*6 runners ran to Writtle to dig out some vegetable beds for Mencap *

After a weekend of eating eggs and the occasional run, three of us met at ARU for our first Goodgym run of April. Rachel and Laurie congratulated David on his longest ever run on Easter Sunday, and set off promptly towards the allotment in Writtle.

We persevered through the wind and drizzle to make our way to Writtle in good time to meet Jenny and Barbara, with Catherine following shortly after a quick run round the block.

It wasn't difficult to find the right allotment with its distinctive shed, and we soon got to work on digging out the marked out vegetable beds. There were some unexpected prickly plants which proved to be a bit difficult to pull out of the ground, however we did manage to get the beds well on the way to being ready in the time we were there.

We finished just as the light was starting to fade, and struck a Spice Girls pose before setting off together. Barbara, Jenny and Catherine went their separate ways home, while David, Rachel and Laurie ran back to the centre of Chelmsford, marking the longest run ever undertaken by Chelmsford GoodGym!

Well done everyone, and see you next week

Laurie

12 ran to do some litter picking by Riverside Ice and Leisure

After it seemed as if it had never stopped raining all day , finally the sun came out (ish)and we knew GoodGym was ready to roll......or start picking. So our task tonight was to do a spot of litter picking around the entrance to Riverside and then along the river bank.

Before I start i just want to say a BIG congrats to James and Cara on their half marathons on the weekend and hope all goes well in both of their marathon preps. Also , welcome back Adam and Vicky for your second group runs. hopefully we have become your Wednesday evenings :-)

So, before we could get stuck into the litter picking we needed to pick up the equipment that Laurie had been looking after from last time we went litter picking. We set off at a steady chatting pace and made our way through the bunny walks and got ourselves kitted out with gloves and bin bags and litter pickers.

When we arrived at the entrance to Riverside we quickly formed into groups and worked our way through the areas that needed a tidy up and little pieces of rubbish picked up. Catherine suggested a game of who can find the strangest item and after some great attempts i think Roger won with his find of a £10 note. He did say he would be putting into a charity box after he had cleaned it , but we'll get back you on what actually happened to it :-P

Once we had worked our way down towards the entrance to Tesco we collected the bin bags and put them into the big dustbins just off the high street. We managed to fill 5 bin bags full of rubbish which i think is a sterling effort from everyone and has made a massive difference to the area .

As we started to make our way back we said good bye to Joel as he was going the other direction and then we went to first drop off the equipment then to do a fitness session in the bunny walks.

For the fitness session we did lamppost drills.. run to the 3rd lamppost then turn around and jog 1 lamppost back, then walk 1 back, then turn around and repeat. The idea being to raise your heart rate then lower it, then raise it again. And you all smashed it, Well done.

We arrived back and stretched off and discussed Thursday nights social, which will be the pub quiz at the Golden Fleece in Chelmsford and we will be meeting at 7pm. Hope to see you all there and by the sounds of it , it should be a good turn out and who knows.....maybe we'll win....

11 runners ran 4.8k to InterAct to paint their TV Room

With Spring in full flow we met at our usual spot at ARU while it was still light. We welcome two new Goodgymers to the fray, Vicky and Adam. After congratulating James G on his 50th Parkrun we lunged our way towards the High Street.

We jogged our way to Moulsham Mill and arrived at InterAct. Susie and the team have won the latest Tesco Charity competition and so we needed to continue our work painting to make the TV room fresh for the Easter Egg hunt next week. We set to work sanding, dusting, painting and, in my case, getting in the way. We made an impact to the appearance of the room and chatted merrily while we painted. After some lovely biscuits and a photo by the dartboard, we set off into the night. We owe you a session of hoovering though Susie!

We sped off towards the bridges by the record office. The energetic ones amongst us (clearly they didn't paint hard enough) did a slightly longer route with interval sprints across the bridges. We made our way back in good time for a stretch and it was nice to see Kate after she popped out of the campus bar building!

Thanks to everyone for coming, particularly Vicky and Adam! I hope to see you all either at Parkrun on Saturday, GoodGym next Wednesday or the Golden Fleece next Thursday for our pub quiz social.

8 runners ran 9km to Broomfield Hospital and the sunken garden

It's getting lighter as Spring/Summer (hopefully) begin to arrive, so we were very keen to see all of our hard work to date at Broomfield in the fading evening light. It was great to see Richard E after his running hiatus. After a selfie, which for artistic reasons is definitely deliberately upside-down, we set off at a rapid pace. With some high-knees, skipping and sprints between the bollards we made it to Broomfield in record time, at almost 6 minute/km pace.

We met Barbara and Catherine at the Garden and began to dig in. We were able to ever so slightly see our work a little bit easier now it is mid-March. The guys at the hospital have done a great job so far and it won't be long before we start planting. We split into groups to weed, hoe, dig, shovel and fling mud around. Catherine had a whale of a time forming the sticky mud into turd shaped pieces and reminiscing about #PooWatch. We said goodbye and set off back to base. Still full of beans, we did some interval sprints on route and warmed down.

Next week we've got a little bit of a shorter run to InterAct and don't forget our Pub Quiz social at the Golden Fleece on Thursday 29th March from 7pm. Happy running!

10 runners ran to Mencap to give it a clean

We were glad to have our weekly dose of good deeds after the bad weather last week, and we had a great turn out of runners for it too. We were all sad to hear that Gerry has injured himself and couldn't lead the run this week, and we all hope he recovers quickly!

To warm up we decided to do a Caterpillar run along the path out of the University, and then carried on down the high street to Mencap.

We had just under half an hour to get on with a good spring clean and everyone got stuck in. James even found the vacuum cleaner and gave the carpets a once over. The musical instruments in the main room were too much of a temptation for most, with David having a go on the guitar and Roger dusting off the ukulele.

Once we had finished off the cleaning we decided to have a go at some press ups, planks and Catherine's favourite, the burpee. Our host returned and commented on the fresh scent of the main room, so we knew a good job had been done. Undertaking this cleaning for Mencap will prepare the spaces for decoration later in the year, making it a more inviting space for the important work they do in the community.

We went for a slightly longer run back through Moulsham and down through Central Park, before heading back along Victoria Road to the University.

We are holding the March social event at the Golden Fleece pub for some food, drinks and the quiz. We will aim to be there from 7pm, with the quiz starting at 8pm.