We met in the still light of Daveenas and great to welcome back Dan (its your 3rd run Dan!) after a knee injury. Also new tonight was Tim, a regular local parkrunner at Upton! It was great to have you Tim and you worked hard tonight!

Firstly congratulations to Robert who completed his first cross country this weekend! Cross Country is something different and the field is always strong so can be daunting!

Second big shout out to Nicola who tonight was on her 10th Good Deed! (Apologies I did not know this earlier!) and is the first person in Poole Goodgym to hit 10 deeds purely from attending Poole so woop woop!

It was only a mile run to the task tonight and the inclines were barely a mole hill (disappointing for some I know!) so it was straight onto the task area and a chance to do some flying 10's in Oakdale Park. Big Hello to the Oakdale runners out there training tonight too - many familiar faces who attend Goodgym too! There was some great form showing in the flying 10's that we need to carry on creating even when going steady!

At the task tonight we were met by Lesley from ORCA - Oakdale Residents Community Association. She was all prepared for us with compost, tools, wild flowers and bags. It was 2 beds at the front and a long bed at the back that on no one has taken responsibility for in a long time judging by the site of them. The council were more than happy for ORCA to take them on and us to lend a helping hand. They were pretty high with nettles, grass and old roots. It took 20 mins for 12 runners - a lot of pulling, a bag of rubbish (inc windscreen wipers, glasses and a lot of bottles!) and 3 very full bags of green waste to clear the beds. For no apparent reason, it was an all male front with Dan, Tim and Rob all working the front borders. They hosted a huge away of spiders, bugs and insects that left everyone a little itchy at the end! The long bed was cleared with some great chatter (well it was all women!) and the perfect number of runners to clear it all away, plant the wild flowers and clear away finishing the task on time! It was amazing the difference (check out the photos!) a 30 min group can make and it made the area look so much more tidy. The beds had become a litter drop for many and this is likely to reduce as the beds are so clear now. I look forward to driving past and enjoying it!

It is a big weekend ahead with Bournemouth Marathon Festival so good luck to all those doing the 5k - If I can recall correctly it is Julia, Hilary, Jayne, Patricia and for the 10k - Ali. For both 5k and 10k (take it easy!) is our Robert!

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!

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!