourism to boot, when we'll be helping to dig over the garden at Penny Lane Development Trust. So come on you egg men, get signing-up. Coo-coo-ki-choo!

See you then, Char

Our lucky 13 transformed the ground works at Liverpool's iconic Bombed Out Church for the second time this year! After a short run down hill to reach the church, the building's director Ambrose was waiting for us with a whole host of heavy lifting and digging tasks. The team was raring to go but before they got stuck in, they took a moment to admire the level grassy area at the top of the church that we'd made happen after shifting 4 tonnes of top soil on our last visit.

It was brilliant to be joined by lots of new faces this week. We were chuffed to host Eleanor who is visiting from "That London" and is a GG Lewisham regular. Meanwhile newbies Chantelle, Lucy, Gabriella and Eimear all got stuck in and mingled easily with the regular crew. Do join us again soon, you're all fab!

Liverpool has been enjoying its best summer in years which made for a pleasant evening but also meant that the soil which needed turning over was hard as rock. A special shout out goes to Mat who worked wonders with that giant axe hammer thing (I know ALL the tool names ~ Char) AND for coming up with the title of this report. The whole crew got stuck in and in no time at all, this dream team had transformed dry hard ground into lucid soil ready to be laid with turf.

The Bombed Out Church is only a few streets away from our base at the Hope Street Hotel (350m) but I still managed to raise everyone's heart rate with a short but intense fitness session taking on the 108 steps outside Liverpool's Catholic Cathedral (4 times in quick succession). Exemplary work from an excellent team.

Next week we're heading back to Everton Park to take in the views while helping Friends of Everton Park team to get a handle of their wonderful but woefully under-resourced urban paradise. Same time, same place, same great people. So sign-up NOW!

13 runners ran 7km to dig the foundation of a path at Harthill Youth Centre's new community garden.

Finally, a sunny evening in Liverpool and our fabulous 13 set-off for a run to the Wavertree area of the city. 1km into our run and an uneven road surface unfortunately lead to a runner taking a tumble, [updates suggest that our friend is doing fine and will be back up and running very soon :)] so we took a time-out to deal with this and to ensure that our team mate was okay.

Shout out to John, Lyn and Jan for their support and care in dealing with this incident.

As such, we arrived at the task a little later than we'd planned but this amazing team of runners jumped straight into action. Over 20 minutes they worked solidly to clear weeds and grass to prepare the ground for a path that will lead around Harthill Youth Centre to a planned new community garden.

John and his team at the centre were really impressed with how fast our runners worked, treating us to bottles of water and slices of orange for sustenance. John has agreed to us coming back to finish the job in a few weeks.

The return run was gladly less eventful and I was inspired by how well everyone kept pace, especially up a long incline.

Extra shout outs go to newbies Anne-Marie, Emily and Karen who fitted right in with the team and to Philip, who has moved up the country after being part of GoodGym Birmingham and was a dynamo path-clearer!

Next week is bank holiday Monday, and as it is becoming our tradition, we'll have a longer run that day – around 9km. We'll be leafleting for cancer support charity Sunflowers and since the task isn't as time restricted, if you're an improver runner looking to challenge yourself, I really welcome you to come on this one. For those less keen on the distance, the following week's task is just 2km from our base - so perfect for beginners. Sign-up for both tasks here.

Good luck to everyone taking part in the Liverpool Spring 10km on Sunday. If you’re not running, why not come and give us a cheer? #RedThunder

Until next time, Char <3

12 runners transformed the edges of a path, bringing order back to Everton Park.

Our intrepid 12 set off with maybe just a little trepidation believing hills and more hills were the order of the day. They were pleasantly surprised to enjoy a flat run with just one killer push at the end, giving way to “the best view in Liverpool”. Now on top of the city, we met with John and Ahmed from Friends of Everton Park who were ready with tools and instructions.

The wind did its best to blow the team off course, but they never wavered, totally transforming one of the path’s overgrown and unkempt edges. Using spades, edging tools and pure grit, the team took off the excess grass before running it up the hill and pilling it up for collection – check out the photo featuring the pile to see just how much was achieved in half an hour.

This awesome effort was noted not just by the Friends of Everton Park team but also by numerous park users who stopped by to investigate, not to mention a few friendly pooches. Two women spectators even said they were going to write a blog about us!

We were chuffed to welcome 3 newbies: John, Joe and Ella, who put their all into the task and added some unanticipated competition to the fitness session ;)

Shout outs go to Sophie and Pauline who are becoming part of the furniture at GoodGym Liverpool (in a “my new favourite armchair” kind of a way!) and for being our Back Markers. Also, kudos to Emma R. who came up with our title pun.

Next week we’ll be helping Harthill Youth Centre to transform the land around their building into a safe and chilled green space for the young people they work with. What are you waiting for, sign-up here!

Happy running, Char <3